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The sun is shining down from the sky when Chan parks his bicycle outside the plant school. Spring is starting to leave way for summer, coming with longer days and hotter weather. The 15 minute bike trip here from his cottage has left Chan with a sweat, a few drops of it running down his forehead. But, he’d been way too excited over the prospect of getting plants for the pond he and Jisung had recently finished to be able to wait any longer.
He steps in through the gate, feeling a calm instantly settle over him. He’s always liked coming here, even if just to wander aimlessly through the endless aisles of plants. Now, though, he makes a beeline for the low building nestled under a wall of various ivy and evergreens, seeking the cool air he knows he’ll find there.
This particular plant school also doubles as a crystal and herb shop, specialising in every hedge witch’s needs. Now, Chan is no expert in this, although he has several friends who are hedge witches, but he can appreciate the temperature they keep, at least now that the summer heat is coming.
Changbin probably would have wanted to come with him if he knew Chan is going to buy plants, because boy has he got opinions on plants. He can suck it, though, the pond is Chan’s and he’s gonna plant it however he wants! Although, he tells himself, it’s Jisung’s too, but he’ll be happy with whatever Chan picks.
“Hope he’s okay,” Chan murmurs to himself as he steps into the cool building.
Jisung is about to go through his rebirth, but had insisted that he’d be fine even without Chan there. “ I’ve been a phoenix my whole life, Channie-hyung, I know how to do this, ” he’d told Chan before he left.
Thinking about Jisung, Chan eyes the various gemstones and crystals lining the display cases as he cools down. He wants to give something to Jisung after his rebirths, has always wanted to do that, even if Jisung says he doesn’t need to. There are some beautiful red stones, but he wants something that represents fire.
He strolls around for a bit longer before deciding to leave it for later and instead look at plants. He knows he needs some for all the different levels of the pond, but he also wants some to line the area around it. Perhaps a nice tree to provide some shade during the hot summer days to come — maybe a willow, or a wisteria. Both would be nice to have a little seating area underneath.
There is a display sort of pond just outside the building, with different placards explaining the different types of plants for various levels of a pond. When they’d planned it Chan’s idea had been to include as many different levels as they could, as well as making it deep enough for fish. This pond is too, and there are some of them swimming around in there. He leans forward to get a better look at them, mesmerised by the way the sun glints in their scales. There are instincts making him want to reach down into the water and greet them, but one of the signs says specifically not to touch the water or drop something in there.
It’s almost as if Chan is in some kind of trance, which must be why he somehow missed all the ruckus that must have undoubtedly happened behind him. He’s only made aware of this when someone bumps into him hard, sending him spinning around to catch a quick glance at the person — hood pulled up and a scarf covering the lower half of their face and a bag with things haphazardly sticking out - before he’s tumbling backwards into the pond. The robber only spares him a quick glance before running along, probably to get away from the place.
There is a muffled sound of sirens filtering down through the water, and voices speaking at a distance. Chan’s hearing has always been good in the water, as well as his sight and breathing — a perk of gills and double eyelids — but now … something seems to be wrong. He can’t seem to get his gills to work, and every time he tries to breath water flows in through his nose. A long wispy plant has wrapped around his arms, so no matter how much he flails to get to the surface, he’s stuck.
This shouldn't happen, it just shouldn’t, and Chan has no idea how it can. Panic starts to creep over him, fear of drowning starting to settle in. He’s a creature of the water, he shouldn’t be able to drown. It just doesn’t make sense .
When dark spots have started dancing around his line of vision and it feels like he’s sinking down down down into an endless void, hands come down from above and suddenly he’s going up up up, until there’s air around him and he can finally breathe again.
The person pulls him up and out until he’s laying on the rocky path. Chan coughs in a desperate attempt to rid his lungs of the water. A hand comes to rest on his back, probably as some kind of comfort, but it really only feels restricting and intrusive. He has always been adverse to touch right after emerging from any kind of body of water, but with the current situation it feels even worse.
Eventually, after what feels like an eternity, and he has vomited up what must be liters upon liters of water, he stills, slumping down onto the pebbles.
“How are you feeling?” There is a paramedic crouched next to him, looking ready to jump in if anything goes wrong.
But really, that's all Chan feels. “Wrong,” he rasps, hand flying up to scratch at his throat. He never thought it would feel like this. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
The paramedic lifts a stethoscope to his chest, silent for a moment before frowning. “You should come with us back to the hospital. What’s your identity?”
“Water nymph,” Chan replies, and sees the instant the information shocks the paramedic.
“Yeah, you definitely need to come with us.”
On the ride over Chan must have fallen asleep or fainted or something, because the next thing he knows, he’s in a hospital bed with his neighbour Minho of all people next to him. It’s probably the shock, he reasons, letting his head just rest against the soft pillows for a moment before sitting up. He faintly remembers talking to a police officer before getting into the ambulance.
“You gave us quite a scare there, huh.” Minho’s voice is tight with worry, but he seems otherwise unaffected.
“Jisungie?” Chan asks, his voice still uneven and scratchy.
“He was still in the middle of it when the call came, so I promised I’d go instead and keep him updated. The doctor said you could probably go home after you’d woken up and they’d done a quick check, so I told him he could wait at home and rest.”
Chan feels an immense gratitude to Minho, who even though they only first got to know each other as neighbours a few months ago when Chan and Jisung first moved in next to him, has always been there to help them, no matter the fact that he’s actually younger than Chan and acts as if he’s the same age as Jisung. If there was ever anyone Chan knows he can trust, it’s Minho.
Chan leans forward to rest his arms on his knees, drawing them up slightly. “Did they say what was wrong?”
Minho shakes his head. “Wouldn’t tell anyone who wasn’t family. At least they let me in here.”
Chan hums, and the room falls into silence.
Chan worries about Jisung, if he’s stressing himself up over Chan being in the hospital, and so eventually asks, “Does Jisungie know what happened?”
“Not really more than I do,” Minho shakes his head. “Just that you got caught up in a robbery at the plant school, and ended up at the hospital just so they could check up on you.”
“Oh,” Chan breathes out, and stares up at the ceiling for a moment to gather his thoughts. Finally he says, “I almost drowned.”
Minho stares at him, a blank look on his face not letting Chan know what he’s thinking, before saying, “That’s not funny.”
Chan shakes his head. “I’m serious. I got pushed into this pond they had, and I couldn’t breath.”
“But you have gills.” Minho’s voice is monotone, no life whatsoever to it.
“I know.” Chan pulls his shoulders up, and hugs his knees. “But I couldn’t breath, and I got stuck in something so I couldn’t even get myself up. Something went wrong, but I don’t know what.”
“That- that shouldn’t be able to happen.”
Chan hums again, but doesn’t add anything. What can he possibly say? He’s just as clueless as to how he could have possibly almost drowned, and the paramedic hadn’t been able to answer either.
“I’ll go get the doctor,” Minho says and stands up. When he’s left, Chan takes a shaky breath and tries not to cry. He still feels wrong and weird, throat scratchy and his skin itchy. He wants it to go away, but he doesn't know how to make it.
When Minho comes back, with a doctor in tow, Chan has collected himself, no sign of the tears that threatened to fall.
The doctor introduces herself shortly and performs whatever checks she deems necessary, all the while Minho is hovering in the background, staring at Chan with worry.
Finally, the doctor pulls up a chair to Chan’s bed and sits down. “Everything seems to be fine now. You went into shock in the ambulance and fainted, but I can’t find any lasting damage from that or the near drowning.”
“So why did he almost drown?” Minho asks, hands clenched on his arms hugging himself.
“Well,” she starts, turned towards Chan, “we aren’t entirely sure what caused it, but it seems that some of the gemstones they tried to steal fell into the pond with you. Our guess is that something reacted with the properties of the pool, and affected your ability to breathe through your gills.”
“Oh,” Chan breaths out. “But everything’s fine now?”
“Yes, as soon as you’ve gone over all the paperwork you’re free to go home. Just make sure to take it a little easy in the coming days, no heavy labour or things like that.”
Chan nods, and the doctor leaves after giving him directions to the main desk for the paperwork.
For some reason, the only thing going around his brain is worry about what happened to the fishes in the pond.
“I didn’t want to scare you before,” Minho says when they’re both seated inside his car, “but Jisung-ah kind of freaked out when they called.”
Chan waits for him to elaborate, stomach clenching in worry and guilt.
“They could just say that there had been a robbery and you were in the hospital.” Minho shakes his head, hands clenching around the steering wheel. “I had to calm him down and tell him to stay at home to rest. I tried to act like everything was okay but I was actually really worried about you.”
“I’m fine now, Minho,” Chan assures him, voice tight.
“I know, but…” he trails off, still staring out the windshield and avoiding Chan’s eyes.
Chan waits for him to say or do something more, but a few minutes later he just starts the car and says, “Let’s drive you home.”
A few streets later Chan gathers himself enough to ask, “Is Jisungie okay?”
Minho nods. “When I last spoke to him he was done regenerating and was taking a nap. Waiting for you.”
Chan hums, but doesn’t know what else to say.
It’s only when they turn onto the gravel road leading to their houses and Minho stops the car that Chan realises there are tears spilling down his cheeks.
“Hyung…” Minho reaches out a tentative hand to put on his shoulder, and when Chan doesn’t protest he pulls him into a hug. “It’s okay, you’re fine now.”
And Chan, Chan doesn’t know why he’s reacting like this, right now. He thought he’d gotten it out of his system already back at the hospital, but it seems like that’s not the case.
“I’m sorry,” he says between attempts at not sobbing, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Minho shushes him, “It’s okay, you had a really stressful experience. It’s okay to not feel okay after that. You shouldn’t keep it inside yourself.”
“It was awful,” Chan mumbles against Minho’s shirt where he’s pressed against him. Minho still hasn’t lightened his iron grip on him. “I couldn’t breath and I couldn’t move. And then I started panicking, and it was even worse.”
“You’re okay now,” Minho murmurs, whispering comforting words into his hair.
Chan, well, he lets himself finally cry it out, going slack in Minho’s embrace. He doesn’t want Jisung to see him like this — really though, he would prefer it if Minho wouldn’t either, but it’s too late for that now.
They sit like that for maybe 10 minutes before Chan finally calms down and Minho drives the rest of the way home. Chan almost cries again when the cottage comes into view. That’s where Jisung is, and as soon as he can just get there and cuddle up with Jisung he can forget this day even happened.
He goes to search for his keys in the bag of his belongings he got when signing the papers, but Minho stops him.
"I borrowed Jisung-ah's keys," he explains and unlocks the door.
Chan toes off his shoes, basking in the calmness of the house. Jisung is probably taking a nap somewhere, most likely on the bed in their sunroom.
Minho lingers in the doorway, and when Chan lifts an eyebrow in question at him he asks, "Should I leave you two alone and go home?"
Chan can understand his apprehension, but he's also aware of how worried Minho had been. It doesn't feel right to send him home and deal with it alone - even if he does just want to spend time with Jisung.
"Stay?" Chan smiles at him, suddenly unsure if that is actually what Minho wants.
Minho smiles back at him, whispering a low "Thank you," and pulls him into another hug.
When he pulls back, he says, "I'm sure Jisung-ah has heard us by now, you probably don't want to leave him waiting."
Chan heads to the sunroom first, and sure enough, Jisung is there, laying splayed out on the bed, basking in the sunlight streaming in through the glass. He has his eyes closed and doesn’t react as Chan approaches. First when Chan sits down next to him does he open his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Hi,” he says, his tone soft and warm. Chan has always thought of his voice as the feeling of the sun breaking through the clouds after rain.
“Hi,” he replies, scooting closer and laying down next to Jisung. “I’m sorry I worried you.”
Jisung pulls him closer into a hug. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t know that there would be a robbery when you went.”
Chan chuckles, a little dryly, and says, “I barely even realised while it was happening. Not until-” He cuts himself off, not wanting to worry Jisung even more, while still knowing that he will have to tell him about the near drowning one way or another.
Jisung sits up slightly, clearly having noticed his hesitation. “What? What happened? Spit it out hyung.”
Chan hides his face in Jisung’s chest and mumbles, “I almost drowned.”
With his face pressed against Jisung’s chest Chan can feel his shock, feel when he stops breathing. “You’re kidding,” he stutters.
From the kitchen comes the sound of a cabinet being opened and closed, and the tap briefly being turned on. Aside from that the house is quiet.
“I don’t know what happened exactly,” Chan says when Jisung has laid back down and pulled him against his chest. “I was pushed into the pond by one of the robbers, and I got stuck in the plants and couldn’t get out. The doctor said they thought maybe some of the gemstones they tried to steal had fallen in and had a reaction that made my gills not work.”
Jisung is quiet for moments that stretch on before he squeezes Chan tight and says, "I'm never letting you go there alone again."
"It's not like there will be a robbery there every time I go alone." Chan can't help but chuckle despite the situation.
"Well, regardless," Jisung huffs, "I'm coming with you next time."
“Okay,” Chan breathes out, finally feeling like he can relax.
“First I’m gonna cuddle the shit out of you though,” Jisung chuckles and presses a kiss to the top of Chan’s head.
They stay like that for a while, just basking in each other's warmth, before Minho pokes his head around the corner.
“Felix, Changbin, and Hyunjin are here, should I let them in?”
“Do you think they have found out what happened?” Chan asks.
“Maybe, they look kind of worried,” Minho frowns. “I think they have your bike too.”
“Oh, I had forgotten about it…” It had completely slipped his mind in the midst of everything.
Jisung sits up a bit - as good as he can with Chan draped over his chest - and stretches. “Let them in, we can cuddle later. If they came here because they found out about the robbery, they’ll just worry even more if we don’t let them in.”
Minho leaves to let them in, and soon their home fills with the sound of their voices, individual words indiscernible in the noise. Chan, strangely, finds an immense comfort in the familiarity of the chaos.
In contrast with their sound-level coming into the house, they move quietly towards Chan and Minho, and just remain standing in a corner of the sunroom when they arrive there.
Eventually, Felix is the first to speak up. “Changbin-hyung helped me make herbal tea for you,” he says, the freckles on his skin glowing.
Chan accepts the bag with a smile, knowing Felix must have poured a lot of love and effort into making it under the watchful eye of his fellow witch. He’s still learning, what with being only partially a witch, but Changbin has taken him under his wing, a soft spot for the younger that he denies every time Chan brings it up.
“Thank you.”
Silence settles over the room, but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable or forced.
“I was going to the plant school with Felix when we found out,” Changbin says. “There were police everywhere, and we saw your bike there.”
Felix nods eagerly in agreement. “They couldn’t really tell us a lot, though. And then we ran into Hyunjin on the way here.”
“Are you okay, hyung?” Hyunjin asks, his voice uncharacteristically meek.
“Yes, I’m all right now,” Chan replies. He makes a conscious choice not to mention the almost drowning, not wanting them to start worrying again. “I didn’t really notice what was happening until one of the guys tried to escape. They took me to the hospital just to make sure I was completely fine.”
Next to Changbin Minho raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything. Jisung squeezes his shoulder, but he too remains silent. Internally Chan thanks them both for understanding.
“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Jisung asks instead. “We can cook something together and just have a good time.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Minho pipes in. “I have some meat thawing in my fridge that I can go get.”
Chan can’t help the smile creeping up his lips as they all start planning out what to make. Even if the day has been really stressful, this is how he wants to spend it, surrounded by friends and family. “Maybe we should invite Seungmin and Jeongin over too.”