i've got nine tails, and the middle one's for you, for aprilclash [3/3]
****
“Hey, did you know that there’s a dick analyzer?” Chanyeol turned to ask Sehun one night when the younger had walked in with four containers of ddeobokki in his plastic back. Sehun gave him a look and set the food down on the cluttered kitchen table. He tapped his screen at a 3D drawing of a dick on his screen. “Look, it says I’m a ‘fighting stoic auto revolver’ and my ability is 35%! Wait, I’ll do yours now.” The keyboard keys clacked away rhythmically (Chanyeol was a fast typer since he’d been an avid gamer most of his life) and a green model of a dick that looked way bigger than Chanyeol’s appeared on the screen. They both stared at the computer in silence but it was Chanyeol who decided to speak first.
“Ultimate jumbo frank, 47% ability, gay only. Whoa, I didn’t think this would be accurate.”
Sehun frowned at the writing on the computer and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, but what does that even mean? Ultimate jumbo frank- it’s a dick, not a hot dog.” He heard the water tap turn off in another room and knew that either Jongdae or Baekhyun (or both if they had been in the tub together since it wasn’t unusual) had finished showering.
Chanyeol shrugged and the scent of the spicy rice cakes finally hit his senses, “Beats me, honestly. Did you bring ddeobokki?” Sehun nodded and a smile full of teeth appeared on Chanyeol’s face as he rubbed his hands together happily as he walked over to the kitchen. Sehun followed him and helped him set up the table.
“What’re you guys talking about? We could hear you from the bathroom, water on and everything.” Both Jongdae and Baekhyun waddled into the room, towels messily carded over their heads to dry their hair. Jongdae started to fashion his into tiny lamb ears which only made him look cuter in Sehun’s eyes. He wore what appeared to be Chanyeol’s old plaid pajamas and his thin cotton shirt that was way too big on him because it hung low over his thin thighs.
“Okay which one of you perverts was looking at a dick analyzer? And why is Sehun’s penis much larger than Chanyeol’s, this is an outrage!”
****
It had been Jongdae’s idea to go stargazing on the roof that night but Yixing’s idea to confess that he was anything but human. They’d stripped the blankets and sheets off Sehun’s bed and stretched them across the rooftop of their apartment building, falling back on pillows and cold sheets. They were doing some amateur stargazing that night, eyes fixed more on each other than the stars themselves.
“I’m-” He began.
“Not human.” Jongdae interrupted. “Yeah, you’re not exactly so slick.”
That's the first time that Sehun noticed that Jongdae's got this ridiculous grin spread over his lips that puts a smile across his own face. His cheekbones are so high and sharp that Sehun bet that he could cut his hand just touching it, but his hand ached to stroke the soft skin. He loved a challenge, he wanted to be challenged and he didn't think he'd allow himself to be challenged by anybody who wasn't Jongdae. Because a conversation with Jongdae wasn't easy. It was always filled with witty words, concrete comebacks, jokes and insults that bruise Sehun's ego. They were like puppet strings, reeling him in and letting him go.
And Sehun's never met a human like this, a human whose eyes dart quickly enough with a mind sharper than his tongue. It was perfect and it was some kind of match made in a heaven that Sehun knew didn't exist for either of them. And the stars danced in Jongdae's eyes that night, and Sehun made a wish upon those lucky stars, no his eyes, that they would never have to part because he couldn't smile without him and he didn't want to live this immortal life without him.
Honestly, it was silly that he was even thinking like this because about a month ago, he wouldn't have ever thought he'd ever be in the company of a lousy human. Sehun never would've expected it and he didn't want it either. But he knew for a fact that he didn't want to see the day that Jongdae had to go because he doesn't know what he'd do without him.
Sehun hated being attached and that's what this was. He was attached to a pesky human being.
“How did you know?” He asked quietly with his eyes still closed.
“Lucky guess.” Jongdae shrugged beside him and Sehun could tell that his eyes never left the stars because his voice sounded so far away.
Sehun frowned and turned onto his side, propping himself up on his elbows. “You’re lying.”
“Oh yeah?” Jongdae mirrored his position and stared straight into Sehun’s eyes. “Why don’t you tell me then?”
His eyebrows knit together and he shook his head, throwing the question back, “I don’t know, I’m asking you.”
The elder laughed and lay down again with his arms crossed beneath his head. “There was just something different about you. Like your eyes turn red when you’re mad. Shit like that.” He turned his head and blinked at him. “Are you getting mad now?”
Sehun smacked him with a pillow and Jongdae laughed, nudging Sehun’s leg with his knees.
“Shut up and look at the stars you idiot.” And they did. By the time the night was over and daylight streaked across the sky, their eyes had formed sleepy crescents and smiles had been etched onto their faces.
Sehun never liked the stars anyway.
****
Sehun thought that kissing was the weirdest thing ever. Like who decided that lips touching each other was a romantic thing? And why did it lead to more touching and wandering hands and whiny mouths, did someone make the rules for all these things? Who even allowed it? But there was a part of him that wondered what it was like to have Jongdae's lips pressed up against his own like he had in the movies. He wondered what it was like to have his that teasing tongue sucked into his mouth as Jongdae groaned against his lips with his eyes screwed shut and his head thrown back against a wall. He wanted the elder to melt in his arms. He wanted to see him become undone by his own hands. Sehun wanted, oh, he wanted.....
His heart raced fast as he jolted awake, quickly sitting up in his bed with his hand held over his chest. It hurt for some reason and Sehun couldn't really put his finger on the reason. It felt wrong and he screwed his eyes shut because in the back of his mind he knew that he and Jongdae could never be. Oh. Maybe that's why it hurt so much.
Sehun slipped out of bed and decided to get a glass of cold water, rubbing aimlessly at his chest to soothe the incessant pain. He recalled that over the past few days the pain had been growing and spreading, inciting tiny pinpricks of pain in his fingers and legs.
The worst part of it all was that he didn't know what was causing it.
****
“Your heart’s starting to harden.” Yixing noted after he cleaned out the kittens’ litter boxes. Sehun had a soft spot for this fluffy white one named Zazzles, he was too cute for words.
“What do you mean?” He frowned over the front counter as he played with all the animal pens that Yixing had spent dozens of hours on one weekend. There were pink feathered flamingoes and spotted giraffes; Yixing really paid a lot of attention to detail.
“You might stop being a kumiho.” The elder shuffled his papers around and scribbled his signature on various dotted lines with a dalmatian pen. “Your roots are coming out, your hair isn’t silver anymore and I can’t remember the last time you asked for meat. You know, maybe that’s why your chest’s been hurting a lot.”
“Yixing, you can’t even remember what you had for breakfast this morning.”
“A blueberry bagel and some green tea.”
Sehun raised an eyebrow and Yixing just shrugged. He pondered the thought him losing his kumiho powers to become human. It didn’t seem so bad.
****
The days dragged on and he could feel his powers wearing thin on his body but he didn’t mind it so much. The empty pores in his heart that had been clogged with loneliness were filled with warm hands that fit perfectly in the spaces between his fingers. His ability to visualize based on sound was the first to go. But he realized he didn’t need it when he could see Jongdae sitting right beside him with his signature smirk as he sang lullabies in the middle of the night. His strength was second to disappear. He didn’t notice it between the arm wrestling tournaments that were held in Chanyeol’s living room amongst cartons of takeout Chinese food and cans of beer. Soon, his eyes would only flash red for a split second and his tail would barely puff out when he turned to look at it in the mirror early in the morning on days when the others were barely around. His time with Jongdae increased despite the fact that he knew his time as a kumiho slipped through his fingers.
****
As soon as he’d closed the door Jongdae had him pushed up against the wall with lips pressed hotly against his own, coaxing soft moans from the back of his throat and fiery red burns to tinge his cheeks. Rough kisses were peppered messily across his face and neck, a sinfully sweet suck on his tongue, a roll on his hips; hands found the loops of Sehun’s jeans and he felt like he was in Vegas all over again, lost somewhere between Jongdae’s knowing smile and a mysterious cocktail drink. But this wasn’t Vegas, there was no glitz or glamour embedded in Jongdae’s skin, no magic in his fingertips as he dragged the zipper down achingly slow while Sehun threw his head back and bucked his hips forward. The hand that rest on his hip slid back to grab his ass and he gave it a squeeze that sent sparks up Sehun’s spine. Jongdae’s touch was electric; it left a fiery trail of burning skin that remained bare as his pants fell to his ankles. It was strange how unashamed he was about this whole situation, this nakedness, but this was Jongdae. Jongdae knew him since the very first day. Jongdae knew everything about him. Jongdae completely understood. And that was why he felt so comfortable with his cock shoved down his throat, enjoying the sight of those pretty catlike lips stretched around his length. It felt so nice and Sehun wondered why he’d previously denied himself this simple pleasure. He set the signals that screamed stop! danger! stop! on snooze and let his body fall at the mercy of Jongdae’s tongue that seemed to be working wonders on his dick. His tongue would lave at the head of his cock and press teasingly into the slit which made Sehun cry out in pleasure, thrust his hips forward impatiently to get more of himself in the elder’s mouth. He didn’t last long though as the other bobbed his head, and it wasn’t long before his vision swam before his eyes and he shot thick, white velvet ropes down Jongdae’s throat. On his knees, the elder looked so feral with his cum-stained lips and wild, hungry eyes. His gaze caused the younger boy to look avert his gaze out of intimidation.
Sehun's face was pressed deep into a pillow as the mattress dipped under both of their weights. He couldn’t quite describe the pain or pleasure he felt from the coldness of Jongdae’s lube-slicked fingers as they pushed through the tight ream of muscles surrounding his entrance. He bit his lip to keep any expletives or moans from spilling when the elder pressed the blunt head of his cock against his prostate and caused his breath to hitch.
“I love you,” he managed to sputter with sweat and tears staining his cheeks and forehead, and he knew Jongdae heard because he felt the boy stiffen briefly before resuming his impatient thrusts. He wasn’t sure if he’d meant it or if he’d only said it because it was a normal thing to say. He’d heard these words come out of human’s lips many many many times before. Jongdae slammed in at a different angle and snatched him away from his thoughts; a groan ripped through Sehun’s throat as Jongdae rode through his orgasm, hot seed leaking out of his overfilled hole. Jongdae snapped his hips faster and faster as skin slapped against skin before he collapsed on top of him. He’s worn out. He’s tired. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
He’s too far gone, fast asleep in Jongdae’s arms to notice the flashing light from his phone indicating the numbers of missed calls and messages from Yixing.
****
“Hey Sehun, it’s Yixing, I think I found something about that guy you saw in Vegas. He’s got really dark circles under his eyes, right? Anyways, call me back, I have to tell you something that I don’t think I can tell you through a message.”
****
He woke to an image of his reflection in a mirror, clothed in silk white robe with a rose-colored sash tied loosely around his hips. His wrists and ankles were bound by thick cords, and it was only through the mirror that he was able to see that the tuft of his tail had popped out from the small of his back. It flailed weakly and Sehun could barely feel it, much less control its movements. Bright lights flooded his vision, blinding his eyes and his spine ached with dull stings that rested on his thighs. The walls surrounding the board on which he lay on were spotless, emulating a cold aura that normally would have instilled fear in a normal human being but practically no emotion from him.
“Our little fox is finally awake. Chen, why don’t you feed him?” A cool voice echoed, icily bouncing off walls and shattering his thoughts.
Sehun parted his cracked lips that were dry from the unbearable overall chilliness of the slab he laid upon and wet them with an equally parched tongue. His ears twitched to pick up vibrations of any movements but there were none. He couldn’t locate the source of the sound. His eyes darted back to a window and sunlight shined through the clear windows. The sky was blue and there was a tree outside. He couldn’t find an exit.
It hurts. Everything hurts.
A metal tray, sparsely filled with pieces of stale bread (though a majority of it had already crumbled), clanged to his left and he glanced at it, startled by the boy clad in all white, almost camouflaged into the furniture. Jongd- no, Chen. He looked very much like Jongdae but his were hooded and his lips were downturned in a frown. The happy smiles were gone. He wore a white, leather collar around his neck that accentuated his cheekbones and made them look sharper than ever. He was as beautiful as ever but appeared just as cruel. Maybe the darkness of his eyes against the pure white made him beautiful because it was out of place and wrong. Because Jongdae had taught him that he couldn’t stop wrong things from feeling so right. Or maybe his eyes ached too much. He couldn’t keep them open any longer. He couldn’t.
****
Water was splashed onto his face and Sehun found himself face to face with the man from the club. Vegas was a distant memory but the deep dark circles and sharp jawline are forever engraved in his mind. He was seated in a chair in a cell this time but his vision too blurry to accurately examine his surroundings. Sehun watched the man as he paced around the cell, unable to lunge at him due to his swollen hands being tied behind his back. The metal cuffs dug into his wrists and he was too weak to break out of them. Cloth had been stuffed in his mouth and it tickled his dry throat so much so that he thought he’d die from just that.
He eyed the boy who had been addressed as Chen earlier, the one whom he had known to be Jongdae. He had been leaning against the corner between two walls with a dagger tucked in his belt. Sehun’s eyes slowly focused back on the thin man.
He leaned forward so that his face was directly leveled with Sehun’s. “Do you know who I am?”
Sehun stared at him with bored eyes and didn’t respond half because he didn’t know who he was and half because he still had the wretched cloth in his mouth.
“Look closely.”
And he did, noticing the thin scars hidden behind his thick black eyebrows and the scratches along his cheek. The skin looked familiar but Sehun couldn’t quite place his finger on where he’d seen it before. He couldn’t think as clearly, dizzy from dehydration and hunger. He needed meat. Sehun’s eyes widened as the man lifted his bangs to reveal a deep, jagged scar that ran across his forehead. He felt a burning sensation burst through his head and it was all too much, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted.
He was young again, maybe seven years old, running through the empty wheat fields behind the mountains. He wasn’t supposed to be there, he was supposed to be at school, he was supposed to be at home, he was supposed to be anywhere but there. But he had been drawn to plains that seemed to last for miles as they disappeared into liquid sunlight. He’d oftentimes watched human children hide in the stalks during the hot summer days but tonight they were clear. The dark sky, completely blended with foggy gray wisps that could barely pass off as clouds, above was dotted with dazzling stars. They shined individually as if they were each talking, wanting to share their secrets with him. He found himself entranced by the breeze that seemed to knock his chin up to the endless limits of the universe and made him want to reach out to grab what he believed belonged to him. It was like a navy blue blanket that covered the earth, glittering in all the right places to comfort the soul. He’d heard that there would be a meteor shower tonight, a phenomenon that hadn’t happened in almost eight hundred years. His ears twitched in excitement as he sat, perched on a rock as his tail swished in the wind.
A pair of hands pushed him from behind and he nearly fell off his rock. “HEY!” He turned to find a raven-haired kumiho giggling into his palm. “Not funny, Tao.”
“You would’ve found it funny if you’d seen your face, scoot over.” Sehun made room for his friend and grunted under his breath.
“Why’re you even here?” He whispered, arms looping around the other’s waist to keep warm. He ducked his head into the crook of Tao’s neck and nuzzled the smooth skin.
“Well if someone’s going to get in trouble, it might as well be the both of us.” They sat silently because they knew they should stay away from the stars because they were dangerous. Humans might’ve found them pretty but stars were horrible things. Kumihos could be branded with scorch marks and scars if the stars grazed their skin, limiting their powers. Stars were powerful. Sehun didn’t quite understand the reason why it happened but it had something to do with the Moon Kingdom and the War of the Winter Solstice.
“Sehun, it’s starting. Look.” Sehun’s gaze followed Tao’s pointed finger to the shooting stars and falling meteors that danced onto the Earth. He clapped his hands excitedly and jumped onto his feet. Minutes passed and soon the sky was filled with strings of burning white light that flashed brilliantly in the dark. Their mouths parted in awe at the beautiful sight before them.
Sehun tugged on the sleeve of Tao’s shirt. “Let’s get closer.”
His friend looked back at him uneasily, “I don’t know, Sehun...”
He knew that words were no use to Tao and started to go for the mountains on his own, the shuffling of his friend’s feet indicating that he would follow. Sehun smiled to himself as he climbed the steep path to the top of the mountain, eyes never leaving the scene unfolding in the clouds. He could hear Tao panting behind him and that only motivated him to climb higher. The shooting stars were so close now, he could see them zooming overhead. He was too distracted that he didn’t notice how close one star had gotten until he heard Tao’s strangled cry. Sehun’s eyes grew wide and he screamed as he watched his friend fall off the side of the mountain.
He found Tao in what seemed to be hours later on covered in grass and dewdrops. His eyes were closed and the only memory of his encounter with the stars was the scorch mark emblazoned his forehead. He was stripped of his kumiho powers.
Handfuls of water slapped him into consciousness with angry red marks on his cheeks greeting a bloody lip.
“Do you know me now?” Sehun coughed and nodded as his eyes fell to the floor. He knew what was going to come next. Suddenly Chen, the dagger, this cell, the fading sunlight, his weak body, they all made sense but there were still gaping holes in his train of thought.
“And you know what I’m going to do to you.” Those words came out as a mere whisper but they rang so loud in Sehun’s ears as images of dead kumihos with their tails cut off and their hearts ripped from their chests swam before his eyes. He never thought people actually did that stuff. Tao laughed but it didn’t sound like the laugh he’d grown up with as a child. It was older, more grown up.
His old friend stood up straight and addressed the boy who had been leaning in the corner.
“Bring me his tail.” He spun on his heel and turned his head, eyes boring holes into Sehun’s. “Wrench his heart out just like he did with me.”
Instead of leaving, Tao sat on a chair directly opposite of him with his legs crossed and a dissatisfied frown on face. Chen let out a sharp exhale and sauntered over to Sehun, dragging his fingers across the blade that appeared to glow a bright cosmic blue. It almost resembled the meteors from that night many years ago. Sehun closed his eyes as he felt the tip graze his neck and it stung much worse than fading hickeys that Jongdae had left the night before. He held his breath as he felt the pressure of the dagger on his throat lifted but he did not expect to hear Tao’s bloodcurdling scream come next.
Sehun lifted his head in surprise and his eyes locked on the dagger that had been lodged in Tao’s shoulder. It glowed even lighter and he swore his heart almost beat out of chest.
“Run,” Chen whispered in his ear as he freed him. “Run as fast as you can.”
Sehun stared at Tao with wild eyes, resembling much like a deer in headlights at the sight of his old friend whose shirt had become drenched in his own blood. It was everywhere.
“Sehun, run now.”
Tao howled in pain as Sehun rubbed his bloodied wrists and stepped out of the cell. The building started to shake uncontrollably He didn’t want to leave Tao. Tao was his friend he’d wronged in the past. He’d always be his friend. He couldn’t leave Jongdae either. He’d have to question him later about that Jongdae-Chen thing and possibly kick his ass for tricking him.
“Sehun.” He didn’t need to be told again.
And Sehun ran. He doesn’t think he’s run that fast in a long time.
****
A candle burned low in the moonlight, its wax seeping through the cracks of the broken concrete. Two shadows danced across walls and eventually faded between narrow alleys. Catcalls travelled through worn wires that hung over the rapidly darkening city by the sea. The water calmly washed over the shore, beckoning the two strangers to come into the light. They walk in and it all fades to black.
Sehun was sent back to Earth to find his destiny. He found Jongdae instead.