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Now if you asked Junhee why he was walking in the middle of the desert with half a shirt hanging off his shoulder and a single Lightning McQueen sock with a hole in it, he’d first frantically explain that the sock was bought already weak and hole-prone (even though that isn’t the case and he just needs to throw that thing away). He would then explain how he lost a bet with a quote unquote friend, and said friend being Kang Yuchan, who never made normal bets.
A normal 21 year old would say something like “text your ex that you miss them”, or “eat an entire lemon”. Scratch that, a normal human being. But he had just met the boy at the time and had no clue of his dedication to the Truth or Dare. Maybe it was Junhee feigning ignorance, maybe he saw Byeongkwan aggressively mouthing ‘don’t do it’ and decided to throw himself to the sharks. Note to self; listen to the short one next time.
And as he walked a long and perilous walk, his mind wandered. Not to weird or off topic things. No, it’s like it somehow sharpened. Because… how the fuck did Yuchan have the money to fly them out to the Sahara desert? Why is that something the boy wanted to see? Junhee walking in sand for 3 hours straight? What does that accomplish? Is Yuchan secretly a sadist?
He could answer all those questions himself, he just chooses to feel attacked and confused in this very moment. And as the questions rolled through his brain, the inner Sehyoon piped up immediately.
“How the fuck did Yuchan have the money to fly them out to the Sahara desert?”
— He has a lot of money laying around. He works at a hotshot private school daycare, those places pay big bucks, and his parents never let him pay for anything. Let it be food, rent, the kid can’t even buy himself a snack.
“Is Yuchan secretly a sadist?”
— Most likely.
“Why is that something the boy wanted to see? Junhee walking in sand for 3 hours straight? What does that accomplish?”
— A few weeks ago the four of them (well, it was more of a Junhee VS everyone else) had an argument on how desert is spelled. Junhee insisted it’s written dezert, because that’s how it’s pronounced! Turns out it became a joke amongst the friend group. Much to Junhee’s displeasure.
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[ Flashback to 3 days ago. ]
“I’m into this one guy I keep seeing on campus. He’s at my 8 am lecture” Byeongkwan pops a lolli in his mouth. He’s gotta be on his 9th chair spin, it’s making Sehyoon’s head hurt.
“Oh!” Yuchan perks up, grabbing the back of said merry go round. A relieved exhale slips passed Sehyoon’s lips.
“The guy who wears that… red beanie all the time?”
“Yes!” Byeongkwan pops the candy out, pointing it towards Yuchan.
“You know, he’s like 6’7”
“You’re exaggerating” Sehyoon huffs.
“Am not!”
The youngest shushes both of them. “Whatever, is he hot?”
“He’s 6’7, it doesn't matter.”
Junhee snorts. “Can you even see his face?”
“Oh pipe down desert with a z”
And with a wave of a very well manicured hand, Junhee’s pride was shattered for the 26th time that week.
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So it was only natural that when they were playing truth or dare, Yuchan dared him to take a stroll in his dezert . To repent, or something. He’s not quite sure now, because his mouth is dry and his head is spinning and his lungs are on fire and he’s seeing mirages. That’s what they’re called, right? When you see things that aren’t supposed to be in the damn desert?
Because there is a tree. And a small white cat. And further, much further into the distance there’s a… village? It’s... a weird set up. There’s a mountain, behind the mountain there’s the cat-tree combo, it’s just out of the village’s eyeshot. He doubts anyone there would be able to see him anyway.
But, on to important matters.
There is a cat.
Junhee pauses, one eye closed, breathing laboured and sporadic. That is, indeed, a feline animal. He takes a step closer. (You can barely call it a step, he’s so exhausted he’s dragging his feet.)
It looks up at him.
So it isn’t a figment of his imagination. That’s a cat beside a palm tree. A small white cat beside a palm tree. Did he mention that this is a desert?
The shock of it all was unbearably… sickening. Debilitating. Junhee signed up to take a stroll holding a location tracker and waiting for the helicopter with Yuchan and the demon gang to come pick him up. Junhee signed up for a three a hour show of sand and sun. Not a cat? Not a cat. The parched man takes a few steps forward.
“Hi little guy~” Junhee slowly lowers himself with his hands outstretched.
The whole situation looked… from an outside perspective.. concerning. A man who’s clearly about to pass out with chapped lips and drooping eyelids reaching out for a kitten in the middle of the desert.
Highly concerning, actually.
“Don’t touch her”.
Junhee pulls his hands back, giggling drunkenly.
“Sorry kitty. We’re talking in the third person now? Junhee is very very tired. Junhee would love a glass of water right about now.”
The disembodied voice laughed. “Is that a wish?”
“I wouldn’t call it a wish.”
There’s a beat of silence as the cat looks up at him.
Now hold on a minute.
“Talking cat!” he stumbles backwards.
A head pops up from behind the palm tree. A man… around his age, blonde hair a tad bit longer than his, didn’t seem very happy to have his sleep disturbed.
“She isn’t just a cat! Offensive you’d call her that.” he hovered over, the bottom half of his body a flickering tornado, changing colors from amber, to ruby, then back to gold. “Her name is Hae.”
“Wait wait” Junhee brain was foggy, but he didn’t think it was foggy enough to produce hallucinations this strong. Boy, got it. His age, also understood. Blonde hair, cool! He’s floating on the bottom half of his tornado body? You’ve lost him.
He rubs at his eyes a few times, immediately regretting it because now he’s both confused AND there’s sand in his eyes.
“Fuck!”
“I can take it out for you. The sand.” the cat-owner pipes up, scooping the cat- Hae- into his arms.
“What?”
“Make it a wish.”
“This genie cosplay is cool and all but this isn’t funny! It really hurts.” Junhee grumbles, finally shaking out the sand in his eyes.
“Cosplay?” He laughs again, a snap resonating. Hae was now sitting on top of his head, and he was floating around the pained Junhee.
“Everyone’s seen Aladdin, you know the whole friend like me song. I’m tired, are you really going to make me perform it?” Snap, a phone appeared in his hands. “Let’s see… ah” he zoomed in on the phone, and it grew into a TV. And there it was, the friend like me scene.
The genie bops his head along, lip syncing certain parts and breaking into a fit of laughter. “Ah a classic”
Junhee, now red eyed, stares.
“So you’re… a genie?”
“Yes.”
“Like the movie.”
“Correct.”
“Where’s the lamp?”
“GOD!” The genie rolls his eyes, vanishing and appearing behind Junhee in a hammock. “That stereotype is so outdated. We can evolve too, you know!”
“We??”
“Yes, we. Do you really think I’d be doing this on my own? Hell on earth.”
“Who else is there?”
“Does that really matter?” He vanishes again, this time upside down, right in front of Junhee’s face. It scares him, of course, and for the second time that hour he’s stumbling backwards.
“Don’t scare me like that, genie!”
“My name is Donghun.”
“Oh. But in the movie the genie doesn’t have a nam-“
“Wrong!” One finger snap and TV appears again, the entire Aladdin movie playing in fast forward. There are glasses resting on the bridge of Donghun’s nose as he attempts a British accent. “He never truly says his name but he does have one. Aladdin simply refers to him as Genie because he never asked. Inconsiderate little twerp.”
And it’s gone, Donghun is back in his hammock. “I like to think it’s the genie’s fault for not saying his name from the start.”
Junhee is now grieving his sanity, and the first stage of grief is denial.
He breaks into a fit of laughter, a little too aggressive to sound normal. Hae stares in concern, and jumps off Donghun’s head.
“Pff!! Genie!! I met a genie! Named Donghun!”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah. Okay. And I can make any wish right? That’s how genies work??” Junhee flails his arms wildly.
“Well. No wishing to kill, no wishing for love, no reviving the dead or more wishes yaddah yaddah yaddah, you said you’ve seen the movie right?”
“Okay! I wish for.. a six foot tall dildo.”
They both pause.
“You sure?”
“Pfff, yeah! Oh so great genie! Show me your powers! Grant my wish!”
Donghun shrugs, and with a snap of a finger, there it was. “You're… down to two wishes.”
A look of shocked surprise came into the face of the dehydrated man, and Donghun had leaned back in his (suddenly appeared) chair and was laughing uproariously.
There was a delicious moment where Junhee’s face washed blank with confusion, like his brain cogs couldn't turn fast enough to take in the information from his wide eyes. Every muscle of his body just froze before he started panicking. “The purple colour was my personal touch-” Donghun comments between gasps for air.
“STOP LAUGHING WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!” Junhee backs away from it, the six foot tall dildo.
“It’s what you wished for!”
“I DIDN’T THINK YOU WERE A REAL GENIE! MAKE IT GO AWAY!”
“You gotta say I wish.”
“I WISH I WISH MAKE IT GO AWAY NOW.”
Poof, it’s gone.
When Donghun’s laughter died down, a small smile played on his lips, Junhee guesses he gets that doubtful wish a lot.
“I've never had someone wish for a dildo, good one. You have one wish left.”
Words left Junhee. He stared into those cocky brown eyes, and his heart fell silent. As if stuck underwater, everything was slow and warbled, his thoughts raced.
“Can…”
He lets the emotion sit in his gut, anticipation gnawing at the edges of his soul. There is something so sweet in that moment of proposal, the heart fully open and vulnerable, that the eternal bond of the couple is made all the stronger. He just has to… say it.
“Can.. I…”
“Can I wish for you to be free?”
“FREE?” Donghun exclaims in shock, beginning to laugh again.
“Free?? Like the genie in the movie?? I’m already free! Look!” He holds his wrists up, flipping them. “God, you humans are funny! Free? I can go wherever I want!”
“So- so why do you grant wishes!”
“I find it funny. Humans are remarkably complex.”
“Wait wait, what happens when the 3 wishes run out?” Junhee shakes his head, feeling a little deceived.
“I’ll tell you a secret.”
Donghun vanishes, and appears hovering behind Junhee, whispering... “Nothing.”
“Nothing?!”
He’s back in his hammock. God, Junhee wants that thing burnt.
“Nothing! I could grant you as many wishes as I’d like, I just love watching humans sweat it out. If they only had three wishes, what would they wish for? Makes for some interesting choices.”
“Do you tell everyone this?”
“No! When the three wishes run out I usually teleport somewhere far, out of sight. Then they go off and never see me again, rinse and repeat.” he mimes washing his hands.
“Why are you telling me this then?”
Donghun’s cheshire smile is now inches away from Junhee’s face. “You sure have lots questions.” He floats backwards.
“You look like you’re on the brink of death anyway. And I hear-“ his ear grows comically large “a helicopter in the distance. You’re about to pass out, get picked up by a helicopter and think me, Hae, and that six foot tall dildo was all a dream. I lose nothing!”
“Evil.”
“Maybe~”
When Junhee’s skin went as pale as his eyes, Donghun knew he was clocking out.
“Sweet dreams”
Then with one step backwards, he crumpled like a puppet suddenly released of their strings.