An expedition into Desolate Road

by ForSekai_1994

Summary:

He'd have loved to spend a weekend enjoying an island like this, with picturesque landscapes and isolated from the hassle of the city. This could have been a dream come true if it wasn't for the fact they are stranded, and God only knows if they are ever going to be found.

 

He regains his consciousness slowly, as though waking from a gentle dream. But it is far from being a dream, much less one of gentleness. 

When he opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is Sehun’s face hovering over him. The fear in his eyes doesn't quite match the clearness of… wherever they are. 

For a moment, a split second, Jongin feels like nothing is out of the ordinary and everything is alright. The air is fresh, and the serene sound of the tides wavering calmly nearby is soothing to his ears. The sand under his back is ticklish and comfortable, and he must be hallucinating, but he thinks the sea ringing the sandy area around them is a shade of pink instead of blue. But that's uncommon, right? It's impossible. Then his lungs burn, and his stomach lurches. Suddenly, he’s twisting and turning over, coughing up acid onto the silver sand. Silver sand? He thinks astoundedly as he keeps coughing and a pinch of panic rises within him. 

“That’s right,” Sehun’s voice coos, as he rubs his back affectionately “Get it out. It’s okay.”

Despite Sehun’s attempt at taking the edge off the situation, Jongin knows it's definitely not okay, and he feels somewhat coddled. With an annoyed grunt, he shoves Sehun’s hand away from his back and immediately feels a pang of regret at doing so. It's not that he despises the idea of being taken care of. Sehun does it often, to everyone around him. And he does it naturally. However, during a mission – One of crucial importance at that – Jongin prefers to fend for himself as much as he can. 

Thankfully, the action doesn’t seem to bother Sehun. He's too busy drinking in the relief upon the sight of Jongin being unmarred. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” He murmurs, sitting back from his hunch with a smile, “You really had me worried.”

“What happened?” Jongin asks as he sits up, panting painfully as quick flashbacks of himself erratically pulling in the wheels, hitting the brakes, and holding onto Sehun in the cabin just before everything blows out around them begin to manifest in his mind. 

He should have seen it coming. Sehun had insisted on hanging back and prolonging their lookout in order to look into a lead. A coordinate had popped up on their monitor, out of nowhere. A trap. What could be more shady than that? If only Jongin was capable of denying any of Sehun’s requests, they wouldn't be doomed like this now. He should have talked him out of straying from the others. God, Jongin is such a fool. He should have protected Sehun. 

“We were attacked,” Sehun says casually, though he's avoiding Jongin’s eyes. “The explosion– I managed to wind us down just over the shoreline. Literally.” Sehun points towards the water, towards the crashing waves. He must have overused his powers. He looks exhausted. There are sounds of birds in the background, along with the sound of the sea crawling onto the sand. Jongin feels a million grains of sand underneath his feet and the cool breeze against his face. Moreover, the tantalizing scent of the washed-up waves, and the addition of something sweet are all mixed into one. He’s amazed by how easily fantasy and reality intertwine at that moment. “But as we landed I sort of felt my powers slipping away-- is your shoulder okay?” Sehun continues.

Sehun reaches out again, and gingerly touches Jongin’s shoulder, and Jongin has a sudden vivid memory of using it to break apart the spaceship doors to no avail, of holding onto Sehun as they plummeted into an unknown territory of a far-flung planet, of trying to swim to the surface amid the crashing waves and currents, until eventually, he blacked out. It's all fogged up in his mind, but the taste of the panic is still bitter in his mouth. They were lucky. If it wasn't for Sehun evoking the wind to cushion their fall, they would have broken their bones at the force of the impact against the water. Jongin rolls his shoulder, feeling it stiffen painfully. “It's fine,” He tells Sehun in a dismissive tone, and the other's eyebrows knit into a frown on his face.

“If you say so,” Sehun sounds slightly hurt, but he'll have to get over it. In the same way Jongin will have to learn to keep it together. Losing his temper won't take them back home. 

“Our spaceship?”

“It's probably hurtling across space as we speak.” Sehun says, and the hopelessness in Jongin intensifies. Far off the surface of the ocean, huge chunks of wrecked metal float farther away from them—pieces of what was left from their spaceship. From far off, Jongin can only see the very tip of its cone nose floating, pointed upward, all the rest is submerged. The explosion was nothing but disastrous.

“Shit,” Jongin curses angrily. “We shouldn't have left the crew.”

“Yeah, you can say it. I know you want to.” Sehun responds in an equally angry tone. “ I told you so, Sehun. You never listen to me .” He makes a stupid impression of Jongin’s voice, which hits a nerve. 

“But you never do. You're so damn stubborn.” Jongin snaps. 

“I couldn't run the risk of missing that lead. You know that. Lay hyung sent us to that location for a reason. I thought we would find him.” 

The mention of their hyung brings Jongin’s disturbance to a stop. Lay has been MIA for years now, and all these expeditions across the galaxies have the sole purpose of finding him. It’s sad to admit, but sometimes Jongin tells himself it's better to accept the truth that Lay will never return. That he’s better off on his own, wherever he is, if he’s even still alive. On the other hand, Sehun never loses hope. 

“Yeah, instead, all we found was a useless goddamn stone.” Jongin huffs. After hours of journeying, when they finally reached the location they anonymously received, all they found was a purple gemstone. Disappointedly, It didn't glow, nor was it carved to look like wealthy jewelry. It was in fact in a pretty bad shape, with broken, mishappened edges, nearly colorless. Sehun took it anyway. “Do you still have it?”

“I lost it. Must have dropped it into the ocean.” Sehun says, dejectedly, and the sense of failure yields to both of them. The good thing is, there is no one around to point fingers but themselves. 

“Brilliant.”

“You could have at least teleported us away from there. That's why I asked you specifically to come with me. Because of your powers.”

“So this is my fault now?” Jongin fumes. Clearly, Sehun doesn't understand how teleportation works. He can't teleport while moving, especially at a high speed, even worse if he's entering a never-before-seen territory. “Fine. I'll teleport us back home right now.” He grabs Sehun’s arm and focuses. They can settle this squabble up at home. But nothing happens. He tries again. Sehun just stares blankly at him. Something's off. Jongin can't feel his powers. 

“Nice try, Goku. There's something on this planet blocking our powers. They're gone.”

“You gotta be kidding me.” Doubtlessly, it feels empty deep in his core. He's never been powerless before, and the sensation leaves him both embarrassed and terrified. “What is this place anyway? Where are we?”

“No idea. Junmyeon must have notes on it, but they're all soaked.” Sehun points at the backpack resting a few meters from their feet on the sand. Sopping wet. At least Sehun was smart enough to grab it before they jumped. They had packed enough supplies to get by for a few days, as if they were foreseeing it, even though they were not expecting it to actually happen. Jongin hopes at least half of their supplies are not completely ruined. 

“Fuck, what are we gonna do now?”

“Dry up, I guess. First things first.” Sehun combs his fingers through his damp hair, and it's only then that the discomfort tingles Jongin’s skin. They're doused from head to toe, their shirts clinging to their skin and their boots flooded. 

Jongin kicks them off annoyedly, unlike Sehun, who lounges there on the sand as though he's on vacation or something. He's always coolheaded no matter what. Or at least he's better at hiding it than Jongin is. Sometimes it irks Jongin. 

“Did you…” Jongin wonders, looking around the beach, “Carry me all the way to the beach?” 

“You weigh a ton, even when swimming,” Sehun says sheepishly, a little grin on his face, “But yeah, I think I managed just fine.”

“Thanks,” Jongin says reflexively, and a hurtful look goes over Sehun’s face for a second, but it’s gone as quickly as it comes.

“I must have been out a long time,” Jongin continues, eyeing the water. It’s perfectly calm. It's beautiful even. The reversed colors are the only characteristic differing from home, but it's easy to pretend he's never left. That their lives are not at stake and this is just a planned weekend off in paradise. 

Sehun shrugs, foot digging into the alien silver sand. “Enough to make me think the worst,” He says, and they stare out at the gently rolling waves for a moment in silence. It's kind of ironic. Jongin has wished for the chance to go on vacation for ages. He'd have loved to spend a weekend enjoying an island like this, with picturesque landscapes and isolated from the hassle of the city. This could have been a dream come true if it wasn't for the fact they are stranded, and God only knows if they are ever going to be found. 

Maybe Sehun isn't overreacting because this would be a peaceful way to die, all things considered. They've seen destruction in all forms, they've lost people before. There's been too much pain and loss. This, as morbid as the thought sounds, is an end way more wholesome than they deserve. Jongin never once thought his death would be silent and painless, surrounded by so much beauty.

“Who do you think attacked us? And why? Do you think they're still out there? Hunting us down?”

“Too many questions, Kai. I don't want to think about any of that now. I just want to go home.” Sehun sighs. “We should check if there's anything useful left in those bags,” He stands after a moment, offers Jongin a hand, and Jongin sways a little when he stands. “Or I can go look,” Sehun amends quickly, both of his hands suddenly on Jongin’s arms, “I think you should rest.”

“I’ll be okay,” Jongin assures him, reaching up and giving his hand a squeeze before shrugging out of Sehun’s grip. He looks around the small pristine beach, filled with seaweed and driftwood, a bunch of strange-looking plants growing further up the shore which eventually turns into a tall, ominous-looking island forest. “FYI, I wouldn't have let you on your own. I followed you for a reason.” He ends up admitting. 

“And I didn't invite you just for the convenience of your powers. I knew you'd be on board to tag along no matter what. And I trust you the most.” 

Jongin chuckles, a little surprised. 

“Come on. Chanyeol hyung. Or Junmyeon hyung. They would never hesitate to assist you.”

“But they would scold me first. I don't have time for that anymore. Or the age.” Sehun says, digging through the loads inside the backpack. 

Jongin doesn't like comparing the dynamics Sehun shares with the others. Sehun is a loyal friend, hence all the guys cherish him, with him being the youngest and all. But sometimes, Jongin has always been under the impression that Sehun is more at ease with Chanyeol and Junmyeon for some reason. And it stings a little, because it didn't use to be like this. There was a time when they were inseparable. When they were young and naive. They haven't been either of those things for a while. 

“Do you think they'll be able to track us down somehow?” Jongin questions, against all odds, glancing back out at the skyline. 

“Not without the GPS system currently installed on our lost spaceship, no,” Sehun declares, crossing his arms worriedly. “We might be able to get a general location tonight from the stars, but not an exact one.”

Jongin looks back around, and looks at the long-running beach, the baby blue leafy jungle, and the hot sun overhead. A wave rushes up and crashes over their feet as the tide starts coming back in, and the uncertainty and fear grip him deep inside.

“Hey, look!” Sehun announces with a grin. “Extra shirts!” He smiles brightly, pointing to the pieces of clothing like it’s going to save their lives. There are two sets of them, creased and packed too long ago, probably. Jongin can’t help but smile back before he shakes his head.

“I’m thinking you might have plotted this.” Jongin suggests, dragging himself up despite his headache and inching closer for inspection as well. They'll determine how long they will sustain themselves according to what they find inside that backpack. 

“Come on. These will be really useful to us.” Sehun sounds overly confident for a castaway.  

“If we don't starve to death, you mean.”

“Hey, man. We gotta think positively. We've been through worse than that. They'll notice our absence soon and backtrack.” Sehun assures, struggling with pulling the rest of the zippers. 

“Sure. I wonder how long until they miss your loud ass.” Jongin mumbles, and Sehun only chuckles dryly. He can't really deny that. He is loud and hyper. “What else do we have there?” Jongin adds, a little impatient.

“Uh, Junmyeon's diaries. I also brought Lay hyung's ones. But they're mostly drawings.” Sehun hands him the papers. What's left of them. Most of the inscriptions are blurred, and the pages are mostly stained with wet pen ink.

“Oh boy, these are ruined.” Jongin comments, before he eyes the next item Sehun pulls out of the bag. “Is that lube?”

“It's not mine.” Sehun explains hurriedly, with a blush spreading through his cheeks. 

“Not mine either. Wasn't it you who packed this though?”

Sehun’s cheeks go redder. “Y-yeah, I actually just grabbed the first bag I saw lying around. This is probably Baekhyun’s.”

“Yeah, I don't think we'll get laid here.” Jongin feels his face heating up as well, but he's thankful his tan hides most of it. Sehun stuffs it back into the bag, clearing his throat. “Granola bars. We have tons.” He goes on, ignoring their blush. 

“Great,” Jongin absolutely hates granola bars. They smell like farts. 

They only come up with five more items: a torn, red blanket, cream deodorant, some tissues, a Sonic pillow, and their small dental kit. Sehun’s survival skills are certainly not that sharp. 

“Hey, dental floss!” Sehun exclaims happily, prying the lid up to see how much they have. It's quite a lot, if only it could come in handy. 

“We should spread these over the rocks to dry out. Maybe not all is lost.” Jongin says, reaching carefully for the diaries and sketch booklet so as not to fall apart in his hands.

“Okay,” Sehun nods as they look over the supplies laid out in the shade next to them, “I could have packed some socks and underwear as well, but I can work with this.” Sehun looks up at him, smiles a great big smile, and then reaches over and puts both of his hands on Jongin’s cheeks. “We’re going to be just fine.”

Jongin frowns, and shrugs Sehun’s hands off. “Sehun,” He says skeptically, “It’s going to be over a week before anyone even knows we’re missing.”

“Yeah,” Sehun agrees, picking up the kit with their toothbrushes and dental floss inside, “And as soon as Junmyeon realizes our spacecraft is off the radar, he’ll have everyone out looking for us. We’re supposed to get back on the 27th,” Sehun says, and he’s looking around now, talking absently and waving his hands as he kicks sand around with his feet and scours the dirt, “And it’s the 19th, so we only have to survive for nine, maybe ten days at the most. Ah!” Sehun exclaims and he picks up a rock happily, “Fantastic! Now I just need a stick.”

“Sehun,” Jongin objects again, wondering what he’s doing, “We only have granola bars and barely any other supplies. This situation is a little more serious than that, don't you think?”

Sehun waves him off and makes a face like he’s being absurd. “We’ve got plenty,” Sehun tells him, turning around, “See? Dental floss, and a sharp rock! I can make a spear, and then I can catch us fish… or whatever it’s underwater that we can roast. We’ve got a blanket, and there’s lots of driftwood around here to make a shelter with. And the granola bars are not that bad, come on,” Sehun laughs, kicking one of the tasteless granola bars over to Jongin happily.

“Sehun,” Jongin starts again, the negativity in his voice thick, and Sehun groans.

“Jongin, you have got to learn to be a little bit optimistic,” He insists, returning to scouring the tree line for a nice stick, “I mean, the only thing we really need to worry about finding is fresh water, but I hear birds in here, so there must be a pool of drinking water somewhere, and we can go exploring as soon as I have my spear,” Sehun picks up a stick with enthusiasm, throws it down as it snaps easily, “We’ll manage. So our plans got thrown a little bit askew,” Sehun continues, glancing over his shoulder with a shrug, “Think about it, we get to spend time together on a beautiful tropical island. There’ll be a little bit more manual labor involved, but we can handle it.”

“You don't even know if the water here is drinkable. It can be poisonous.” Supposes Jongin. The nature here might be a replica of their home, but it doesn't mean they are the exact same. Even breathing there might be harmful.

Jongin watches Sehun search, and he goes about twenty feet away before he yells, “Perfect!” and holds up a large, thick stick as he walks back. When he gets back to Jongin he sits down, pulls out the dental floss, and begins fastening the sharp rock to the stick as best he can. To Jongin’s surprise, it works, and they still have some floss left over. Sehun is holding up his new spear proudly after about ten minutes, throwing it around to test it out. “See?” He says, a smile glowing. “I wish I could make a bow and an arrow, but this will do.”

Jongin can’t help but smile back. “Sehun, our spaceship basically sank,” Jongin says, amused, “But I should know better than to think a little inconvenience like that would sink your spirits.”

“To be fair,” Sehun says, skilfully maneuvering the spear, “I should give you some of the credit. You’re at the top of my ‘Things I’d Take If I Were Stranded on an Off-World Land for the Rest of My Life’ list.”

Jongin laughs, and feels a warm giddiness bubble in his stomach. He never knows how to respond when Sehun says things like that, when he makes Jongin’s head buzz and his stomach feels funny, and his skin tingle.

“Come on,” Sehun says, smacking Jongin hard on his unharmed shoulder, “We defeated clones, and much worse. I'm sure we can survive a weeklong vacation in a tropical paradise.”

Jongin can't help but grin as Sehun heads off into the bush. Jongin follows, starting to feel like as long as they are together, they actually can.

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

The island, it turns out, is only about a mile wide. They reach the other side of the forest and come out at some cliffs. Jongin hadn’t realized they’d been walking uphill. He realizes how much easier it is to walk downhill as they go back into the forest, looking again for some sort of river or pond. 

Jongin trips a couple of times, and keeps slipping over the mud until Sehun laces their arms together to avoid the consequences of Jongin’s clumsiness. Meanwhile, Sehun’s steps are steady and well-coordinated, knowing where to skip and which path to follow through. He is as excited as a child. He is into trekking and hiking, and apparently everything that involves surviving on a desert island. Jongin knows that if the situation was any different, and the others were here, Sehun wouldn’t be lifting a finger. The hyungs would take care of him, make sure he was fed and protected and clean. 

But since it’s only the two of them, Sehun is taking the lead to make sure Jongin will be the one fed and protected. 

Passing through a dense thicket of trees and underbrush, Sehun makes jokes about the likelihood of alien wild uncivilized peoples inhabiting such a small island. Jongin doesn’t worry too much, seeing as they haven’t seen any skulls perched atop sticks or other movie warning clichés like the ones in the pirate movies Minseok had made him watch for some random hot actor. He feels both safe and incredibly alert, knowing it’s just him and Sehun on the island. He trusts Sehun and knows Sehun will take care of him with the same fervent passion as Jongin would care for him.

But then, it sinks into Jongin, it’s just he and Sehun on the island, alone together, for over a week, and it feels somehow more intimate and uncertain than all the other times they ended up stuck with each other. Jongin had always known their boundaries, as far as the ones they had. Growing up together and literally fighting for their lives and roaming across the universe kind of doesn't leave room for boundaries, by all means. Jongin had always had a difficult time establishing working parameters when it came to Sehun. Now they were teaming up, marooned on a planet to try and survive.

“Hey, look, I think I see water!” Sehun says ahead of him, using his stick to hold back some thorny bushes for them to step through. The thorns still scrape Jongin’s legs as he pushes through, but Sehun is right, there is a pool of water directly ahead. It's a different shade of pink, more crystalline, to the point he can see its rocky depths. Around them, there are multitudes of colors, and lush foliage that looks like they were painted on.

Beautiful flowers in reds, yellows, purples, and pinks sprout happily along the banks of small streams. They switch colors randomly, like fairy Christmas lights. Following the streams, it allows them to hear the playful sound of the water lapping on the rocks, and the sound of leaves rustling when the wind blows gently, bringing with it a feeling of peace and tranquility. They’re both stupefied at the view.

“Good work, Sehun,” Jongin praises, and Sehun beams before stepping forward and scooping some water into his hands. He’s lifting it to his lips when Jongin warns, “Sehun! You don’t know if it's safe to drink yet!”

Sehun laughs. “They’re drinking it,” He points to some birds bathing across the pond, “And they wouldn’t be if there was something wrong with it.”

Jongin gasps. The first thing he thinks of when he glances at the birds is Pokémons. They’re all of all sizes and colors. Some of them have three eyes and leathery feathers, some with elongated beaks and spiked crowns. They tweet in harmony from the twigs, flapping their wings, as if they’re excited with their new visitors. 

“It still might not be safe,” Jongin says, glancing at the water warily.

“Tell you what,” Sehun says, his voice amused, “I’ll try some, and if I don’t die, then you can have some too.”

“Sehun,” Jongin scolds, giving him a side-long glare.

“No, no, I insist,” Sehun laughs, slurping water out of his hand, “Hmm… It’s so refreshing.” He teases, and the thirst scratches Jongin’s throat. He rolls his eyes, crouching beside Sehun. He brings his hands down to the water and lifts it to his own lips. He feels foolishly like a child trying to prove he isn’t afraid, but the cool water does feel good going down his throat. It’s revitalizing, tasting just like Jongin expected to taste. Spurred on, they scoop up several more times until their thirst is quenched. 

Afterward, they sit on the ground by the water, enjoying the shade and watching the tropical birds for a few minutes. When they fly close, Sehun yelps and gropes Jongin’s biceps, but the birds show themselves as harmless. They just want to play. Jongin indulges them a little, but they get bored quickly and take off into the blue woods. 

“We can’t camp in here,” Sehun says thoughtfully, pulling some water through his dark hair, “Not if we want to be able to be found when they come looking. We should try and find some big shells or gourds or something to keep water in, so we don’t have to walk half a mile every time we need a drink.”

Jongin nods. “We should get back to the shoreline, and start building a shelter, and a fire before it gets dark.”

Sehun looks over at him, and grins proudly. “See, what did I tell you? It’s gonna be fine, hyung,” It’s rare to hear Sehun call him hyung. Even though he doesn’t technically need to, it slips out sometimes when he’s distracted. He doesn’t call the others by the honorific either, unless he has a reason, so Jongin doesn’t feel special. He just nods again. 

“I’ll gather up some wood on the way back for the fire,” A little clear-headed now, he feels a pinch of optimism build inside. He pushes himself up, brushing off his pants, “And you look for things to hold water.”

“And then I’ll get us some fish to eat and you can look for fruits. Let's just hope they’re edible.” Sehun agrees, holding out a hand for Jongin to pull him up. Jongin does, and Sehun leans forward, right into Jongin’s chest and presses their cheeks together, whispers in Jongin’s ear, “Stop worrying so much,” His eyelashes brush Jongin’s cheek before he pulls away and starts striding off.

Jongin’s face grows hot at the contact, at the feel of Sehun’s smooth cheek brushing his three-day-old stubble, at the unintentional butterfly kiss. Maybe the foreign water did alter his brain chemicals. Jongin trips a little over his own feet as he makes to follow him, and manages to get his blushing under control by the time he catches up.

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

Jongin comes back with a pile of wood large enough to build a fire for three days. Sehun is gourd-less, having spent a good deal of time laughing at Jongin picking up wood almost too big for him to carry instead of looking for water-holding devices. Jongin never gave up, though. He’s a big strong guy, after all. He’s just on an empty stomach, and he’s pretty sure the wood from this planet weighs heavier. 

By the time they’re done, the sky is getting dark, and the evening on the east side already breaking. A mixture of purple and blueish on the horizon beneath a dark neon pink ocean begins to peek out. Two moons slowly rise, taking a mighty position at the top of the sky, as the day fades away. 

“Okay, I guess we’re settled.” Sehun picks up his spear again, skipping off towards the water, “Build us a fire while I go get some dinner.”

Jongin watches him go with a smile, having dropped the logs in a heap next to their supplies. He turns back to them, and he stares at them for a long minute. A fire. Oh how he misses Chanyeol right now. They never needed to learn how to make a fire, because Chanyeol has fire in his hands already. Never before had they worried about lack of water, or light. Their powers were part of themselves. Until now.

A little unconfident, Jongin grabs a couple of the larger logs and puts them in a heap. He stares at the logs, his heart sinking. How was he supposed to start a fire in the first place? He tries to think about some of the movies the others had made him watch, and tries to remember how they built fires in the stories.

Rubbing two sticks together? It sounds right. He grabs one of the little sticks and one of the medium-sized ones and starts rubbing them against one another over the others' logs. It does nothing, so he increases his speed.

Something stabs his skin, and he drops the sticks. A splinter. Nice.  

One of the sticks slips in his hand as he furiously rubs the sticks together and pierces his thumb with a small thorn. He puts his thumb in his mouth, and then regrets it as it tastes salty from the ocean and sand.

He sits back, letting his legs go out in front of him as he tries to pick the splinter from his thumb. There must be a trick to starting fires this way. Jongin takes two of the bigger logs out of the pile and tosses them aside, arranging the logs so that there is space between them. Then he grabs the sticks again, and tries holding one steady while he rubs the other against it.

He’s expecting smoke, or sparks, or something.

But he’s met with nothing.

“Hey, dinner is served!” Sehun’s voice surges, and he’s coming back from the shore with two fish on his spear. He got rid of his shirt, probably to move better underwater. He looks like a fucking model posing for a photoshoot as he struts near, with all his broad and sharp features. “And look what I found--” He starts, and then halts when he glances at Jongin. “Everything okay?”

Jongin scowls, looks back at the logs, and sets his jaw.

Sehun comes over, sticks the end of the spear into the sand so it stays standing, and sits down next to Jongin. “How’s the fire coming?”

Jongin huffs, and then shrugs. “I’ve never had to do this before,” He admits, still picking at his thumb, “So it’s not going as well as it could.”

Sehun reaches over and pulls Jongin’s hand toward him. “What did you do?” He asks, holding Jongin’s thumb up.

“Splinter,” Jongin says, and he watches as Sehun picks very carefully at Jongin’s hand and then lifts it up to his lips. He sucks at the splinter with his lips, and Jongin opens his mouth and nothing comes out but a strangled noise of disapproval. And then Sehun pulls away and spits to the side, and lets Jongin’s hand go.

“Better?” He asks, standing like he already knows the answer.

Jongin nods, cradling his thumb and not trusting his voice. Sehun was so strange, sometimes. Regular people didn’t go around putting the bloody thumbs of others in their mouths, did they? It sent a shiver down Jongin’s spine.

“We need a better stick for that,” Sehun says, pushing a few apart in the larger pile and coming up with a curved one, “And some of that dental floss.”

It takes Sehun all of three minutes to tie the floss to one of the sticks and use three sticks, not two, in a strange arrangement, to start the fire. It smokes, and then Sehun lowers his mouth down and, with the same gentleness he’d used to pull the splinter from Jongin’s thumb, blows the fire to life.

Jongin stares at the fire, maybe a little bit in disbelief and a bit in embarrassment. Sehun had made it look so easy, but then, Sehun did that with a lot of things.

“It’s okay,” Sehun tells Jongin, reaching over and putting a hand on his shoulder, his thumb stroking back and forth gently. “But let’s not let it go out, yeah? I don’t know if I can do that again.”

He smiles, gives Jongin’s shoulder a squeeze, and then drops his hand. “Look what I found! A water-holding shell!” He changes the subject, and passes the shell to Jongin. It’s big and deep, and will work for keeping water nearby very well. “What do you say we eat these fish, and then get some water and finish setting up camp? 

Jongin nods, helps Sehun skewer the fish, and puts them in the sand near the fire to cook. The screaming of their hunger just has them risking it and stuffing themselves, and in the end, they're satisfied and safe. The fish are actually just like the ones from Earth. Same color and smell. Apparently, fish are universal. Things don't seem as drastic as Jongin thought it would be. Still, incapable of doing much to help, he feels like a burden. 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

The rest of the evening doesn’t get much better for Jongin. He lights up a torch and offers to go get the water while Sehun rests, and then he loses his way on the way back. Sehun comes looking for him, helps him, and marks the trees along a path with long notches with his spear so that neither of them will get lost again.

Then they attempt to set up some sort of shelter with some of the larger driftwood and logs, and Jongin stubs his toe and drops a support and the whole structure collapses. Sehun tells him to stop thinking like a westerner and helps Jongin build a tipi-like hut, instead of one with four walls and a roof. The space is tiny, but Jongin avoids thinking about how they'll have to snuggle up to fit under the hut.

By the time night fully comes, they have water, a bonfire, full stomachs, and shelter, and it’s all thanks to Sehun. The fish tasted sweet, like cotton candy, which was pleasant in the end. 

Jongin feels absolutely useless, more so than he had on the spaceship. On board, he’d known that his primary function was company, Sehun trusted him, and liked being around him, and he had known when Sehun had asked him to come that Jongin wasn’t good at sneaking out and investigating. Jongin’s field was combat and attack. He can wild out during battles, be reckless, and not care about the consequences. He isn't cut out for strategies or testing out his resistance. Here, his purpose had been watching out for Sehun, yet he failed. Now, stranded on an island with little resources, he feels like he should at least be able to contribute. He couldn’t do the simplest of tasks. And then, of course, he thinks, both of those things were thanks to his powers, which are currently off-reach.

Was he really nothing without his power? Wasn’t there anything he could do on his own merit? He always wanted to be ‘normal’ , to live a normal life without being chased, without having to hide, and now that he gets the chance to do it, he feels worthless.

“Hey,” Sehun says from beside him, nudging his shoulder, “There appears to be a big dark cloud gathering over your head. What’s wrong?”

They've been watching the two moons up in the sky, and the twinkling stars as they try to figure out the notes on Junmyeon’s diaries. But Jongin is still mostly clueless about it all. He looks over at him, and looks back out at the crashing waves. “Nothing,” he lies, “I think I’m just tired.”

“Yeah,” Sehun agrees, and his lips go up and then down, an aborted attempt at a smile, like he doesn’t believe him, “Me too. Long day.”

“I think I’ll just try and get some rest,” Jongin says, and he stands, placing the books aside. He considers tossing a few logs on the fire so it won’t go out overnight, but he figures Sehun will do it and thinks he’ll only mess it up, so he just goes to their tent-thing and lays down on top of the red blanket, the heat from the sand plenty warm. He grabs the pillow to clutch it tight for comfort, but then thinks Sehun will need it more than him, so he pushes it aside. He knows he won't be able to fall asleep under that tiny hut. He has to fold his knees so as not to accidentally kick it down. They should have measured it according to their height. He thinks even Kyungsoo would feel trapped in this. His shoulder is still a bit sore, but hey at least they can cross out Day One as a success. 

He hears a rustling of the fire, and then silently, Sehun joins him. He crawls in slowly, and Jongin can feel him struggling to fit himself without as much as grazing Jongin. “You did really good today, Kai,” Sehun says quietly to Jongin’s back when he lays down.

“Don’t patronize me,” Jongin warns harshly, and then bites his tongue and reels in his tempter.

“I wasn-” Sehun starts, but Jongin cuts him off.

“It's fine,” He says sternly, and then softens his voice so Sehun will know it isn’t him he’s mad at. “Let’s just go to sleep.”

Sehun is quiet for a long moment, but then he rolls over and turns away with a muttered, “Okay,” and they fall asleep facing away from one another. 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

He vaguely dreams about Sehun reaching him, about Sehun breathing softly at the back of his neck, but even in his dream he has trouble accepting the affection and wriggles away no matter how much he wants to stay. 

The limited space doesn't give them the privacy they need – or at least Jongin does – to sort their feelings out. So Jongin shuts his eyes tightly and pretends to sleep. Eventually, he falls asleep listening to the sound of Sehun’s soft breathing, but to Jongin’s ears, even that sounds like he's disappointed with him. 

Jongin isn't sure how long it passes, but he's woken up by the whistling of the wind and the jostling of the wood around them. There's also the sound of something clattering, and only when he is taken over by the extreme cold does he realize the clattering comes from their teeth. The temperature has dropped enormously. It's freezing. 

“I-I can't sleep,” Sehun stammers. Jongin realizes he's shaking too, and suddenly he can't feel his toes. He turns to face Sehun. He can't see much in the darkness, but he can feel Sehun shaking as well, can feel his eyes are wide and pleading for something. 

“I wish I could divert the wind.” Sehun says, and Jongin realizes something else. He's not the only one feeling helpless without his powers. 

“I-it’s okay… Jus–just come here.”

But Sehun doesn't move. Jongin can feel him staring, questioning. 

“We must get under the blanket and cuddle up. It'll help.” Jongin explains. It's not like they've never cuddled before. Surely, it's been a long time since they did it, and it had been awkward, to say the least, but the situation calls for it desperately. 

“This feels like that scene from Twilight.” Sehun mumbles, refusing to abide. 

“You mean Eclipse. That scene is fucking horrible. And no, I'm no hot werewolf with supernatural heat coursing through my body. But pressing our bodies might help. It will reduce the coldness if we radiate our heat to each other.” 

Sehun grunts. He hesitates for a couple of seconds until he starts moving around. Jongin swallows down his sudden nervousness and begins to shift around too. They struggle at first, and the awkwardness is right there with them as they slip underneath the blanket and settle to a new position. Back when they used to do this, Sehun would always be the small spoon, and surprisingly that hasn't changed. Even though he's slightly taller and broader than Jongin now. Not now exactly. It's been a decade since Sehun outgrew Jongin, but Jongin can swear Sehun just started changing his voice. That he's still a brat who demands company to go to bed or else he won't sleep, the same kid who prays for their safety at night. 

They're both 30 now, but in Jongin’s eyes, Sehun will always be young and beautiful. He still smells a little like baby powder too, even after swimming around practically the whole day. That's just his natural scent, and it lures Jongin to slowly stop shaking and fall asleep again. He laces his arms tightly around Sehun, tangling their feet together, until the coldness starts to ebb away. Jongin straight up melts against the tenderness of Sehun’s skin, and fights the urge to plant a kiss over the curve of his shoulder. 

“Do you think it'll be this freezing every night?” Sehun whispers, as though to not wake somebody up. Force of habit, maybe. 

“I think I saw something about nightly low temperatures in Junmyeon's diaries. Couldn't get much. I just wasn't expecting to be this low.”

It takes Sehun a while to reply, and Jongin assumes he must have fallen asleep, when he finally speaks.

“Let me know when you want to switch. I'm good at that.”

Jongin shivers again, but this time he can't blame the cold. He pictures himself surrounded by Sehun's embrace, by the safety and warmth of it, and he rides on a high he never wants to get out of. He distantly registers that Sehun’s words were rather ambiguous. Or maybe it's just Jongin reading too much into it. Regardless, whatever Sehun meant by that, Jongin doesn't think he's ready to find out. 

 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

Screeches and deep growling come from outside. There are heavy footsteps too, dragging across the sand and lurking around the handmade tent. The sounds are subtle, as though just checking over, sniffing around. Nevertheless, Jongin doesn’t stir in his sleep, wrapped tightly in Sehun’s embrace. Nothing can spook him there. 

He hears the sounds distantly, swimming around in his dreams, and then they fade away, and Jongin assumes it is just a quick, harmless nightmare. 

 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

Sehun isn’t there when he wakes in the morning.

Jongin sits up, stretches, and then crawls out of the hut and brushes sand off himself. He takes the moment for privacy. He finds a spot hidden by trees to relieve himself and heads back into the pond to clean up his private parts. He misses a shower, and clean clothes too. Thank God he still has his toothbrush and paste. He brushes his teeth a little hurriedly, as if somebody might catch him, and switches his shirt inside out just to pretend he's wearing a new one. He could just go about his day shirtless, but feels shy for some reason. Not to mention his obvious tan. One day was all it took for his skin to tan. He bets Sehun still looks as pale as a ghost.

The birds are still there, watching him, but this time they don't sing, which is odd. They just stare creepily. Jongin assumes they might not be having a good day and leaves.

When he jogs into the shoreline, he looks around and sees Sehun down by the water, perched with a spear in hand, obviously hunting breakfast. He looks focused, or perhaps a tad bit annoyed. There's no hint of a stubble peeking out from his jaw, unlike Jongin. His hair looks luscious and clean too. It’s like he's immune to the consequences of being stranded on an island, all while Jongin is facing probably the most bothersome days of his life. After taking a sip of the water from the seashell, Jongin goes down to join him.

“Hey,” Jongin calls, coming up to the freshwater. He feels a little shy suddenly, his heart racing as the night before flashes in his mind. Even though they just cuddled, it felt… different. It felt right. He wonders if Sehun felt the same. He does look like he had a great night of sleep. 

Sehun raises a hand to his lips where he’s waist-deep in the water, and Jongin wonders how he can see any of the fish with the waves crashing.

Jongin waits and watches, sits down in the sand as the waves come up to kiss his toes before pulling back, and he watches Sehun fish. Sehun is perfectly still, totally silent, his balance impeccable even as the waves splash him back and forth. His feet must be buried in the sand, and Jongin wonders how long he’s been there. When he moves it’s swift and graceful, the spear coming down into the water and hoisted out quickly, a large fish on the end of it. Sehun cheers, and gives Jongin a happy smile.

Jongin applauds.

“That’s the first one I’ve caught all morning,” Sehun tells him, sloshing forward out of the water towards him, “You must be my good luck charm.”

Jongin stands, and follows Sehun back to the fire. “I’m sorry about yesterday,” He says, running his fingers over his scabbed thumb, “I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful.”

Sehun plops the fish on a stick and sets it on the fire. Then he looks up at Jongin, his eyes squinting in the sun and his lips curled. “You’re strange, Kai,” He says, before holding out a hand for Jongin to help him up. Jongin pulls him to his feet, and Sehun presses forward, and touches their heads together before brushing his lips gently against Jongin’s, like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

Jongin freezes at the contact, his flight or fight reflexes trying to make up their mind. His first thought is that this isn’t the first time Sehun has done this. It’s happened once before, just after their reencounter back on Earth. They were separated from one another when they first landed in their new home, forced to scatter not to draw attention. Jongin was on his own, living on the streets for years, having to get by not in the most honest ways, uncertain if he would ever see his friends again. Sehun got luckier. It didn't take him long to find Junmyeon and Kyungsoo. 

The day they met again, Sehun had wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and twisted his head to quickly press their lips together. They were so young. Jongin hadn’t had the time to contemplate it right then, because they’d been celebrating, and Tao and Chanyeol had lifted him onto their shoulders and away from Sehun a moment later, and Jongdae and Sehun had held hands and spun around in a circle. Things had happened so quickly that Jongin had decided not to think anything of it, especially when Sehun had pressed kisses to both of Baekhyun’s cheeks a few moments later. 

He was just happy, Jongin had rationalized, that was all. That's the reason they have maintained their friendship for 12 years after that kiss and never mentioned that accident again. Because it didn't mean anything but a hush of adrenaline in a moment of sheer celebration.

And now, years later, they're kissing again. They're still kissing. Jongin's head is spinning, and he can't pull back. He can't move at all, in fact. He's all stiff and shell-shocked, but their lips are still pressed innocently but genuinely too. Sehun pulls back with a little grin, his cheeks blushing slightly even in the bright sunlight, and Jongin doesn’t know what to do. Sehun has kissed him twice now and his heart is beating too fast and he feels sick to his stomach.

Sehun’s face falls as he watches him, and Jongin can tell he isn’t having the right reaction to this at all. Jongin averts his gaze so fast he thinks he hears his neck cracking.

“Kai,” Sehun says quickly, the hand on his shoulder tightening. 

It snaps Jongin’s body into action, and he draws backwards a few steps, until he topples on something and his foot is wet. He looks down in his haste and sees the shell with drinking water in it tipped over.

An escape, his brain practically screams at him, and he’s bending over clumsily to pick it up on instinct. “I’ll go get us some more,” he manages to get out before he turns and, breathing fast, storms away into the island forest.

Sehun doesn’t follow him. But the shame does. 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

 

At the pond, Jongin collapses, having followed the markings Sehun made on the trees at breakneck speed. He drops the shell, falls down on the cool ground, and lies on his back, staring up at the sun through the leaves, breathless.

“Shit,” he says quietly, and then, louder, “Shit!” Some birds scramble out of the trees around him. At least they won't be creeping around him, he thinks belatedly.

He brings a hand up to his face, and presses against his tired eyes. He is both disappointed and annoyed with himself for running away. Which is exactly what he did. He’d been faced with a problem, something he’d known about for a long time, something he should have seen coming from a long way away, and he’d turned tail and run away like a coward.

Jongin has never run from a fight before. Ever. He sighs and sits up, drinks from the water in the pond, and washes his face off. It does nothing to clear his head.

A thought strikes him, as he repeats the previous reprimand about running away in his mind, and he sits back, and considers. He’s never run from a fight, but this wasn’t a fight, was it? Running away from Sehun wasn’t driven by the same emotions that running away from a fight did. Running away from a fight was for survival, for fear of losing, to protect others. 

What was running from Sehun, if not the very opposite?

He’s known for a long time, he thinks, about Sehun’s feelings for him. Sehun had never made any effort to hide it. He's always treated Jongin differently, reserved full attention and affectionate touches exclusively for Jongin. When they were children, it hadn’t seemed out of place. When they were teenagers, Jongin had been able to dismiss it because of his responsibilities and secrets. They were both figuring themselves out, growing up, having experiences, collecting traumas. 

Now they’re grown up, and they’re not naive anymore. Somehow, Sehun’s feelings have remained, as clear as ever. But what about Jongin’s feelings? After all, he wasn’t really a fugitive anymore, and he was allowed to have feelings now. They have a home now, back on Earth. They have settled there and made enough memories to belong. They don't need to hide anymore. They just have to defeat their enemies.

Jongin really should have thought about all this before. In the back of his mind, he also considers that Sehun must just be feeling a little lonely. After all, they're all alone on that island. It would not be such a crime to take advantage of the privacy they have been given. But then again, he doesn't think Sehun would act on his feelings if they were not genuine. He would never lead Jongin on. Or at least that's what he wants to believe. 

He sits by the pond for a long time. So long that he thinks it must be late afternoon by the time he gets to his feet and fills the shell with water and steels himself to go back to the campsite. He can’t stay any longer, because it is just rude to keep Sehun away from the freshwater, and he knows Sehun won’t chance to come to find him even if he is thirsty, not with the way Jongin had freaked out and run away.

He has no idea what he’s going to say or do, no idea where to go from here, but he can’t sit around and do nothing all day. And he’s really hungry, so there’s that, too.

Just when he's turning on his heels, he hears it. Deep into the woods. A growl. Like a threat. Jongin freezes. It's the same strange noise he heard the previous night. The bushes and leaves rustle, and the sound of heavy footsteps drag on the ground, and they sound deadly sharp. Obviously, there would be wildlife on the island too. This must be a bear or a tiger. Jongin could fight it off. Then he remembers he doesn't have his powers anymore, and the doubt grows. He might be in graver danger than he thought. 

But there is something unsettling about the growling. Something that sounds monstrous and lethal. Colossal too. Though Jongin can't spot anything through the woods. He just feels it. Moving slowly. Growling lowly. It approaches him, growing louder.

Frightened, Jongin sprints off, and the only thing he can think of is that, no matter what's going on between them, he can't leave Sehun alone. 

 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

 

Sehun doesn't seem to be in a better headspace than Jongin. He has been nervous-fishing.

He’s made a little pile of the large palm-like leaves on the ground, and he’s been laying fish out on them. There’s a pile there, more than they could ever eat in one day, and they’ve no way to keep them from going bad here. But he’s down at the water still, standing with the spear and jabbing it in the water while he mutters to himself.

Jongin halts his steps, assuming it would not be wise to tell Sehun about whatever the hell he just heard creeping in the woods. Sehun has enough on his plate right now. And it's all thanks to Jongin and his incapacity of being clear about his feelings. With a sigh, he sets the shell with water down and heads down to the shoreline to stop him before Sehun overfishes their campsite and accidentally starves them to death.

Sehun is muttering to himself quietly, and the deep furrow on his brow looks annoyed and sorrowful. Jongin wishes he could hear what he was saying so he had a better idea of where Sehun’s head is, but he knows the moment Sehun spots his presence, he will fake a smile and pretend everything is okay. 

Sehun doesn’t seem to be making much of an effort to fish anymore, because he’s splashing around and aiming the spear at the water halfheartedly. Jongin imagines the fish have all gone, at least the ones that haven’t been caught already.

“Don’t you think we have enough?” Jongin asks, dipping his feet in the water.

Sehun jumps at the sound of Jongin’s voice, and then he loses his footing and falls down into the surf.

“Sehun!” Jongin says, and he rushes forward, fighting the grin that’s trying to come over his face as Sehun sputters in the waist-deep water.

Jongin reaches down, hooks an arm around Sehun, and helps him back up, even as Sehun is spitting out salt water and looking embarrassed. His eyes catch Jongin’s, and he looks so worried that Jongin’s stomach drops. He suddenly feels very guilty for staying away all afternoon.

“Are you okay?” Jongin asks, letting him go.

Sehun nods, brings a wet hand up to wipe his hair back away from his face, and wipes at his lips. “Mortified,” Sehun admits bashfully. 

Jongin grins, and reaches down to brush the water and sand off his own legs as they stand together by the water.

Sehun watches him for a moment. “Are you…” He starts, and then trails off. Jongin raises an eyebrow. “Okay?” Sehun finishes, and there’s so much in that word that for a moment Jongin doesn’t know how to answer.

“Yes,” he says, nodding carefully, watching Sehun’s eyes, “We’re okay.”

Sehun’s shoulders fall like he’s been holding his breath, and while he doesn’t smile or show it, it’s clear he understands. His relief washes over Jongin like a storm.

“I was just reading Junmyeon’s notes,” He changes directions suddenly, as if he wants to avoid the topic at all costs. We kissed, whatever, let's pretend it never happened again and move on. His sudden detachment from the whole thing takes Jongin off guard. He was expecting Sehun to confess or something equally cheesy. And they could pretend they were living happily ever after like in the Blue Lagoon movie. “We gotta find fruits. We can't live off these fish only. In the East part, apparently, we'll find plenty of them. But we have to be careful. Some of them might be intoxicating.” Sehun carries on.

Jongin takes a moment to work on his frustration and respond. His brain tells him to reply with something casual and neutral, just so he won't leave Sehun hanging. 

“What if it's freezing again tonight?” He ends up saying instead. Because what if it's freezing again tonight? Should they cuddle again? Should they just freeze to death? Jongin can't deny he was looking forward to doing it again. But after their kiss – no, scratch that – after Jongin’s dodging the kiss altogether, he doesn’t think it would be any wise of them to repeat that.

“Uh,” Sehun purses his lips. “We could build another hut if you want?”

“Not safe. Didn't you hear those noises last night?”

“Your snoring?”

“I don't snore!” Jongin protests. “I mean like growling? Clicking? Or screeches? Something like that. It's just very odd.”

“It's probably an animal. There must be other animals living here, right? We have to be careful.” Sehun figures. But Jongin has felt its presence. It wasn't just some animal. It was more sinister than that.  

“Yeah. That's what I'm saying. I don't think they're happy we're invading their home. So we'd better stick together. At night too.” He gives a little nervous laugh. 

“Okay…” Sehun caves. “Are you hungry?” Sehun asks, pointing to the pile of fish. “You didn’t eat breakfast.”

“Starved,” Jongin admits, and they walk back up to the fire together. Sehun has used his spear to sharpen some longer sticks for roasting the fish, and managed to collect what must be local fruit. They're arrayed neatly next to the pile of fish and they have odd shapes for fruits. And they're glittery too. They roast the fish and split open the melon-like fruits. 

“You’ve been busy,” Jongin remarks, looking over everything. Jongin gives Sehun a half grin, and says, “I got us some water.”

Sehun looks over at him and he grins too, because it’s funny. They stare at each other for a minute, both grinning, like two idiots, and it's good knowing things are okay between them. Even though this is not exactly what Jongin was expecting. But as long as Sehun’s with him, he won't complain.

“Saw some of these in Yixing's sketches.” Sehun says, motioning to the line of fruits. “Pretty sure he's been here before.”

They don't say it out loud, but both of them hope, even if it's something nearly impossible to happen, that Yixing might still be around. On that same island. Safe and sound. And that he has a way for them to restore their powers and fly back home. It's a wishful thinking that entertains Jongin enough to keep going. “The stone too. He drew it multiple times. It must be something important. It sucks that I lost it.”

Sehun drinks most of the water, but the purple melon-like fruits are ripe enough that Jongin isn’t thirsty, and they eat until they’re stuffed and still have more than enough fish leftover.

Sehun pulls some more leaves down and covers the fish up so they won’t draw any scavenging birds, at least for the evening, and then they walk back to the pond to get more water. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any beast making frightening noises from the bushes. Jongin warns Sehun they should still be careful, but Sehun doesn't seem to be so worried about this so-called animal hidden in the woods.

“I’ve been thinking,” Sehun says, as they walk, “About trying to make some rope out of braided tree bark, to hang some leaves over our shelter, to keep it cooler.”

“Sure,” Jongin agrees, stepping over the thorny bushes, completely uncertain what making bark rope would involve, and also not caring because Sehun will know and Jongin will learn from him. Sehun is behind him, and Jongin hears his shorts catch on the bushes, and Sehun stumbles. On instinct Jongin turns and holds out his hand, catching Sehun’s in his to steady him.

Sehun gets his shorts free and looks at Jongin, his eyes wide. Jongin hasn’t let go of his hand, and his stomach does the funny little thing that Sehun makes it do, and he thinks he should do it, he should just lean forward and kiss him. Sehun obviously wants him to, and Jongin thinks he might want to, but he… he isn’t any good at all of this, and he wishes Sehun would take the lead again, give Jongin another chance at it now that he’s had time to recover.

But Sehun pulls his hand away after a moment and steps away, averting his eyes, and Jongin knows that isn’t going to happen after this morning. Sehun will probably never kiss him again.

He opens his mouth to say something at the same time Sehun blurts out, “I’m sorry I kissed you this morning.”

Jongin closes his mouth, uncertain. “You are?”

Sehun looks back up at him, and shrugs. “I mean, I thought that you, that I,” Sehun stumbles, then gestures between them. He drops his hand. “It doesn’t matter. I just don’t want you to hate me because of it.”

Jongin frowns. “I could never hate you,” he says, struck by how true it is, “Never, Sehun. Especially not for something like kissing me. You just… caught me off guard.”

Sehun watches him, and tilts his head slightly. “I didn’t mean to. I mean,” and Sehun chews his lips, looks at a loss for words, “I thought that you knew, sort of, everything. About me.”

“I did,” Jongin admits quietly, “I think. I don’t want you to be sorry for kissing me,” he continues, a little lump of uncertainty rising in his throat, “I’m just sorry I reacted badly.”

Sehun narrows his eyes, like he thinks he might know what that means but isn’t sure, and Jongin doesn’t know how to clarify it anymore for him. Jongin shrugs, gives Sehun an uncertain smile, and turns to get water from the pond. It takes Sehun a minute, but he joins him, and they sit there in the shade and drink while their food digests, and Jongin waves at a bug buzzing around them.

He finds Sehun watching him after a little while. He stares back.

“I’m just trying to figure out,” Sehun says to the quiet clearing, “When it was I first thought we were on the same page about this.”

Jongin frowns. “What do you mean?”

Sehun pulls his legs up and wraps his arms around them. “I didn’t think I was subtle about it, you know? And there was the other time, but you probably don't ever remember it anymore.”

“I remember,” Jongin tells him, which makes Sehun’s eyebrows go up.

“Then why was today different?” He wonders, so quiet Jongin almost can’t hear despite how close they’re sitting like he’s afraid of the answer.

Jongin looks down, and picks at the grass and twigs on the ground. “You kissed Baekhyun hyung, too, that day,” Jongin says with a shrug, and he sees Sehun throw his head back out of the corner of his eye. “I guess I just convinced myself it didn’t,” He hesitates, because he doesn’t want to say it doesn’t matter, “that it wasn’t important,” he tries, and that sounds wrong too and he winces.

“For your information,” Sehun says, still looking upwards, “Kissing on the lips is romantic. Kisses on the cheeks, like I kissed hyung, that’s how I’d kiss my brother. They’re my brothers.”

“Not me?” 

“I don't want you to. I want you to be something more. I've always seen you as more than just a brother.”

Jongin looks up at him, and Sehun is still sitting with his head tipped back, but he’s smiling, and Jongin thinks he’s embarrassed again, but he’s still focused on what Sehun has just implied. That he sees Jongin like that.

Jongin manages to suck in a breath, shrugs helplessly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” he says, “But I’m actually not that good at… stuff. Like this.”

Sehun finally lets his head fall back, and he’s grinning with raised eyebrows as if to say, ‘You think’ ?

Jongin picks a small pebble up and tosses it at him, which makes Sehun smile. Relationships were not Jongin’s strong suit. He's tried a few times, with men and women alike. Some of his hyungs have made it work, but Jongin, for some reason, never did. He thinks deep down he might know why, and the reason is sitting right next to him. But there were other things involved too. Like the fact he could teleport and there were aliens pursuing him. Jongin was not ready to shoulder the burden of jeopardizing someone's life.  

“I’m sorry,” Sehun says again, breaking Jongin’s thoughts, his voice serious, “I think I just… I wanted it so badly that I convinced myself that you felt the same way I did, and I almost ruined our friendship. I won’t do it again.”

Jongin frowns as Sehun stands and fills the shell, like it's final, that’s it, discussion over. He wants to object, opens his mouth and closes it, isn’t sure what to say. “I didn’t,” he says, scrambling to his feet, and then he hesitates. “That’s not,” he says again, and Sehun turns to him questioningly. “Don’t say that,” he settles on, and Sehun’s face does something funny.

Jongin tries to think what normal people would do in a situation like this. And then of course, he remembers he doesn’t know any normal people and every single one of his friends is emotionally stunted in different ways and he has nothing for comparison, and he sighs.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Jongin warns Sehun, and then he leans forward and presses his lips against Sehun’s.

The hand of Sehun’s holding the shell goes slack at the contact, and he spills water down Jongin’s calf. It makes Jongin break away momentarily, uncertain, but Sehun drops the shell and brings his hand up to Jongin’s neck, stepping closer to him, renewing the pressure against his lips.

Jongin has no idea what to do with his hands, so he just reaches out blindly and settles them on Sehun’s sides, and Sehun’s other hand comes up to hold Jongin’s shoulder. Sehun parts his lips slightly, and turns his head, and Jongin leans into it, lets Sehun lead, lets Sehun pull him closer, and he has his eyes closed but he opens them just slightly to look at Sehun, who is so close and who emits this happy little sound that vibrates to Jongin’s mouth. Jongin closes his eyes again and loses himself in the kiss, which turns into two kisses, and then three.

And God, he thinks, how did he ever convince himself that Sehun kissing him hadn’t meant anything? Sehun's lips have this magic that Jongin always misses when kissing other people. Some sort of spell that elates Jongin to the point of euphoria. 

Sehun pulls away and dips his head slightly so their noses brush. Jongin concentrates on his harsh breathing, trying to even it before he lets Sehun go and opens his eyes. He feels the amused puff of air escape Sehun’s lips, and his own crack into a smile as he opens his eyes and see’s Sehun smiling back.

“For not being very good at this stuff,” Sehun says, breathlessly, “That was… very adequate.”

Jongin laughs, which makes Sehun laugh, and they stand there with their foreheads pressed together gently in the cooling jungle, Sehun’s thumb gently brushing Jongin’s jaw.

Sehun clears his throat after a while. “We should probably, uh, get back to the shore before it starts to get dark.”

Jongin hums in agreement, and Sehun pulls away.

He bends down to pick up the shell and refill it with water, and then he leads the way back out of the clearing. At some point, Jongin ends up beside him, and Sehun’s fingers brush his. It's instinct that makes him reach out and grab onto Sehun’s hand and entwine their fingers together. It seems to be the right thing to do, though, because Sehun squeezes his hand and smiles, and they hold hands all the way back to their camp.

 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

They end up moving the fish they can’t finish to the other side of the beach, leaving it for the birds. They stick pieces of one of the glittery fruit on sticks and roast it over the fire until it caramelizes, giving it a sugary taste. They sit in the sand next to the fire, eating the candied fruit pieces and looking at the stars in the uncommonly clear sky. The two moons seem to grow further apart from each other, but the doubled intensity of their lights makes the night lighter than the night back home. Thanks to them, they have never been shrouded in total darkness. Jongin is puzzled by them. He's always been into astronomy. Not just for duty, but passion. He spends too much time in space, for that matter. It only makes sense he looks to broaden his knowledge on the subject. 

“I wonder what kind of fruit this is,” Jongin says, munching another piece.

“It’s probably a kind of mango,” Sehun responds, “But just one we don’t have back where we live. We should take some back with us, plant it, make a fortune,” Sehun teases, and then he points, “Oh, shooting star!”

“Actually, it’s a piece of debris or space rock burning up in our atmosphere,” Jongin says without thinking about it, “Stars are stationary.”

Sehun stays quiet, and after a moment, Jongin looks over at him to see he’s being glared at.

Jongin raises his eyebrows. “Or,” he amends carefully, smirking, “It’s a shooting star.”

Sehun shakes his head, eats more of the dessert fruits, and lies back to watch the ‘shooting stars’.

Jongin joins him, laying his head down next to Sehun’s over the spread-out blanket. He twists to look at Jongin.

“Why don't you make a wish?”

Jongin chews his lip, and he doesn't even need to think too hard. “It would be obvious, wouldn't it? My wish?” 

“The more obvious it is, the stronger it becomes.” 

“Then I'll wish for something else.” He murmurs, closing his eyes just for effect. Yeah, he wants to get the hell out of that island, as soon as possible, but he also wants this – Whatever this is with Sehun – to last. Sehun doesn't pry. He remains silent as Jongin’s mind wanders. He wishes for it so hard he thinks Sehun can hear it, because he chuckles, and after a while, he moves on. 

“Do you remember the time I convinced you to paint our spaceship with vomit green? And you were obsessed with drawing bears everywhere.”

Jongin squeezes his eyes shut. “Oh god, Junmyeon was furious, and we had to scrub the whole wall off by hand afterward.” Sehun laughs, but Jongin rubs his hands over his face at the memory. “It took two whole days, Sehun, my fingers were raw.”

They laugh in unison. That was ages ago, but Jongin's mind can still recall it vividly. Sehun allowed Jongin to enjoy his youth the best they could. Together they were always up to no good. He thinks if it weren't for Sehun's goofiness and his joyful view of life despite the constant dangers they have to face, Jongin would have matured way too soon. 

“Yeah,” Sehun agrees, still chuckling, “But before that, before he caught us, when it was just you and me drawing on the wall and having fun,” he pauses, twists more so that he’s lying on his side, and then he reaches out and puts his hand on Jongin’s shoulder, “That’s how I feel right now.”

Jongin grins. “Like you’re doing something you know you’ll get in trouble for?” He asks, and Sehun laughs.

“No,” He objects, shoving Jongin’s shoulder lightly, “Happy, just happy.”

Jongin smiles, but then his face falls as he thinks back to the memory. “I knew, I knew the whole time we were doing it that we were going to get caught and get in trouble. I was so nervous, and when Junmyeon finally came around the corner I was relieved. It was not as much fun for me as it was for you,” He admits.

Sehun makes a face. “Then why did you agree to do it?”

Jongin shrugs, feeling the sand beneath him move. “You wanted to, and I knew that you wouldn’t desert me when we did eventually get caught. I actually think I had more fun cleaning the wall the next two days, remember, because he had forbidden us from talking to one another, so we kept trying to furtively communicate by washing the paint away to spell things,” Jongin reminds him, and Sehun wrinkles his nose, laughs again. “And Junmyeon kept correcting my spelling.”

Sehun hums. “I guess we remember things a little differently,” he muses, looking back out at the sky, “I remember getting us into trouble, and you remember getting us out of it.”

In a low, calm voice, Sehun reveals, a little broken, but honestly too. "I remember having you around. At all times. Like a part of me. Different from the others.”

Suddenly Jongin is turning, wrenching over onto his side, looking down into Sehun's face. "I feel that too, Sehun." It’s definitely the fact they grew up together and were born in the same year, but there's something else too. A stronger bond. 

Sehun hasn't moved or blinked. “Seems only fair we’re also dying together.” He murmurs, much to Jongin’s sudden shock. He glances at Sehun with a frown of utter bafflement. Sehun’s the one holding them together on this island. He’s always the one with lifted spirits no matter the situation. He can’t be speculating about death. Not when they have come this far, mostly thanks to him. The truth is, he’s awfully scared too. And there’s only so much hope one can uphold.

“We’re not dying here, Sehun.”

Sehun snorts. “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about that either. How long do you think we can last before we dehydrate? Or before whatever is out there reaches us?”

Words can’t seem to reach Jongin’s mouth all of a sudden. Sehun’s right. He’s been aware of the lingering threat out there. He’s just been turning a blind eye to it for the sake of maintaining Jongin’s positivity. Or what’s left of it, thereof. For that, Jongin can’t help the guilt to heighten in him. Sehun should be allowed to let his feelings out too. He’s allowed to feel afraid. He shouldn’t be masking his fears to quieten Jongin’s.

“I won’t let it,” Jongin catches himself uttering. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you. To us. I mean, I have to be useful somehow, right? Whether I have my powers or not.”

“You’re useful, Kai. Just by being here with me. Honestly, If I was alone here I think I would have already lost my mind.” Sehun lets out a throaty laugh, but it’s hollow. Jongin can tell by the way his eyes don’t wrinkle at the sides and his cheeks don’t even move. Jongin sighs, and in a moment of explosive impulse, he reaches in, curls his hand around Sehun’s neck, and kisses him. Kisses him like he needs Sehun to know they’ll get through this. Together. Kisses him with the determination he was lacking until a few hours ago. Kisses him like he’s now one hundred percent sure that they’ll never be apart again. That they are meant to be. Sehun's skin and hair smell constantly of seawater. Taste like it too. It's hard to let go.

When Jongin finally pulls away, a little short of breath, he finds Sehun staring at him with rosy cheeks and wide eyes. He blinks, a little dumbfounded, and then, this time, the smile frames his features into the one Jongin’s used to seeing on him. Sehun’s eyes thin into those little adorable crescents and his cheeks go high. Jongin plants a chaste kiss on his lips again, just because he can.

“Maybe we should go out hunting tomorrow. It might be fun. Or not.” He suggests, the gloom visibly ebbing away from his shoulders. Resting his head against Sehun’s, Jongin chuckles. They’re better to seek whatever has been haunting them, before they’re caught off guard by them. They should be steeling themselves for the imminent attack. And if this was their only way to break loose from the monotony of their recent routine, Jongin would take it. He does have a promise to withhold now.

Hopefully, in the future, this too will be a memory of happiness. 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

The glittering sun rays spread various hues of rose when the morning arrives. They have leftover fruit for breakfast while they chat and reminisce about their adventurous journeys through space and how much they miss their hyungs. Later, Sehun leads Jongin through the jungle, looking for trees with the right kind of bark to pull off in long strips. They collect a heap of it, and then Sehun makes it into rope while Jongin climbs some of the trees and pulls down big, heavy green leaves. Teamed up, they are more productive than they thought they would ever be. 

It gets to a point where Jongin's shirt can't take any more labor. It's stained and all torn up, so he ends up peeling it off his body. Maybe they can use its stripes to tie something useful for hunting or sustaining their shelter. Sehun’s eyes feast over him subtly, but Jongin pretends he doesn't see it and carries on with his duties.

When he brings a pile over to where Sehun is sitting in the shade, he sits down next to him and gets rewarded with a kiss on the cheek. It's such an uncalled-for move it leaves Jongin dumbfounded. 

“Wait a minute,” Jongin says, pulling a leaf over, his cheeks flaring. “I thought kisses on the cheek were platonic?”

Sehun laughs. “Double kisses, like how I kissed Baekhyun sometimes, yes,” He says, still working the drying bark, “But just one, like that, no.”

Jongin frowns. “I think you’re making up the rules,” he argues, watching Sehun’s hand falter. “How are two kisses less romantic than one?”

Sehun just grins down at where he’s working. “Help me with this,” he says, his eyes glinting with mischief, “And I’ll school you on romantic actions for the rest of the afternoon.”

Jongin blushes, but he cooperates without much other commentary. Apparently, there are rules to it he doesn't quite comprehend. He feels a little naive. At his age, this should be basic knowledge, but he's never been one for romance and chivalry. Never saw the necessity of it. Until now, Sehun is offering him a totally different experience of what Jongin knew about… love. The sound of that word in his mind terrifies him a little. He doesn't want to think about it, doesn't want to label what they are or will be after they leave this place. If they ever leave. 

They hang a bunch of leaves over their tipi-like shelter, which shades it and makes it sort of blend in with the jungle behind. Jongin actually has to go back into the jungle to get a few more, and when Sehun is satisfied they drink what’s left of their water and then Sehun insists they ‘try it out’.

The way the sticks fall makes it just barely tall enough for them to stand in. But Jongin has to admit that Sehun has done a good job putting it together, and he’s wondering what else they’re going to busy their time with now that all the survival necessities are complete and improved.

But then Sehun comes over to him, puts both hands on Jongin’s face, and draws him in close.

“Lesson one,” Sehun says quietly, and he presses his lips lightly against Jongin’s, “That is a peck. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it can go either way. You can kiss just about anyone like that with the right attitude.”

Jongin grins, and nods. “Okay.” it was just a peck, but it was enough to make his heart flutter in his chest. 

“This,” Sehun demonstrates the double kiss he’d given Baekhyun, “Is a greeting or celebratory kiss, supposedly originating in France. It’s familial, close friends can use it, and there’s a stereotype about gay guys doing it a lot, which I suppose I’m adding to but,” Sehun rattles off and moves on. “And this,” and Sehun leans in close to Jongin’s cheek, presses his lips there gently, just enough to feel the pressure before he pulls away, and his nose brushes Jongin’s cheek as he pulls away, “Is not what I would call platonic in nature.”

Jongin’s stomach does a funny flop, and he swallows and nods. “Okay,” he repeats.

Sehun grins at him, and then he looks down, and reaches for Jongin’s hand. He demonstrates two ways of holding it, one where the fingers are entwined, and one where they aren’t. “Romantic, platonic,” he says, demonstrating each again with the accompanying description. Jongin wonders what the difference is, but is somewhat gratified to know he’d gotten that one right.

“Hugging,” Sehun announces, and he takes a step back, “There are actually three kinds. There’s the acquaintance hug,” Sehun laughs, and he leans forward and puts his arms quickly around Jongin and gives him a hard smack on the back, “In which most of the body doesn’t actually touch,” and he pulls back, grinning. “Then there’s the good friends hug, which is basically how Baekhyun hugs us all the time,” and he demonstrates that one too. There’s a tight squeeze that goes with it, which feels very much like how  Baekhyun often latches onto them. Sehun pulls back again. “And then, the romantic,” Sehun steps closer, brings his arms up around Jongin’s shoulders gently, and pulls him close, their cheeks touching, “Which tends to uh, linger, for a bit.”

Jongin closes his eyes and brings his hands up to encircle Sehun’s back, and he feels Sehun sigh into his shoulder.

“You’re a fast learner,” he mumbles, and Jongin knows what those words mean. His heart does something fluttery, and he has to remind himself to take a deep breath. Sehun turns his head slightly, until his forehead is against the side of Jongin’s face, and Jongin has to take a moment to brace himself before he turns his own head and lets Sehun kiss him in the most un-platonic way he knows of.

There’s… lots of movement, and Jongin tries to go with the flow, to stay in sync with Sehun as their lips move gently across one another’s, as Sehun’s hand comes up to hold onto the back of Jongin’s neck in a way that makes his spine tingle, and he lets his own hand travel up Sehun’s back and grip the soft, thin fabric of his tank top.

Sehun starts to pull away, to end it with a few quicker kisses, but Jongin doesn’t let him for a moment, keeps Sehun close and breathless, and Sehun’s hand grips Jongin’s shoulder like he’s completely lost.

When they do break apart, Sehun lets out a slow breath, like he’s trying to slow his heart down, and it makes Jongin smile.

“And that one,” Sehun starts, and Jongin interrupts.

“I think I know which kind that one is,” he whispers, letting Sehun’s head fall back against his own, and they both grin widely as they stand there holding each other.

Even in the shade, it’s warm, and Jongin would be lying if he said that kissing Sehun didn’t make him almost uncomfortably hot. It makes his skin tingle, the way Sehun’s fingertips trail over his neck, the way Sehun breathes on his neck just before. It’s the only reason he lets Sehun pull away from him to go get water, and Jongin lays down on their red blanket over the sand, covering his eyes with his arm in a lazy, blissed-out way.

 

 

 

 🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

At nightfall, when the air turns from stale and sweltering to crisp and heavy, they do their best to make themselves comfortable in the hut. Jongin reserves a moment to study more of Junmyeon’s notes, even though they have mostly proven to be useless so far. He’s more intrigued by Yixing’s drawings, however. He still hasn’t figured out most of them. Or why that stone seems to be so important to him, yet he can’t shake the feeling there’s something in them he’s not accurately absorbing.

The moonlight barely trespasses the hut, casting shadows on the walls, and dousing the small space in an unearthly silver hue. In the dimness, Jongin glances over the sketchbooks to watch Sehun quietly moving about to make himself comfortable as he clutches the Sonic pillow and he settles in a sitting position mirroring Jongin from across the hut. He’s already trembling slightly. 

There is a sigh from the other side of the hut, drawn out and exaggerated. Jongin suppresses a smile as he ignores Sehun's obvious ploy for attention. It’s a tactic he has become used to; even before. He knew none of them would ever deny him that whenever he asked. Sehun’s impatient when he wants something. Jongin learned after the first dozen times that there is no real pressing matter attached to those sighs, but only the need for someone, namely Jongin, to stop whatever he is doing and focus on him. It has taken another dozen times for Sehun to realize Jongin is not to be pushed along and he would have to wait for him to be good and ready to give him the attention he wants.

There’s the matter of the rising cold of every night, dropping by the minute. They have to cuddle up again, if they want to have a decent night of sleep. But there’s also the fact that they’ve been full-on making out. They’re bound to gain ground on their relationship cuddling up in a dimly lit hut, just the two of them, free to explore each other’s body. Jongin eyes the small bottle of lube lying in the far corner of the hut. Untouched. Jongin thought they would never get to use it. But now the chances have arrived and Jongin’s never been more thankful for this coincidence. He hurriedly tears his eyes away from it when he notices Sehun’s head turning in the same direction, unfurling Jongin’s thoughts. The pent-up tension suddenly feels the hut.

Certainly, Jongin has fantasized about sex with Sehun countless times before. But now the fantasy becoming a reality is near inevitable. Unless Sehun declines, of course. Though, Jongin doesn’t think he would. Not with the way he’s staring at Jongin from across the short distance in the hut, as though inviting him in. There’s a tingling sensation coursing through Jongin’s skin just by the thought of it, and he knows he will no longer be able to concentrate on drawings and cryptic notes. Nervously, he clears his throat and slowly crawls next to Sehun. He finds it difficult since his joints now feel like they’re made of jelly. The books are still in his hold, for he has no clue what he should do with his hands once he reaches Sehun. He needs them occupied or else he’ll just make a fool of himself.

When he slides next to sit next to Sehun with their knees touching, he notices the muscles of Sehun’s soft abs are relaxed, and Jongin's eyes catch on the trail of thin veins that lead beneath his loose trousers. He wonders if the slight tremble is a sign of nervousness too, or if it’s just the cold outside. Honestly, Jongin is hardly feeling it. His mind is too busy with wanting to feel anything other than arousal. He is even sweating a little, beading at his back, making Jongin's mind drift to imagining what their slick bodies pressed together would feel like.

He’s worse than a virgin at this point.

With a stretch, Sehun wraps his arm around Jongin's shoulders and pulls himself closer. Jongin quickly goes back to his book, not wanting Sehun to know he succeeded in distracting him without much effort. He could just drop the books and mount on Sehun like there’s no tomorrow for them -- because in their case, there really might not be – But with Sehun he wants to make it right. He wants to savor every minute and second of it, and he can’t just rush things up. 

“How’s that reading going,” Sehun purrs in his ear, and the warmth of his breath only adds to the heat of Jongin’s body. Not looking up from his book, Jongin replied to the endearment with a wave of his hand.

“Well,” Jongin gulps, his mind spinning. “One of us needs to puzzle these out.”

“Come on, Kai.” Sehun's playful tone causes the corners of Jongin's lips to twitch in a near smile. “Let me make your night more entertaining.”

“We’re freezing”

“You’re hot actually,” Sehun moves beside him and Jongin feels the rough skin of his hand slide down his stomach, resting about the line of his pants. Just the suggestion of more contact to come makes his heart begin to flutter in excitement, as much as he tries to hide it by continuing to gaze at his book, though he has stopped trying to read the words on the page some time ago. 

Jongin wouldn't need more than one chance to know exactly what Sehun means. He’s already pressing in close, his breath feeling almost too hot compared to the air in the hut. He moves to trace the line of Jongin's neck with his tongue, licking the salty sweat that clings to him like dew. Jongin can't hold back the breathy moan that builds up as his skin is caressed by Sehun's rough hands, working the tense muscles of his neck and shoulders.

Letting themselves fall down onto the blanket, Jongin closes his eyes, finally dropping the books aside, where it was apt to lay forgotten until the sun made its way back to the horizon. He gazes down to watch Sehun as he steadily kisses his way across Jongin’s body. He lets out a long breath. Jongin knows it’s useless to attempt disinterest now, and really, why would he? Sehun’s made his intentions open and clear. They’re doing it . He has Sehun nestled flush against him, so who is he to dissuade such affections? He’s more than content to let Sehun shower him in kisses and long drags of his tongue. What better way is there to end a day of tiresome labor than to be adored by a handsome man?

The light kissing continues for as long as Sehun has the attention for it, which is longer than Jongin expected. His hands are born explorers, though, and they find their way to the string of Jongin's pants before long. There’s no hesitation in his actions as he removes them and tosses them to the side all in one motion. By then, Jongin's erection is begging for attention, the neat patch of dark hair surrounding it damp with sweat. He feels the heat reach his entire body despite the cold, and he knows shyness is to blame. He’s way too caught up with just touching and kissing, like he’s never ever been touched before. And although they have seen the other naked a billion times before, this is the first time it has a whole different purpose. 

Sehun, in the process of removing his own pants, looks at Jongin with a devilish grin, eyebrows raising when he gazes down at Jongin’s throbbing erection. It's a sight Jongin is accustomed to, and knowing what it means only makes his shaft harder in response. When Sehun settles back onto the blanket, Jongin quickly presses himself into him and finds his mouth. A hand runs through his hair, and another massages his thighs with the occasional graze of his erection. He can feel the pressure of Sehun's own hardness against him, hot and insistent. He’s glad he’s not the only one overly eager. And suddenly his nervousness is long gone and he knows exactly what he wants to do. Needs to, or else he might go insane.

Sehun tastes of sweets and fresh, and Jongin has time to question how he has managed to maintain himself this smooth and clean in the middle of a desert, whilst Jongin feels rough and hairy all over. Sehun's mouth is not all he wants to taste, though. With slight difficulty, he pushes Sehun away enough to move himself down the blanket, all the while touching as much of him as he can. He pauses to admire the contrast of his dark skin next to the pale of Sehun's and wonders idly how the other has not burned to the color of fire out in the blazing sun in the past few days.

Jongin pauses when he reaches the curls surrounding Sehun's cock. As long and thick as he has always imagined to be while hard. It was already a temptation whenever Jongin laid eyes on it. He considers making him wait for his mouth, as he’s usually fond of doing. Jongin knows the effect he has on people, and he knows how to play with it. He’s keen to see if Sehun’s hostage of his charms the same way, if he’ll beg and blush. It would be a treat to see him squirm and plead with desire, until Jongin finally gives him what he wants. Now, though, Jongin wants it as much as Sehun does, and so abandons the idea.

The moment his lips surround Sehun he feels the other shudder. It seems to be easy to tell what he likes – he’s no better at hiding his emotions and pleasures than at playing wicked grace. It’s an advantage for Jongin, though, as it tells him just what to do, and what to avoid.

Such as now, when he runs his mouth down Sehun's shaft in slow, languid motions. He takes his time reaching the base, and even longer to slide back up to the tip, which in short order starts dripping in anticipation.

He continues his path, lingering now and again to let his tongue move over the extra sensitive head. When he does, Sehun tightens his grip on Jongin's shoulder, digging his fingers into flesh in what is sure to form small blossoms of black and blue. When he starts to feel Sehun's hips buckle beneath him, thrusting upwards to meet his mouth, Jongin increases his pace to meet the demand.

His now steady strokes cause a spike in pleasure in Sehun, whose breath becomes quick, his sounds of desire louder. Each time Jongin's lips make it to the base of his cock, Sehun seems to up his volume. Soon the moans and clips of sweet maker are filling the hut and drowning out the sound of the night outside.

Sehun’s vocal enough outside of the bedroom, and has no inhibitions about making his pleasure known while Jongin’s mouth is wrapped purposefully around his cock, even though his length is too wide and long to fit, but Jongin manages just fine. He’s had big guys before, though not as big. He does choke a little, and at some point, things get too slick and sloppy, but Sehun seems to enjoy it more and more, gripping tighter at Jongin’s hair, stimulating him to not stop.

With a slight shift of his body, Jongin takes his lips from Sehun and raises his head, searching for his eyes. They open slowly, revealing unveiled desire.

“Sehunnie,” Jongin starts, voice hushed in comparison to Sehun. “Do you want me to finish this now?” He asks, too eager to make Sehun come but also thrilled enough to make it last longer than just a quick blowjob.

The devilish look is back on Sehun's face and when he grinns Jongin knows he is wasting his breath. “Not a chance.”

He feels the pressure of Sehun's hand on the back of his head, urging him back down. He lets himself be guided, aware that he lost what little battle there has been. He can drag this for as long as Sehun can handle it. There’s no stopping the man when he has his mind set, and it’s something Jongin fiercely loves about him. Taking a breath, Jongin resumes his task, dutifully sucking and bobbing his hand along Sehun’s shaft until it reaches the back of his throat, when he’s surprised by Sehun roughly grabbing him under the shoulders and hauling him up for a kiss.

The intensity with which Sehun kisses him never fails to stop his breath. From the very first time, to now, Sehun seems to put every fiber of his love into his kiss. It’s all-consuming, leaving Jongin to feel as if the world has fallen away beneath him. And perhaps it has. If he opens his eyes he can very well be lost amidst a sea of nothing, with only Sehun as a tether to reality. There were moments, even when they were not entwined as lovers, that Jongin felt in such a way, and it frightened him to his core.

But now is not a time for dark thoughts.

In one swift movement, Sehun places his hands around Jongin's waist effortlessly lifts him from his body, and flips him onto the blanket, stomach pressed firmly onto the soft down. He moves as if Jongin weighs little more than a child, though, in reality, he must be closer to Sehun's own weight. He’s confident in his strength, and there’s certainly an abundance of it. It leaves Jongin a little astonished. This is the same bratty kid who Jongin so vividly remembers the time when his voice still had that hight-pitched sort of strangled tone from puberty, and his head was too big for his scrawny body, and Jongin once towered over him despite their having the same age. 

Now, Sehun’s grown and strong enough to manhandle him, and apparently, fuck him. This isn’t exactly where Jongin pictured things going, seeing he’s not much of a bottom, but if this is what Sehun’s been intending to do to him, he won’t stop him.

“Jongin,” Sehun's abruptly serious tone causes him to glance over his shoulder in time to see the other kneeling over him, eyes fixated on the curve of his ass. “I hope you’re okay like this…” He says, fingertips grazing slowly over the curve of Jongin’s ass, to profess what he meant. 

“It’s alright. I’ve done it like this before. Also, I’ve been sneaking down to the pond a lot to get all cleaned up, so you can say I’ve been sort of expecting it” Jongin’s words are all frantic and giddy, because the nervousness is swooping in again. He prefers to conceal the fact that he’s only ever bottomed twice, around 5 years ago.

“Fuck yeah,” Sehun adds to the enthusiasm of his words with a hearty smack to Jongin's ass. He tenses at the impact, and at the sound that it makes. He’s never been slapped before, and he’s torn between the strangeness of it and the unexpected delight it brings. “We can switch later too,” Sehun offers excitedly and Jongin nearly chokes in expectation. 

He has little time to digest it, though, as he feels Sehun shift and begin to rummage around impatiently. His weight and body heat lift from Jongin for a second, and he dashes frenetically to a corner. He returns in less than a second, positioning himself back right where he was. It’s only a short moment until Jongin feels the slickness of his fingers, coated with lube, begin to press against his entrance. 

It’s Jongin's turn to moan, albeit much quieter. Sehun's calloused fingers from daily fishing and carrying wood around feel pleasantly rough, and comfortably confident. They work their way around his hole, and Jongin sucks in a breath as the wetness of Sehun's tongue is added to the sensation. Surely, a methodical process is required to prep Jongin, still, he wasn’t expecting this . The sensations it induces are new and overwhelming, making Jongin squirm and moan and jut his ass out toward Sehun’s fingers and face.

Sehun knows how to use his tongue for more than talking, at times having his fingers just grab Jongin’s asscheek and spreading them apart to let his tongue do the whole work for itself. Jongin is soon breathing heavily, clutching the blanket in balled fists, feeling little jolts of pleasure in his stomach with every stroke as Sehun's slick fingers push in and out of him in tandem with the circling of his tongue. He’s making soft noises, with his face pressed against Jongin as though he loves it . Sounds that are muffled whimpers of pleasure, as Jongin notices his hand is now stroking his own cock erratically.

It might be too soon for such lustful work when Jongin was expecting passion and slowness, but Sehun seems too into it to slow down. So does Jongin, matter-of-factly. 

Sehun gives him one last lick, and his fingers slowly ease out. When Jongin glances back, Sehun has his characteristic broad grin on, eyes alight with the glow of arousal. “I could do that all day.”

I would let you do it every day, as long as you like. If you'd have me. The thought surfaces unbidden, and Jongin feels his heart clench. No. Now’s not the time to brood over tomorrow and what it would all mean. Is it just a one-time thing? Will they kiss in the morning, go fishing and make bonfires in the afternoon, and make love again at night? If they ever leave this island, will they still be each other’s or will they go back to just being… whatever they were before? Without a pinch of difficulty, he pushes it all aside, and merely chuckles. “I have no doubt of that. Now will you hurry up?”

He’s rewarded with Sehun's hands taking hold of his hips and pulling up, lifting them so Jongin’s forced to his knees. Bracing himself, he tries to even his breathing.

He relaxes as he feels the tip of Sehun's erection press firmly against him. With the lube slathered on it, it slides in easily and Jongin lets out a low groan, Sehun anything but gentle. He’s more than happy to begin with slow, short thrusts. He tenses at the initial stretch, and the burning of being split up has his body resisting a little.

“It’s okay. Hold on a little and relax for me.” He hears Sehun whisper, and the deepness of his voice soothes Jongin. 

Carefully but intently, Sehun keeps his hold on Jongin's hips, his fingers digging in deeper with each thrust. His sounds of pleasure have quieted for the time being, though Jongin can still hear the heavy breathing and occasional grunt of effort as he does his best to maintain the slow, steady rhythm. Jongin’s having a hard time controlling his voice, as well. He presses his face into the pillow, in an attempt to muffle the exclamations he makes. Sehun is not gentle when he begins pounding repeatedly into him, so much that Jongin feels his knees won’t hold for too long. It’s like every forceful thrust sends a wave of euphoria into Jongin’s insides, and so he begs and searches for more, rocking back against Sehun to meet his drillings, making the sound of their body hitting sweaty against one another loud inside the hut.

Unexpectedly, Sehun's hand reaches around Jongin's waist and finds the hardness between his legs. The contact elicits a gasp from him, and then a mumbled yes in encouragement. Sehun's hand strokes in time with his body, and Jongin can feel each callous of his large hands as they run over his sensitive skin.

The silver hue that bathed them cast shadows on the hut walls. Jongin’s losing control, growing unsteady. Sehun slowly – excruciatingly slow in Jongin's opinion – pulls himself out, and runs his hand up Jongin's back, causing him to shudder. There’s an abyss sensation of feeling empty and loose, while his hole is begging to be filled as it clenches. 

“Get on top so I can see you,” Sehun rasps, his voice even thicker with hunger.

Again, Jongin is tossed around as if he’s a feather, this time ending up straddled atop Sehun. He’s flushed rose all over, and sweat pours from him as if he has just stepped in from a rainstorm, hair sticking out in all directions and dripping into his eyes. Jongin’s uncertain he has ever seen such a thrilling sight.

“God,” He coos as he lifts himself up and onto Sehun's cock. He takes over then, letting Sehun keep his strong grip on his waist as he moves in liquid-like motions. The way his body slides up and down on Sehun's shaft is bliss. He feels every inch as he carefully takes
it into himself. After a moment, he bends forward, seeking out Sehun's lips with a passion that surprises even himself.

Soon, they’re moving as one, their breathing coming together in frantic gasps. The slick of their sweat mixes together and causes their bodies to slide against each other, slippery and quick. Jongin can hardly tell which part of him is his own, and which is Sehun's as the pleasure intensifies and he claws his fingers into flesh. His lips are roaming Sehun's neck and mouth, meeting his as he mimics the motion.

The cold of the hut is forgotten, as is whatever menace creeps outside. All Jongin cares about now, all that he senses, is Sehun and the incomparable feeling of being with him.

On a short exhale, Jongin feels Sehun's hand slip beneath him and find his cock. The sudden pressure and quick thrusts are too much; Jongin can no longer hold back his climax. He calls out, cries, and swears all at once while his body shakes in an explosion of bliss. Almost the instant Jongin finishes, Sehun follows with a long grunt and his eyes squeezing shut. Jongin feels him tense inside him, and his primal cry mingles with Jongin's words; a rising cry in the silence of the dark island.

Spent, Jongin collapses against Sehun's chest, panting. The rise and fall of his chest breathing matching his own, and it’s long moments before either slow.

When his energy returns, Sehun wraps both arms around Jongin, keeping him close despite the stickiness of their sweat. “Now that was a ten,” he laughs, and dear lord, how does he have the energy to joke now? Jongin rolls his eyes, too worn out to reply. He just hums.

“I love you, Kai.” Sehun's words are soft and unanticipated, mumbled into his ear with tenderness and unspoken promises. He kisses the top of Jongin's head, and already his grip is loosening and he is drifting into sleep.

Stupefied, Jongin keeps his eyes on Sehun's face as it relaxes, watching the lines smooth and utter peace take hold. There’s still a faint smile on his lips, one that never seems to be far from the surface. Jongin takes over the words, and more clearly the actions. He doesn’t need to dread their status tomorrow or when they go back home or 50 years from now. Sehun is unafraid of his feelings and their future, so Jongin should be as well.

“Me too.” With a sigh, and though he’s not sure Sehun heard him, Jongin closes his eyes and, for the first time, it’s like the cold can’t bother them.

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

 

He’s woken up by Sehun’s soft kisses and embrace. Jongin transitions from the world of dreams to reality slowly, at first not quite sure he isn’t still dreaming. Because this reality is way too perfect to be true. Then, he remembers they’re still castaways, sleeping in a pocket-sized wannabe of a tent and every day their supplies are cut back shorter. Sehun seems to pick up on Jongin’s distress, he’s too yanked away from their rapture. They’ve got stuff to do. Hunt. Survive. Go home. With one last kiss, Sehun’s on his feet and collecting his clothes carefreely. When Jongin tries to do the same, he feels the soreness all over his hips, back and ass. He groans and flops onto the blanket again. Sehun can only chuckle smugly as he zips up his pants.

“We’re out of water. I’m going to go get more, okay? You stay here and rest,” Sehun instructs, and he bends down to briefly touch his lips to Jongin’s in a peck. Jongin decides not to argue, and he nods and brings his arm over his eyes as he hears Sehun walk off. 

It’s such a beautiful day outside. He can feel it just by the light breeze slipping inside the hut and the clarity of the sun high in the sky. It’s the kind of weather that invites deep calm and restfulness.

He must doze off, because he comes to with a start as a large gust of wind blows across him, making the leaves over their shelter flap wildly. Jongin sits up, rubs at his eyes, and after fetching his pants and slipping them on, he exits the shelter.

His heart sinks. The sky has gone from bright and sunny to dark and ominous, with the wind breaking across the beach with tremendous force, and the waves crashing against the shore violently. Sand blows across the beach with the wind, hitting his skin and feeling like bullets. A storm is looming. Jongin begins to panic. How long had he been passed out? And where is Sehun? He should have retreated the minute he noticed a storm was surfacing. From the distance comes a slow and low rumble and the air grows water-heavy and thick.

“Sehun?” Jongin calls back into the jungle, and rain starts in a slight drizzle. The first droplet to hit his skin burns. Jongin hisses, and the next droplet sizzles against his skin. Jongin curses, his brain catching on. It’s acid rain. 

He takes off into the jungle after Sehun. The storm would not wait for Sehun to return or find shelter. If he’s able to even find one. There’s a nagging in Jongin’s chest telling him Sehun needs him. It’s wet, even through the thick trees nearly roof his path, and the ground gets slick beneath his feet. The dewdrops of rain that slip through the leaves above him still burn and pierce his skin. Despite the excruciating pain, Jongin keeps racing ahead, his bare feet crushing sticks and stones.

The cover over top is blowing violently with the wind, and the fog is making it difficult to see. It’s cold now, too, and Jongin thinks too late about the bonfire on the beach Sehun must have left ablaze to prepare them breakfast, which must be nothing but smoldering embers now.

He decides to worry about it later. The most important thing is finding Sehun and finding someplace to ride out the storm. They could recoup when it was over, and restart the fire. It wasn’t the end of the world. But if something happens to Sehun because Jongin isn’t there… he swallows, and calls out Sehun’s name again, but his voice gets lost in the howling of the wind. He swallows the fear and keeps on. His heart continues to pound nevertheless.

“Sehun?! Where are you?”

He hears a loud crash, and he sprints in that direction, just through the clusters of trees on a narrow strip of land, unworried of stepping over the path with tall trees that are mostly covering the light rain. It feels like a hundred knives slitting his skin. He cries painfully. He slips, falls, and cuts his hand open on something, but he gets back up and calls out Sehun’s name again. “Sehun!” He repeats, frantic now. Why wasn’t Sehun answering? 

He finds himself near the pond, which is overflowing thanks to the fresh rainwater, and he looks for the trees, for the marks, but everything is dark because of the storm, and the water has soaked the trees, making Sehun’s marks impossible to make out. He’s shaking and panic-stricken, and it’s so forceful it makes him withstand the pain. 

“Sehun!” Jongin yells desperately, and he waits. He speeds toward the direction he thinks the beach is when he hears someone yelling. He turns, waits, and calls out, “Sehun!” again.

He thinks he hears his name, but it’s impossible to tell what direction it’s coming from. Sehun is calling him, and Jongin can’t tell which way to go to get to him. It’s like playing a frantic, frustrating, life-or-death game of Marco Polo. The agony hurts more than the acid rain slashing his skin. In a moment of brightness in his mind, he hides under a tall, rocky, and arched hill. That way he can protect himself from further harm. But he doesn’t have much time. The storm will soon rage on. 

Jongin closes his eyes and takes a breath, even as the water pelts down and the wind burns his face. He focuses on his listening, on putting his trained skills to use, and he just listens. He closes every other sense out, even the frantic beating of his heart and the enraged pour of rain, increasing each second, and he focuses in on Sehun’s voice.

“Kai!” Sehun’s voice rings in his right ear, clear as day, and Jongin’s eyes shoot open and he sprints in that direction, coming in on Sehun even through the rain that’s thickened. His heart catches in his throat when he finds him.

“Kai,” Sehun cries, from beneath the large, fallen tree he is pinned under. It’s one of the heavy, tall trees, the ones that formed the upper covering, that looked like they could break down a door but had weak roots in the sandy ground, the kind that had no right to be growing on an island in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, the other trees around him were twisted and curved enough to shield him from the rain. But there’s the risk of them soon crashing down as well. Jongin rushes down under the barrier to Sehun and takes his hand, squeezing it tightly as he assesses the situation and tries to stay calm. “I can’t move it,” Sehun tells him, his voice pained. “It’s too heavy.”

Jongin looks up. If the rain keeps intensifying, it will soon permeate through the thick leaves protecting them. That, if not the trees actually crumbling on them. He barely notes the blisters dispersed all over his body. His hands are bleeding. Or he thinks that’s where the blood is coming from. Sehun’s eyes range over him in horror.

“Jongin, you’re hurt…”

“It’s the rain. It’s acid. But I'll be fine.” 

Sehun sucks in a breath, hard, like he’s having trouble, and Jongin has no doubt that he is. The tree is practically crushing his upper chest, and the only reason his hands are free is probably because he used them to block his face defensively. The trees around them trumble as a clap of thunder roars loudly from the sky. 

“Okay,” Jongin says, in pure reaction mode now, “Okay, we’re gonna get you out of here, just try and stay calm.”

“Hurry, Kai,” Sehun pleads, and Jongin gives Sehun’s hand one more squeeze before he rushes to action. Because he might be useless when it comes to being a regular human being, to relationships and everyday survival, but this, this, saving people. This is what he does. This is what he’s good at. He can save Sehun, he can get them out of this. He’ll be damned if he’s going to fail at the one thing he knows how to do.

He goes around the fallen tree to see how much of Sehun is pinned. It’s just over his midsection, and Jongin has a brief worry about how injured Sehun might be, but he puts it out of his mind.

He puts his hands under the tree, and it’s far too heavy to push off. Jongin thinks, and finally, he looks over the log at Sehun. “I’m not going far,” He promises, and he sees fear in Sehun’s eyes, “Just keep breathing, okay?”

And he darts away, back under the poisonous rain, looking for a rock and any other large piece of wood. He finds the wood first, a long, thick stick like the ones they’d used on the shelter. Which is probably in pieces now, Jongin thinks, but he hurries onward. It takes far too long to find a suitable rock, but he hefts it up when he does and sprints back to Sehun, all of his muscles complaining from atrophy.

“Sehun,” Jongin says, and Sehun opens his eyes, and he looks relieved, “How much can you move?”

“I can move,” He supplies weakly, nodding.

“I’m going to leverage this tree up, and then you have to push yourself out, alright?” Jongin tells him, putting the rock and stick into position right next to Sehun.

Sehun closes his eyes and says something in a hushed whisper, and then he looks back at Jongin. “I’m terrified,” He says, “But I trust you.”

Jongin nods, and he gives Sehun one last look before he starts leveraging the large tree up. It’s heavy, even with the leverage, and Jongin breaks the stick on his first try, before Sehun gets free at all. He repositions with his shorter stick, and he tries again.

Sehun cries out as the tree lifts, either from the rush of blood to his injuries or the release of pressure, and Jongin pushes harder.

“A little more!” Sehun says, pushing his hands into the ground beside him as he tries to scoot backward, and Jongin grunts, and pushes the tree up another inch.

Sehun starts sliding out, and Jongin feels like he is going to explode from holding the pressure of the tree up, but he waits until Sehun turns, slides his legs out completely, and is away before he drops the tree down and falls to his knees beside Sehun.

The rain is still coming down, but he crawls over to Sehun and puts his hands on him, goes to where Sehun is cradling his ribs, and clenches his jaw.

“I’m okay,” Sehun promises, lying on his side, and he coughs, “I’m okay, I’m okay, thank you.”

Jongin holds onto him, letting his own breathing steady, but then a gust of wind shoots up and he hears another crash off in the distance. “It isn’t safe,” He tells Sehun, who nods. “Can you walk?”

Sehun looks like he wants to say yes, but he shakes his head and says, “Give me a minute, maybe.”

“No time,” Jongin tells him, and he puts his arm under Sehun’s legs, and another just above his bruised torso, “Hold onto me.”

Sehun does as he’s told, though he looks pained to raise his arms up to encircle Jongin’s neck, and then Jongin hoists him up despite Sehun’s small noise of pain, and carries him out of the greenery and back onto the beach. Sehun cries out in pain when the rain also burns him, so he tucks his face against Jongin’s neck, while Jongin finds strength from his core to dash and carry Sehun at the same time all while his skin is being boiled under the rain.

He’s amazed to find their shelter still standing, though many of the leaves they’d applied the other morning have blown off, and he rushes Sehun to it.

He sets Sehun down on the somewhat dry sand and retrieves the red blanket from its place against the wall, and he wraps Sehun in it. He can’t assess his injury while it’s still insane outside, so he gets behind Sehun and pulls him against his chest.

Sehun winces, but relaxes as Jongin cradles him, covered in the blanket.

“It’s not that bad,” Sehun promises again, finding Jongin’s hand and holding onto it. “It’s probably just some broken ribs,” He adds a moment later, and Jongin wants to curse again. “If it’s anything more than that-”

“Shh,” Jongin hushes him, and buries his head in Sehun’s hair. “It's fine,” He says in the most authoritative voice he can manage, even though not even he himself can believe those words. “You’re going to be fine.”

Sehun doesn’t answer, but maybe that’s because he knows it’s not just him Jongin’s talking to. 

The hut won’t hold for too long, but Jongin is spent to carry Sehun to a further, safer location. Not to mention, parts of his body are raw from the acid damage. If the shelter disassembles on top of them before the storm recedes, then Jongin wants to die like this, with Sehun in his arms. 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

 

It takes the storm hours to die down. But it does eventually. Just when the last remains of acid fall from the sky, one side of the hut finally stops resisting and collapses. 

Sehun dozes in his arms between trying to reassure Jongin that his injuries are minor and squirming in pain. When the rain fully stops and the wind dies down, it’s late afternoon, and there’s just enough light for Jongin to lay Sehun down and peel his sweat and rain-soaked shirt up and check the gruesome purple and black bruise that covers his torso.

Sehun watches his face as Jongin inspects his injuries, and Jongin is careful to keep it perfectly calm. He gently presses his fingers to Sehun’s skin around the edges, and Sehun hisses at the contact. Jongin presses on, moving his fingers just enough to feel for splinters of bone or pockets of blood.

Several of Sehun’s ribs are broken. The bruise, while awful and angry looking, doesn’t seem to be caused by blood pooling under the skin, which means that Sehun probably isn’t bleeding internally, but there just isn’t any way to tell.

Jongin puts his hand over Sehun’s broken ribs. “Can you cough?”

Sehun looks at him like he’s crazy.

“Please,” Jongin says, and feels a pang of guilt as Sehun sucks in a breath and coughs it out with a wince, followed by a pained groan.

“Yeah,” Sehun says weakly, “Those are definitely broken.”

Jongin removes his hand, and pulls Sehun’s shirt back down gently over his chest. “Does it hurt anywhere else?”

Sehun shakes his head softly. “That’s the side it fell on, impacted,” He says, closing his eyes and swallowing, “everything else is sore from being pinned, but nothing else hurts.”

Jongin nods, and sits back on his heels. “You need to keep breathing as deeply as possible, Sehun. Even if it hurts. And try to cough, too. If something,” Jongin hesitates, afraid of the words, wishing he had paid better attention when Lay had healed them up after every fight. Alongside his powers, Yixing is a very skillful nurse in general. He wouldn’t feel hopeless without his powers like Jongin feels now. “If there was something else wrong, I think you’d be sicker by now.”

Sehun nods, reaches over with his hand, and rests it on Jongin’s arm. “So much for our time in paradise,” He says quietly, with a pained grin. “I’m sorry I ruined it.”

“Sehun,” Jongin reprimands, placing his hand over Sehun’s, “I’m just glad you’re okay. If anything happened to you…” And he trails off, not knowing what else to say, so he just squeezes Sehun’s hand.

“Don’t get mushy on me,” Sehun orders, smiling, “I can’t properly reciprocate in my current condition.” His face twists a little as he tries to speak, but still, he finds energy to add. “You should go check your wounds too. These look nasty.” He cranes his neck to the side, albeit in discomfort. “Hyungs’ notes. Are they still intact?”

Honestly, Jongin had forgotten about them. He hardly believed they could have survived another drench. “It's okay. We don't really need them. I think I've read them all. There's nothing more useful than what we already know at this point.” He says, a little desolate. 

“No, no. There's… Hyung listed some herbs that might help heal rashes and blisters.” Explains Sehun, breathing a little raggedly. 

“What about broken ribs? Can they heal that too?”

“No, they can't. But one of us has to heal somehow. And though you also look quite battered I think your wounds can heal faster than mine.” 

At that, Jongin caves in. Sehun's right. With both of them injured, there's no chance of them overcoming this. He starts sifting through the mess in their hut. Now that the adrenaline has subsided, the pain has taken over. Every movement has his body searing with pain, but he must will his body to endure it. He's the only one who can tend to Sehun, hence he must tend to his wounds first. He finds the books under a pile of rocks and mud. Most of the pages fall apart when Jongin lifts them from the pile. The pages that remain whole, however, are smudged with ink all over. The notes are unreadable now. Jongin tosses it aside angrily.

“There,” Sehun points to one of the pages that slipped out of the spine of the book beside him. “I remember these drawings. These are the herbs. I think you can find them nearby. I'm sure I've seen them around. Not that far.”

“Fine. I'll do it. Later.” 

Jongin grins at him. He tries to make Sehun comfortable, helps him move around gently so he can lay on the blanket and be covered by it, and then, upon Sehun’s insistence, he goes out of their hut to check for damage.

The beach looks no different than when they arrived. Which is disappointing, really, because the storm has washed away everything. Their fire is not only out, but gone. The wood they had collected is strewn across the stretch of shoreline, and the jungle looks no more ominous than it did when they arrived. The only thing that remains is their shelter, with its sticks stuck into the ground and the leaves tied on top of it.

Jongin looks around, but he can’t find Sehun’s spear anywhere. He wonders how much dental floss they have left and if he’ll be able to make another because he can’t fish without it. Then he thinks about fishing, and his heart sinks a bit. He was really terrible at fishing, even the normal way. How was he supposed to catch fish with a spear? But it doesn’t matter at the moment, because all the wood on the island is soaked, and he’ll never be able to start a fire with it, so even if he could manage to catch some fish, they couldn’t eat them.

He’s suddenly glad for the granola bars safe in the hut, because even if it’s cold, at least he’ll be able to get Sehun something tonight. He starts to feel overwhelmed as he thinks of all that he has to do on his own, now. When he and Sehun had been working together, it had seemed easy. Sehun had made it seem easy. Now that Sehun was injured, Jongin would have to do it all and look after Sehun.

And, he thinks belatedly, they’d only been here for five days. That was all it took for their lives to be at stake. How foolish of Jongin to think they would last enough to be rescued.

“Kai,” Sehun calls from the hut, and Jongin rushes back to it without thinking.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, quickly kneeling down beside Sehun.

Sehun shakes his head, with a little frown on his brow. “I can feel you brooding out there,” Sehun tells him, and Jongin tries not to sigh at him for making him worry, “You’re thinking too much. Look, just,” Sehun says, gesturing half heartedly, “Do what I do. Take it one step at a time. Solve the first problem you see, and don’t think about anything else until that one is done.”

Jongin thinks that sounds a lot easier than it will be to do, but he just nods at Sehun. “It’ll be fine,” He promises, he hopes.

“One problem at a time,” Sehun repeats, “And every time you finish something you can come back here for a reward, okay?”

Jongin half smiles. “Reward?”

Sehun’s eyes twinkle at him. “Including but not limited to romantic displays of my affection.”

“Okay,” Jongin nods, a hopeful smile reaching his lips. As long as the two of them are breathing, there's still hope. 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

Be like him. One step at a time. Jongin tries to follow Sehun’s advice. 

It’s harder than it seems, but he thinks he does a dignified job. He tackles the most pressing things, like seeking the herbs from Junmyeon’s notes and pressing them against his most inflamed wounds. They are actually quite easy to spot, just over the shore, littered over the rocks. He straps them around his arms and legs with shreds from one of his shirts, and miraculously, soon the pain and the discomfort dwindle. He plucks off a handful of them to store for later. 

Then, it's time to look for food and water. The shell is gone, but Jongin remembers the bottle of lube and has an epiphany. He dumps it out over the rocky cliffs, a bit pitiful that they will not get to use it again. But patching Sehun up is more important than that, doubtlessly. And for that, he needs to hydrate his body first. He washes it out in the ocean to get rid of all the lube, which is kind of hard to do. It sticks everywhere, but eventually, he succeeds. Then he takes it to the freshwater pond and rinses it again, until it’s perfectly clean. He can’t believe they didn’t think of this before. 

He fills it with water, gulps a large sip, and hisses in delight. He hadn't realized how much he craved fresh water. He feels partially renewed. With restored spirits, he hurries back to Sehun, finding him in the same position he had left him. It's far too much of a painful sight. Sehun’s not only injured, but he looks miserable too. His skin has lost its healthy glow and his eyes are droopy with dark bags under them. Bruises and scrapes dot his skin. He still smiles when he sees Jongin.

“Look what I got you!” Jongin sings animatedly. A little uncertain, Sehun tips his head to the side.

“Uh, Kai… I don't think I'm on condition to–”

“It's for you to drink.” Jongin chimes in with a blush warming his cheeks. Sehun’s eyebrows shoot up, but he still eyes Jongin rather skeptically. 

“You want me to drink lube? Is this a kink I'm not aware of?”

Jongin cackles this time. “You're so silly. It's filled with water.” He shakes it emphatically. 

“Oh,” A soft laugh tumbles out Sehun, but that seems to inflict pain on him, so he winces and coughs. Jongin’s worry swells quickly in him. He inches in and squats next to Sehun to place the bottle against his lips gently. He tips Sehun’s head backward and watches as he tries to chug the water down, but even that seems to hurt. 

“Easy,” Jongin tells him, caressing the back of his head. Sehun regulates his greed and begins to sip slowly. “I mean, how didn't we think of that before?” Jongin says while Sehun takes his time emptying the bottle. 

Sehun wipes his mouth with the back of his hand once he's done. “Well, I'm glad. At least we got to fuck first.”

“Guess we won't be doing it again unless we go home.”

“Or we can always use some aloe vera.” Sehun shrugs with one shoulder. The other one must be too sore to move. 

“You always have a method for everything.” Jongin caps the bottle again, and pushes himself to his feet. “Stay right there. I'm going to find you some food now.”

“Where are you going? You still need to collect your reward.” Sehun calls just as Jongin’s turning on his heels. He aims a smirk at Jongin, motioning for him to come and get it. 

Jongin obliges. He kneels next to Sehun and leans in. It's a soft, barely-there kiss, with Jongin being overly careful not to crush Sehun. They smile against each other's mouths. When Jongin tries to draw away from him, he feels a hand clutch the back of his neck to hold him in place. 

“There's one more left.” He whispers against Jongin’s lips. Confusion grows in Jongin.

“What for?”

“For nursing yourself. Look.” He points to one of Jongin’s improvised bandages, around his wrists. “They're almost completely healed.” Jongin peers down at them, surprised. He barely feels any pain, and the blisters are now just large patches of red on his skin. 

“Oh, I got you some too. It might not mend your broken bones but it might seal your scratches.” He remembers to pull a fistful of them out of his pocket, and promptly begins to work on a new bandage. He hopes that can at least diminish the discomfort disturbing Sehun. 

“I think you've earned another kiss,” Sehun says, impressed at Jongin’s effectiveness. In the end, while Jongin dresses his wounds, Jongin gets more kisses than he bargained for.  

Next, Jongin goes looking for more of the fruits they had stashed away and got scattered around due to the forceful winds, and he figures between that and the granola bars, they’ll have dinner for tonight at least. He finds a sharp rock for a new spear, and then he lays out a bunch of wet firewood across the beach to dry in tomorrow’s morning sun.

When he returns to the hut, he feeds Sehun pieces of melon and mango-like fruits, which makes him cough, they share the granola bars with identical looks of distaste, and then they lay in the darkness.

Sehun finds the cut on Jongin’s hand that he’d forgotten about, and he kisses it, over and over, holding Jongin’s hand to his face.

Sehun hums lullabies at him until he drifts off to sleep. For that night, it seems everything will be okay.

Only for that night.

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

Sehun’s fever peaks. 

Jongin wakes up to Sehun coughing, and he rolls onto his side, hacking into his hand. His pained moans are incessant. Jongin rubs at his back, wishing he could take the pain away.

Something is wrong. Jongin isn’t sure what, but he knows this isn’t good. Sehun’s injuries are more serious than he had hoped, and he doesn’t know what to do to help him. Jongin rips off part of his red t-shirt, uses the water to wet it, and places it on Sehun’s forehead. He tries to keep him drinking water, but it doesn’t seem to do much good.

Jongin paces outside the hut while Sehun sleeps. He should go get them more water, and start building the fire, but he’s afraid to go too far in case Sehun needs him.

He does go for more water, eventually, because Sehun needs the water more than he needs Jongin right now. He tries to make Sehun eat some more melon, but he pushes Jongin’s hand away and shakes his head.

He complains about the pain, and Jongin tries to distract him from it by petting his hair, and telling him stories.

They spend the day that way, with Sehun growing more and more uncomfortable and incapacitated. He doesn’t get them any more food. Sehun is getting too sick to eat it, and Jongin is too worried to eat.

Jongin hardly sleeps that night. He thinks he hears the noises again, though he can't tell now if they're just his imagination playing tricks on him. Whenever he feels fretful he hears them. Does that mean he's actually losing his mind? Then he remembers Sehun saying he's heard them too. Unless they're both going insane. 

The next morning, Sehun coughs up blood, and his bruise darkens.

“Kai,” Sehun tells him while Jongin sits by his side, holding his hand, “Whatever happens, I’m really glad that you’re here with me.”

Jongin sets his jaw and shakes his head, because they aren’t going to do this. They aren’t going to get sappy and they aren’t going to start saying goodbye. Jongin reaches down, kisses Sehun’s forehead, then his lips, and says, “You’re going to be fine, Sehun. Just rest.”

Sehun drifts off to sleep again, and Jongin walks down to the shore in the afternoon sun. He kicks at the surf, and curses as loud as he can. He hangs his head in his hands, and chants, “Please, someone show up. Show up.” He still hopes that at any moment, Junmyeon and the others will arrive to rescue them on a spaceship. That they'll be just in time to save Sehun’s life. He keeps staring skyward, expecting a familiar ship to break through the clouds. But nothing comes. 

Sehun might not make it, and Jongin knows it. Though he refuses to accept that possibility, it keeps clawing at the back of his mind. He'll need to bury Sehun properly. It's what he deserves. He has to let Sehun how much Jongin loves him, adores him, and cherishes him. 

Their plan of waiting to be rescued is suddenly no longer a viable plan, and Jongin has to do something, but he doesn’t know what. He sits down on the beach, lets the surf come up to him and roll away, and tries to think of something. All he can think of, though, is Sehun’s giant black bruise and how many times Jongin has failed him.

He can’t count the number of times he or Sehun had been hurt far worse than this. They’d always been able to heal, to recover with the help of their power. The help of Yixing mostly.  

“Hyung, I wish you were here…” He mumbles to the air, knowing there's nobody to hear him. The wind blows a little more forcefully, even though there are no more traces of another storm. A piece of paper floats toward Jongin, landing at his foot. He recognizes Yixing’s handwriting and part of yet another sketch that probably got torn off the sketchbook during the storm. The paper is drier than it is supposed to be, and Jongin wonders if it was hidden, tucked somewhere inside the pages of the books. He picks it up out of curiosity. The shade of the ink used is different from the ones Jongin saw in the books. And he knows for sure this one piece has definitely missed his eyes. 

‘Alien stone capable of storing powers. PS: transfer a portion of my healing powers into it and send it to the boys. They might need it.’

Fuck. The stone. This is why Yixing sent them those coordinates to find it. Yixing's powers are inside it somehow. He'd never heard of such a thing before, but then again Yixing always knew more. He's wise and therefore more experienced. He's been on this mission much longer than all of them. Of course, he would find a way to aid them even from afar. Hope pinches at Jongin. This is it. He must retrieve the stone. 

A glow shines over the ocean, so bright it has Jongin squinting. It’s the gem. It’s calling for him. The glow blinks and flashes, like it's just as anxious as Jongin, but it's far. Nearly just over the horizon. Jongin will have to swim for miles. But the glow keeps expanding, beckoning him. He is just one or two feats of heroism away anyway, and he stands, his heart racing.

His mind starts racing as he tries to figure out just how far out their spaceship has sunk. He can still see the tip of its cone nose peeking out of the water. He takes off his wet, dirty shirt and runs back up to the hut to hang it there, and then he grabs one of the unopened melons and cuts into it, shoving some in his mouth. He hasn’t eaten since yesterday, and if he’s going to swim out there and fight the tides, he’s going to need some energy.

Of course, it means he has to wait a few minutes for it to kick in, for his body to metabolize it and give him strength, but the adrenaline is already pumping through his system, with one thought repeating over and over in his mind: He can save Sehun.

He thinks quietly in the back of his mind that he could fail, again. That this might not work. He might get swept out by the tides, might drown trying to get the stone, and then Sehun… but he shoves the thought out of his mind, because if he doesn’t do something then Sehun is going to die anyway.

Jongin would much rather go out trying to be a hero than live the rest of his life knowing he let his best friend – and so much more, he thinks – die.

He stops in at the hut to check on Sehun, but he doesn’t wake him. He picks up Sehun’s hand and holds it for a moment, and then, tentatively, he reaches out and puts his palm over Sehun’s softly beating heart.

He tries to memorize the rhythm. Ba-dum-bu, ba-dum-bu, ba-dum-bu. Steady, slow. Just in case.

Then he goes back down to the shore, and waits for the tide to start going out, to carry him out to the sunken ship where their buried treasure waits. He stares at the crash of the waves hitting the sand, feels the crisp scent of salt in the air, the soft grainy texture under his toes, the vast pink water stretching out in front looking endless, as he steps into it ever so carefully. He descends into the refreshing water, without stalling any other second.

With each movement, he can feel the water flowing around and through his body, its coldness causing goosebumps to form on his arms and legs. He’s terrified and frankly not sure he can outlast the waves and distance he’s supposed to swim, but he takes a deep breath and dives. The adrenaline kicks in and his arms and legs begin to splash at the water forcefully. Encompassed by the sea, he catches fish and many other odd creatures whirling around him, dodging his way as though they are rooting for him to reach his desired destination. 

He’s no Olympic swimmer like Junmyeon who can breathe underwater, but he likes to think he’s learned a few things from him. He paces himself, goes with the tides, and doesn’t fight them, conserving his energy for the swim back. He submerges deeper, and his arms and legs row him ahead and each stroke feels more and more strenuous. 

It takes him a few minutes to reach the glow with the tide going out. He wipes at his eyes, wishing he had goggles. The salt water stings his eyes, and it’s impossible to see so he knows he’s going to have to rely on other senses to help him find the stone. When he finally reaches the remains of their Spaceship sunk deep into the sea, his heart starts racing. 

He follows the light.

He takes a deep breath, and goes under, using the upright nose to pull himself down to the deck. He remembers belatedly how big of a spaceship it is, and it takes him almost too long to reach the deck. He swims around, feeling with his hands and squinting with his eyes to get his bearings, but then he has to swim back up as he runs out of air.

He tries three or four more times. Each time he comes back up, holds onto the metal-dented cone nose and then tries again. On the fifth time, he finds the tackle box just before he needs to go up for air. This is it, he thinks as he ascends holding onto the rusty nose, this is it. He’s going to do it!

He swims back down, his heart racing, and he finds the tackle box again. He holds onto it, and kicks down as he tries to find the latches and open them. They pop open, but the tackle box doesn’t come loose.

Then he remembers. Sehun had locked it. With a little key, he’d put in the cabin crew. He curses and smacks the water. His lungs are burning already. They’re screaming for air. Jongin doesn’t have much time before his body shuts down out of exhaustion. 

He doesn’t have time to look for the key, and it’s probably long gone now. He’ll have to find another way into the tackle box. Perhaps a rock to smash it open? He can’t remember what is holding it down, and he wishes he’d brought the sharp rock to cut the straps with.

He goes back down to try again, and he picks up a chain that’s ghosting across the floor of the boat. He bunches it in his hand and hammers at the tackle box with it.

He feels the cut on his hand pop open, and it stings, but he keeps going. He crushes the lock, and then he drops the chain and jiggles the lid of the box.

A hundred different things come to mind as the lid to the tackle box pops open, but Jongin can only hear the rhythm of Sehun’s heart as he sees the stone, floating up before his eyes. It shines a throbbing blinding light.

He grabs it proudly, mentally thanking Yixing over and over while he holds back his tears. Hooks and tackles are floating up now, too, and some come at him with the movement of the ocean. just barely grabbing onto it with his other hand before he kicks violently for the surface, his lungs feeling like they’re going to explode.

He breathes in air at the surface and floats there for a moment, feeling triumphant as the light from the stone dims out. But then he looks back at the shore, and it seems much farther away than it had when he had started. He’s too tired to keep going. But then the stone vibrates in his hand, and Jongin thinks he sees it glowing briefly before he feels a surge of effervescence swing his whole body.

And then he sets off again.

The swim back is against the tide and the currents most of the way. He nearly gets swept away twice, but manages to come back up and keep going. He swims frantically back to shore, racing to at least do what he had intended to do, and heal Sehun.

Jongin pulls himself out of the water tiredly, staggers up the beach, and goes into the hut where Sehun is, and smiles.

Urgently, he presses the stone into his hand, and says, “Sehun, wake up. Here. Hold this. just power it on!” He isn't sure how they’re supposed to trigger the stone’s magic. But it shouldn't be anything more complex than just holding it. 

Sehun’s eyes flutter open, and he looks at where Jongin is holding his hand up with the stone in it and makes a face. “But how--?”

Jongin shakes his head, and wraps his hands around Sehun's over the stone. “I told you it was going to be okay,” He says, tightening his knuckles around it. “And it is.”

The stone glows again, and they both feel it. A rush of their powers streams through their veins. The light explodes around them. Both of them gasp. The electric energy pulses and pulses until it suddenly dulls. 

Peering down at Sehun, relief loosens Jongin’s tight muscles. Sehun’s skin is back to its usual pale but healthy tone. His scratches have melted, leaving no scars as reminders whatsoever. The light of a thousand stars twinkle in his eyes again.

“Did you feel that?” He croaks, stunned. Both their hands are still wrapped around the stones. Jongin has to administer his features to stop smiling like an idiot before he can speak again.

“My powers. They’re back. I can feel it.”

“Yeah, I can feel mine too, but…” Sehun scowls, his knuckles loosening around the stone to inspect them closer. He clenches and unclenches his fingers as though he’s looking for a manifestation, even if meager, of his powers. “Not Enough.”

“Hey, no. You should lie down. It's too soon. I don't think the effect is immediate.” Jongin pockets the stone, immediately bringing a hand to check Sehun’s fever. His body temperature is steady now, so that must mean eventually he’ll regain his strength. 

“What effect? I don't understand. How did you do that? How did you get the stone?”

“It's Yixing's powers,” Jongin enlightens. “He somehow found a way to relocate them into this stone. He left a note and I just found it now. We've never lost our powers, Sehun. The stone just swallowed them. Now it has returned them to us.”

Sehun blinks up at him, still caught in confusion. 

“Wait. Let me get this straight. Did you swim all the way back to the ship to retrieve the stone?”

Jongin sighs. “Yeah, I did.”

“Kai, you’re crazy.” Sehun’s perplexity is comprehended, but it’s too late to reprimand Jongin now. He knew the risks, but not even for a second he feared them. 

“It worked, didn't it? You're safe. You're going to be fine. And I'm gonna get us out of here. As soon as you recover, I'm teleporting us back home.” He promises, but his enthusiasm doesn’t seem to go in tune with Sehun. He regards Jongin with an apprehended frown. 

“I don't think you should. That requires a lot of energy, Kai. You can't just teleport us to another planet. It's too far.”

In all sincerity, Jongin has never tried stretching his powers to that extent. There are rules to teleportation he must follow, and beyond that, his powers are not limitless. But he can’t see another way out of that island other than his teleportation. And honestly, he thinks their departure is long overdue. 

“Well, I can try.” He insists, and Sehun lets his shoulders slump, not arguing further. His eyes still look crestfallen, and that’s something Jongin isn’t sure neither he nor the stone can heal. 

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

Just like Jongin foresaw, the stone does not bring an immediate effect. The power rushing through Sehun does help take away his pain, but he doesn’t start to heal right away. Jongin lies next to him to monitor his every single move. A bedeviling voice in Jongin’s head tells him the remedy is temporary, and that soon Sehun will fall ill again, but he drives out those thoughts and carries on with his duties. Doing chores It’s much easier relying on his teleportation. In less than an hour he collects wood and more fruits, and attempts to assemble their disrupted hut – Though it’s still a pretty badly designed work. 

But it’s fun indulging himself in his powers again. He feels indestructible. Until he remembers they’re still stranded on an island, and they can live there forever. With or without their powers. They don’t even have spare shirts anymore. And that’s only their first matter on a long list that keeps elongating itself. 

In the general run of things, he’s much thankful for the stone. It strengthens their resistance to hunger and thirst, and it even lights on a new bonfire stronger than all the other ones that have lit before. At night, Jongin lifts up Sehun’s shirt while he’s dozing in the darkness, and glances at his injured side in the moonlight.

He breathes a sigh of relief, and feels his chest loosen as he sees the edges of the bruise starting to yellow, and sees parts of Sehun’s skin turning lighter. The power has stopped the bleeding.

“Verdict?” Sehun’s voice mumbles from above him, and Jongin looks up with a smile and a sigh.

“Better,” he says, pulling the shirt down and pushing himself up to press his lips against Sehun’s, “Much better.” Jongin grins, because he’s far less worried now. They’ll be fine. He lets himself smile at Sehun, letting his worry start to melt away.

“You know,” Sehun says, and he stretches his arm above him, “I’m starved. Did you catch any fish while you were swimming around out there?”

Jongin rolls his eyes, but he gets up and goes to make the spear.

“Hey, wait, come back!” Sehun calls, but Jongin ignores him. “I’m serious, carry me out of here! If you’re going to make a fool of yourself out there, I want to watch!”

Jongin groans, but deep down he’s amused to see Sehun’s cheekness back in motion. He catches three fish – he doesn’t catch 17 other lucky ones – and it’s after and only after, when he has them roasting on a fire he’s made himself, that he gently picks Sehun up and carries him out of the hut to sit outside in the afternoon sun.

Sehun’s eyelashes brush his cheek as he pulls away. They eat, and Sehun makes teasing comments about how long it took Jongin to catch the fish, how small they are, and why there aren’t more of them. Jongin mentions he misses eating meat, and Sehun jokes that there’s no point in becoming a cannibal, since Sehun’s is not that meaty anyway. Jongin disagrees, and mentions that Sehun’s asscheeks could make some very tasty fillet. 

And just like that, they’re back to being themselves again. Joking. Healed. Powered. Together. 

Until Sehun says, “I’m just curious, did you use the right end of the spear?”

Jongin sighs, and turns his head to fix Sehun with a look. “Is this how it’s always going to be?” He wonders, taking another bite of his fish, and chewing before continuing. “You, getting us into trouble. Me, getting us out of it. You, thinking you’re funny.”

Sehun grins. “Would you want it any other way?”

“I don’t know,” Jongin says, licking his fingers, “I think I was hoping for a bit more kissing.”

Sehun laughs, and then clutches his side. Jongin scoots over, and helps Sehun lay back down to relax his side.

“You’re getting better,” Jongin says. “But you’re still hurt. No overdoing it.”

Sehun nods, bringing up three fingers to salute Jongin playfully. “Yes, sir! I’ll just lay here in the sun and bask on the beach with a full stomach. It’s a hard job, but I’ll do my best.”

Jongin reaches over and brushes Sehun’s hair back from his forehead, and Sehun opens his eyes and squints from the bright moons. Jongin moves his hand to shield him and Sehun giggles.

“My hero,” he says, reaching up with his own hand to grab onto Jongin’s and tug it away from his face. After a moment he continues, “You are, you know. I can’t believe you swam out there by yourself.”

Jongin half shrugs. “I may not have been thinking very clearly in hindsight,” He teases, squeezing Sehun’s hand. “I mean, what with you sick and dying and all.”

Sehun sighs at him, but he closes his eyes. “I never said sorry, you know?” He begins, averting his eyes from Jongin. “I shouldn’t have gone out there on my own. I feel stupid that I got caught under that tree. That you burned yourself coming after me.”

“That could have happened to me too. And I know you would have done the same to save me. You would have done much more, much better. So quit being sorry. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Jongin adds truthfully, looking back down at Sehun, who is looking at him with a remorseful face.

“You’re right,” He agrees quietly, squeezing Jongin’s hand. They’re quiet for a few minutes, and Jongin wonders if he should move Sehun back to the hut, to ensure his fever doesn’t come back when Sehun speaks again. “You know, before,” He says gently, his face uncertain, “The storm, this,” He gestures at his side, and Jongin nods to let him know he understands, “We didn’t really talk about what happens when we get home. We did a lot of… stuff. Good stuff,” He teases quickly, when Jongin looks confused, “I distinctly remember the kissing and the flirting but… I mean, it’s funny, you know, I started off on this trip thinking we were singing the same song only to find out I was wrong, and now I… I’m not sure where we are.”

Jongin looks down at their clasped hands, and considers. “Sehun, I got you out from under that tree. I swam a mile out into the open ocean to get you Lay's stone to heal you. You’re not sure where we are?”

This was a concern that had not been bothering Jongin ever since they first had sex. He could have sworn Sehun thought the same. But again, Jongin tends to overlook Sehun’s real feelings, what with him being such an expert in concealing them. 

Sehun looks amused, but relieved. “You’d have done that before,” He points out, and Jongin knows that’s true. He’d have done anything for Sehun, even before he had acknowledged Sehun’s feelings for him, or his feelings for Sehun.

It makes him smile. “I would have,” he agrees easily, and he feels something warm inside himself as he says, “Which is why when we go home, things will be exactly like they were before.”

Sehun’s face falls, like he’s misunderstood, and Jongin smiles, and leans down to kiss him sweetly. “Only this time,” He clarifies when he comes back up, “I’ll be aware of the fact that we’re in a relationship.”

“So we’re like boyfriends,” Sehun nods, licking his lips as if he’s slowly becoming enthused with the idea. Jongin chuckles sweetly at him.

“We can even be husbands if you want.”

Sehun’s whole face emboldens in joy. “Yeah, I like the sound of that.”

 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

 

Sehun is evoking small tornados over the sand, testing the level of his powers. He smiles satisfactorily as he succeeds in conjuring three of them at the same time as he makes them dance until they disintegrate at his command. Jongin watches him from behind the bushes where he’s stretching their worn-out blanket to dry under the sun. It’s just one of the issues Jongin’s been in charge of solving. Just like Sehun taught him. Yet, Jongin isn’t positive he’ll be able to deal with the rest. They are out of granola bars. The other side of their hut has collapsed, and there's what seems like another storm springing up to them over the horizon. They have no business staying there anymore. Feeling recharged, Jongin thinks it's time they left. He leaves the blanket behind over the rocks and strolls toward Sehun. Soon they won’t need that blanket anymore, or that hut, or spears and bonfires. Soon, they’ll be home. 

“Sehunnie,” He calls in a stern voice. He knows Sehun will object to his decision. But there’s no way for them to postpone their leave any longer. Not with the rain approaching. “I'm ready to take us home. Now.”

Sehun doesn’t respond initially. He was probably expecting that proposal already. Instead, he surveys the storm. It’s moving fast, the sky becoming grayer and the clouds thicker. He gazes up at Jongin with a blank expression. That means he’s worried, and that he’s worried he’ll make Jongin worry that he’s worried. 

“Are you sure?”

“There's nothing left for us here anymore. We should hurry. The weather doesn't look any good.” Just as he points that out, a thunder splits the sky. Its sound it’s still distant, but it’s there and it’s an indication it will soon arrive. The wind blows slightly ponderously, but Sehun’s quick enough to have it swerving around them so that they’re not bothered by it. 

“I'm just worried. It's too risky. You've never done this before.”

“It'll be alright, Sehun. Besides, we don't have a choice. It's either that or burning to death under the acid rain.” Jongin points a finger toward the sea. He can’t help feeling a stab of anxiety in his chest. But he can’t let Sehun know that. Sehun nods, rising to his feet. He looks firm about it. He’s ready to go. That’s all Jongin needs to fuel him. Their hands join, and for a moment Jongin is glad they don’t have anything to pack or take back as a souvenir from this place. Although it’s a place he’ll never erase from his mind, since it brought them together, it is also a memory he’ll be relieved to have as just a memory. They’ve been through too much there. 

“Let's not go too far, maybe? We can try teleporting to a nearby location first. See if there's any chance of communication so we can get in touch with the others.” Suggests Sehun, squeezing Jongin’s hands in his own. 

“Yeah, that sounds okay. But it's hard to teleport to a place I've never been before.” Jongin reflects. It does sound like the less perilous approach they can take. But in other instances when he tried shifting to unknown locations, he always ended up injured somehow. Either coming against walls or falling down somewhere. 

“Just think of home. And don't overcharge yourself. Let's see where that takes us. Hopefully not another stranded island.” Sehun chuckles nervously, trying to cheer Jongin up. He must have caught on to Jongin’s nervousness, but he too wants to vacate that island despite the risks. 

“Okay,”

Jongin concentrates. Teleporting by himself is one thing, but teleporting someone else with him requires a lot of concentration. He tries to imagine what both their weights would feel like. His muscles tighten and his breathing deepens. Jongin thinks of home and of their friends. 

And so they snap through the air. 

 

 

🏝️🏝️🏝️

 

 

He opens his eyes just in time to catch Sehun in his arms. The other is pale and a little appalled. It’s the effect of teleportation, but Jongin’s already used to it. Sehun sounds a little breathless, and he holds onto Jongin for a moment with his eyes shut.

“It’s alright. We did it,” Jongin murmurs, ready to hold Sehun for as long as he needs to subside the dizziness. But Sehun regains his bearings not too long after, and untangles himself from Jongin to scan around. They’re in a dark room. That’s all Jongin can make out at first.

“Where are we?” Sehun asks.

“No idea. We should check outside. This place looks abandoned.” He grabs Sehun’s hand and tugs toward the door. The silence is jarring. They step over boxes and piles of clothes and even displaced furniture. Whoever was living in that apartment must have left in a hurry. 

“How far did we go?” Sehun’s voice rises over the silence, making Jongin yelp slightly.

“Not too far. I didn’t push my teleportation to its limit, just like you told me to.” He doesn’t feel overwhelmed in the slightest. Though now that he’s reading his surroundings he’s thinking he should have.

Sehun halts his steps suddenly, looking around. “Wait a minute.” He says with his voice at a regular volume now. “I don’t think there’s anybody here. We should look for clothes.”

It slipped Jongin’s mind they were both shirtless and probably looking like horrendous homeless guys. They’ve been stranded for too long. Under the darkness, Jongin gropes around until he finds a light switch. Surprisingly, the apartment looks cozy, like a happy family lived there, despite the state it’s found now. A Christmas tree is still up by the corner, collecting dust with its lights still twinkling. There are kids' toys scattered around the living room, over the carpet. Jongin’s chest tightens. It feels like everything stopped at some point in that home. Only something cruel could have made this beautiful home deserted like that. 

“Come on. Let’s go upstairs.” Sehun urges, tugging lightly at his hand. He must be thinking the same, but they have much time to dwell on the misfortunes of the people who once occupied that place and made it look happy. They trudge up the stairs quietly. When Jongin’s hand rests on the handrail, he feels dust smudge its palm. It’s been a while since this place received any housekeeping care. On the corridor, he comes across a round-rimmed mirror and gasps. He looks unrecognizable. And ugly. How could Sehun kiss him looking like that?

“Jesus Christ, I really do need to shave.” He says, palming his stubbled jaw. His hair too looks like it’s begging to be washed. He touches it and only then realizes how crusty it feels. He sniffs at his armpits too, and regrets it right away. Sehun is sniggering at his side. 

“Look, the doors are unlocked. Come on in.” He calls, creeping into a room. It’s a couple’s bedroom. The bed is made, making Jongin realize how much he’s missed lying on a real, comfortable, clean bed, but he won’t do it looking dirty and gross the way he does. To his side, one wall is almost entirely mirrored closet doors with gold-toned frames. The curtains are thrown open, and Jongin can see the city outside barely lit, as though most of it has been forsaken too.

“Here,” Sehun throws a towel towards him, crashing Jongin’s reverie. “There’s a suite over there. I’ll let you go first while I pick some clothes for us.”

Jongin heads toward the suite almost automatically. He’s too intrigued by the state of this scenario. He can’t shake the feeling something wrong happened and it’s still lingering around. But that shouldn’t be a problem. Whatever hindrance ensues, Jongin can teleport them out of there.

He tests the shower and it’s no surprise there’s still functional running water, though the stream is thin is cold. He washes himself thoroughly, immensely happy to use the soap that it’s probably run its expiration date, but still does a marvelous job at rinsing. He washes his hair as well, three times, but it feels like it will never be as clean and lustrous as it used to be. At some point, Sehun drops by and leaves a set of clean clothes hanging outside, along with a razor and a pair of socks and shoes.

“They’re not your exact size, but I think they might fit.” He announces from behind the curtains, and as much as Jongin wants to pull him inside so they can make out under the shower, he knows they need that moment of privacy separately. “I’ve used the suite in the other room. I’m all done. I’ll be waiting for you outside.” He says before wandering off to the room. Of course, he would need less time to recondition himself. He hardly looks shaggy. It’s like Sehun hasn’t spent the last few days on a stranded island at all. He didn’t even tan a bit. 

Jongin only quits grumbling once he finishes up adorning himself. When he checks the mirror again, he raises a pride brow at himself. He looks like himself again, despite the clothes looking a little too loose around his frame – He must have dropped a few pounds on the island, after being forced on a diet of only fruits and granola bars – His face is shaved-clean and his hair is a straight thick locks, falling over his eyes in a pretty way. Later, when they’re home, he’ll definitely get a haircut.

He’s excited to show up to see Sehun’s reaction, when he notices a pounding light coming from the corner of the room. It’s the stone. It’s ringing again. This time randomly, as though erratically. Alarmed, Jongin tries to pick it from inside the pocket of his tattered jeans, but the stone burns at the contact. He groans, and decides to use the damp towel to wrap the stone.

What could it be signaling now? He takes it back to the bedroom, where Sehun’s waiting for him, but his unease switches directions once he sees the look in Sehun’s eyes. He’s sitting at the edge of the bed, hair all combed up and dressed in laved clothes, holding a picture frame. He looks at Jongin with watery and uneased eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” Jongin questions, placing the stone aside on the mattress to seat himself next to Sehun.

“This house,” He says, aghast. “This bed. These clothes. All of these.” He hands the frame to Jongin. “It’s ours.”

Bemused, Jongin looks down at the frame, only to find the two of them holding each other. Smiling and older. Jongin sees the matching rings on their fingers and the soft wrinkles around their eyes. Speechless, he gazes at Sehun, with a million questions in his mind.

“How–”

The stone turns aglow again, this time even stronger. It lifts in the air for a second until it drops to the floor and rolls under the bed. It surely wants to warn them of something . They both crawl to the ground, delving in under the bed. There’s a rectangle velvety dark box there.

Jongin doesn’t waste a heartbeat to pull it out. It’s just as dusty as the rest of the house. Sehun hovers over his shoulder curiously, reading over the symbol woven on top of it. EXO 2034.

“I don’t think we just landed on an off-world island, Sehun,” He mutters in shock. “I think we time-traveled altogether.”

“Are you saying we are in 2034?” Sehun asks distressedly. “What the fuck happened then? Where are we? Where are the others?” He freaks out, pushing the box out of Jongin’s hold and yanking it open.

Eleven rocks are stuffed inside it. All in different colors and shapes, but with the same crystal material of the stone they were carrying with them this whole time. They light up to life in unison, and Jongin notices there’s room for another one. He picks up Lay’s stone from the floor and places it where it should be. With the others. Those stones each hold their powers. They all glow with the same intensity, as though they were missing the one that was missing. And now they’re whole.

Just then, they hear it. 

The same sounds they heard on the island. But here they are louder and unbound, and worst of all, they are multiple. Whatever haunted them there, already scourged this entire city. Their home. Their future. The growls increase in volume, creeping up to them. They hear crashes and booms. 

Unhesitatingly, Jongin grabs Sehun’s hand, and before the incoming devastation can catch up to them, they teleport again.

But wherever they might go, like It’s written in their future, danger is bound to follow.