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Monday mornings sucked. Specially when he woke up, at 4 am, when Dongmin left his bed after a fun weekend. He hated waking up early to Dongmin softly caressing his arm, he always got goosebumps from it. And no one likes waking up to the tingly feeling and sensitive arms.
Well, it did give him some extra few hours with his plant babies before he had to leave. He loved all his plants really, but he was simply smitten with the big coral bells baby. The colorful leafy beautiful plant that hosted a hummingbird or two every week. Today was monday and mondays were usually the days when he couldn't tend to his plants. Too busy.
Actually mondays did not really suck, Minhyuk gets to go to the local orphanage and plant with the kids. At first, he started as a dance instructor, offering free lessons every monday. Now he gave free dance lessons and taught the kids everything he knew about gardening. And he knew a lot too. His mother was the gardener and nanny in Dongmin's parents' house. Minhyuk pretty much spent his entire childhood with Dongmin. Now, just the weekends.
He checked up on the bells and smiled when the plant appeared to be shining under the dawn moon. And for sure, there was a new guest in his baby sweet tart. It was a tiny hummingbird, wings buzzing as the bird sucked the nectar from the flowers. He sat in his balcony and looked at the slowly rising sun on the horizon. It looked pretty. His second favorite part of mondays.
"Hey hyukie, I'm going!" Dongmin kissed his cheek and smiled at him as he wore his socks in a hurry.
"Don't wear the ugly ones ugh." Minhyuk called after him but Dongmin just flipped him off as he closed the front door. Truth is, Minhyuk hated Dongmin's monotonous collection of socks. All his socks were in shades of grey, maybe he owned one pair of plain navy socks.
No taste, as expected.
Minhyuk sighed loudly before rubbing his eyes that got a little blurry when he stared off into nothing. His brain was still switched off, only the usual monday morning thoughts of how much he hated Dongmin's socks. Those socks were an actual disgrace to humanity, how could Dongmin even bear to wear those ugly plain ass socks.
Okay, the coral bells. Right. It is Minhyuk's oldest plant. He loved taking care of the sweet tart plant. These used to grow in the rich soil of Dongmin's garden. But then, his parents moved away and Minhyuk and his mother had to go with them. So he took the bells with him, the leafy lime colored delicate plant that always made him feel at ease.
Minhyuk was a small boy when that happened, maybe seven or eight. And a pouty seven-eight year old Minhyuk can be powerfully convincing, specially when paired with an equally pouty nine-ten Dongmin. Ah, those were the days.
The days of when he was so naive he swore he saw tiny human shadows on the living room walls. Dongmin didn't see them, maybe because he was too busy posing with his sunglasses. He's ridiculous like that, flaunting his cute pout with sunglasses in the middle of winter while sitting on the huge couch wrapped up in his favorite beige blankie.
Minhyuk did not understand where he was going with this thought trail. Real random too. He was supposed to be admiring the sunrise with his plants, watch them light up with the sun. Watch the ivy tinkle with the slow morning breeze. Hear the leaves and flowers sing with the blooming sunrays.
He can hear it, soft taps and rustling of the leaves. He can feel it on his skin, greeting him a gentle good morning. The tender warming rays of sun, the softly flowing wind, the chitter of birds, buzzing of the hummingbird's wings. It filled his heart to the brink.
He loved Monday mornings. But his love for monday mornings ends when he has to get up and go shower. Tuesdays were for the weekly grooming. But he had two morning lectures on Mondays.
Mondays sucked, really. He's just glad Dongmin helped him with his essay on water management laws and what not. Dongmin proved to be a life saver again and again, specially when he gifted Minhyuk a new watering can and a potted fig for his living room.
The fiddle-leaf fig was growing so well. And it was tall, really tall. Healthy and pretty. Minhyuk loved the plant. It always glowed during the setting sun when the light fell directly in his living room, seemingly humming in joy.
He walked to the kitchen and kept the frozen butter and cheese slices on the countertop with sliced bread. They should be softened by the time he finishes showering.
Showers on monday were weakening but relieving. They weakened his morning after glow, as the reality of his reality sets in but relieves his skin, washing away the scent of another. He really liked Dongmin just... not enough to smell like him all the time.
You see, Minhyuk has a very strong and sensitive nose, he can easily pick up the cigarette smell that heavily clung to Dongmin. Dongmin's perfume was nice and it smelt good mixed with the cigarette smell. But Minhyuk always preferred the soft scent of early morning dew on his plants, the scent of sweet tarts and plumeria. And that was exactly why he lived on the outskirts of the city, where the pollution was considerably thinner. Yes, it was quite a long travel to his university, but it was all worth it.
He quickly got out of shower and dried off before standing in front of his closet. What will he even wear? He settled down on a white oversized t-shirt and jeans.
Mondays were always influenced by Dongmin. He was about to make cheese sandwiches for breakfast and even wear a white tee for fuck's sake. Minhyuk doesn't even like bread, he ate it because it was a quick breakfast. He quickly made his cheese sandwiches using Dongmin's old toaster. If he did not leave now, he will miss the bus and hence be late for his metro.
Something moved in his peripheral and he turned to his right. There was only a single couch and his potted fig in the room. Was there a mouse in his apartment? Did he need to call Dongmin to exorcise his house? His phone rang.
"Oh Minhyuk! If you haven't left your house yet, can you check if you have the ppt on multipolarity in your desktop? I'm travelling from my brother's house and Bin-ah said he wasn't coming today." - Jinwoo
"We were supposed to present it today!? The fuck I only got halfway through it yesterday evening!" - Minhyuk
"Okay don't panic. Tell me till where you're done with it, I will do the rest on my phone. Just read through your part on your way here, you need to present your part. Leave the rest to me." - Jinwoo
"Thank you woo! I'm so sorry I forgot our presentation was today, I think only the positives, negatives and globalization was left. You did the Non-Alignment and Multipolarity right?" - Minhyuk
"Yes I did, okay just read through the introduction and the rest. Don't worry okay?" - Jinwoo
"Angel you are! Thank you and I'm so sorry!" - Minhyuk
Minhyuk sighed loudly before opening his laptop and sending the ppt to Jinwoo's mail. He ran out of his apartment and all the way to the station. If he missed this one, he will be late. His presentation should be in second lecture. There were a lot of people on the station and he cursed before standing in the shortest line.
As soon as he sat in the almost empty coach he got a call again. From Jinwoo.
"Yo why didn't you say you had all the raw data? I'll see if Changkyunie will give me his laptop. Formatting will be easier that way." - Jinwoo
"The raw data is there? I think Dongmin did it. Okay thank you woo! I'll be there in an hour and a half." - Minhyuk
Minhyuk smiled to himself for a moment before texting Dongmin a single, thank you old min!
He checked the ppt and read through the raw data first. There were a lot of misspellings and unlike he usually did, Dongmin did not use any abbreviations. Very unlikely. He shrugged it off and read through his part thrice before reciting it in his head.
This monday sucked, definitely.
-
Minhyuk flopped down on his bed as soon as he reached home. He groaned in exhaustion and lightly massaged his shoulders that now ached because he had to carry his laptop the entire day. He slowly undid his pants and threw them on the floor before shedding his t-shirt too.
Relief. Clothes are always such a burden. He starfished on the bed and sighed loudly. The air felt nice on his leg hair, so free.
There was a tiny thud on the floor and he quickly sat up. What the fuck? A mouse? Really?
He looked down at the floor beside the bed and something was moving under his white t-shirt. Wait... he did not throw his t-shirt on the floor.
The tiny lump flattened but Minhyuk could make out the outline of the lump. It looked like one of those tiny baby dolls his cousin Mishu used to have.
He cursed lowly before picking up the t-shirt and there was something hanging on it. It was... a very tiny doll with translucent rainbow wings and what looked like a leaf around it's bottom.
Where, what...
Minhyuk threw the tee away when the doll opened it's eyes and smiled at him. He yelled loudly and stood up on his bed. What. The. Fuck.
Tiny 'ows' sounded through the room and the doll stood up.
"That was very rude of you Mr. Hyukie!" The doll yelled and it was suddenly flying to him and immediately shoving it's butt in his face.
"Look what you did, you see this?" Minhyuk moved back and almost fell off from the bed. What the actual fuck.
"My plush hurts so bad." The doll crossed it's legs in a sitting manner while still flying.
Okay, what is happening. There was a flying tiny baby doll in his apartment whose rainbow wings were leaving behind glitter whenever they fluttered.
"How did you get in my house?" Minhyuk asked as he slowly edged towards the bathroom closet where he kept his broom.
"What do you mean your house? I've lived here for the past few years!" The doll flew towards him and now Minhyuk ran to his closet and took out the broom.
"What? This is my house, I bought it four years ago!" Minhyuk replied and turned back to the doll that was merely a few inches away from him.
"You jerk! I-AHH" Minhyuk swiped at the doll with the broom and the doll flew higher.
"Hey!! STOP!" The doll hollered loudly (it was barely loud, very timid sounding).
Something bit his leg and Minhyuk screamed before swinging his leg and losing his balance and falling down. Something hit the leg of his bed and the flying doll yelled loudly.
"BABY FAIRY NO!"
Minhyuk was so confused, he was almost naked, laying on the floor while the winged doll had another doll on its lap.
Should he call the police? Wait, do police take complaints for missing dolls and trespassing by dolls? Can they even be classified as dolls? Living dolls that fly and bite?
He better get some good compensation from these two? Mental trauma, bone damage, muscle damage, destruction of property, public (kind of private but you know) nudity AND trespassing for four years apparently!?
As Minhyuk looked at the two dolls, the winged doll was saying something but he couldn't hear at all. It held the 'baby fairy' in its arms and flew upwards very slowly, like the 'baby fairy' was weighing it down.
Minhyuk was shit scared as he saw the dolls duo spinning around in the air and a gust of glitter surrounded them both. His mind was reeling, going through all the possible possibilities of something like this happening. Is this witchcraft? Magic? AI? What the hell can these be!?!?
Okay, thinking more logically, technology is advancing a lot. He read an article (read: twitter post) this morning about AI and how it will take over the world soon. And how it has been stealing people's artwork and literary work and framing it as its own. And how people are so dumb that they don't realize the implications of promoting AI followed by statistics about how unemployment rates would go through the roofs and an AI apocalypse is nearer than a nuclear apocalypse.
So is this it? These are AI robots? Soft-launched by some evil megamind to take over the world slowly? Oh my god, he's going to be under their control soon and then they will take him to their creator who will make Minhyuk a robot too and then he woul-
"Why are you being so rude Mr. Hyukie? You almost killed baby fairy!" The doll was buzzing in front of his face before it flew closer and kicked his nose and backed away with a tiny scowl.
The kick felt like a boop to his nose and Minhyuk stared at the flying doll with wider eyes.
"Are you going to take me to your creator?" Minhyuk asked dazedly, his mind completely taken over by all the warnings about AI and robots.
The doll flew in circles, looking very annoyed, and then kicked his nose again to which Minhyuk flinched due to the suddenness. He could feel something crawl on his bare leg, and he would have kicked his leg again but the flying doll yelled "DON'T!!!" in his ear. He saw the biting doll standing on his thigh before it reached for his hand like a child reaches for their favorite toy.
Minhyuk presented his hand to the biting doll absent-mindedly and the doll was quick to climb on his palm and pushed its own hands upwards in the air, motioning him to lift his own hand. The doll's mouth was moving but Minhyuk couldn't make it out, so he moved the doll closer till he went cross-eyed to stare at the doll.
"Why can't this old man hear me? Are his ears okay?" The biting doll said and the flying doll giggled before fluttering to sit beside the biting doll.
"I can hea-" There were tiny doll hands on Minhyuk's lips.
"Ahjussi please, why are you yelling?" The biting doll complained and Minhyuk nodded before speaking in the softest tone he could muster.
"I can hear you clearly now. Why are you calling me ahjussi? Do I look like an ahjussi?" Minhyuk said with a straight face and stared at the two dolls. The flying doll giggled again and tiny specks of glitter shot out of its ears. Wow.
"I mean, I was replanted like six months ago, so technically I'm like super young right now..." The biting doll said and shrugged, "Besides, you frown like those ahjussis on the TV!"
"Replanted? TV? What?" Minhyuk mumbled and the flying doll rubbed its tiny hands on Minhyuk's nose, seemingly to calm him down? What's happening?
"Mr. Hyukie-" The flying doll started
"Minhyuk."
"Okay, Mr. Minhyukie." The biting doll giggled. "We are plant fairies! I am Myungjun, and the baby fairy is Sanha!"
Minhyuk made a confused sound and the 'fairies' looked at each other.
"Me and Sanha, are plant fairies. We are fairies of plant, we help them grow and be healthy! And in turn, they keep us alive."
"You are... fairies? Like magic fairies? Not AI or witchcraft dolls?" Minhyuk's head was spinning, must faster than earth was for sure.
"Yes! I am the fairy of that fig plant! And Myung-hyung is the fairy of the Coral bells!" Sanha jumped up and grinned at Minhyuk.
"What?" Minhyuk lowered his hands, immediately hearing protests from the self-proclaimed fairies. He stood up and walked to his fig plant, stared at it before sitting in front of it. Myungjun fluttered along while Sanha held on to tightly to his fingers.
"So... are you like tinkerbell?" Minhyuk asked, still looking at the plant.
"Kind of? We are not responsible for seasons though. For that, we have season fairies? I think. I'm not sure, because I was born in Mrs. Lee's garden." Minhyuk's eyes widened.
"We don't have parents, as we are born from seeds that are magical and planted with love. I was planted by your mother, she must have planted us with lots of love for me to exist." Myungjun smiled fondly before Sanha jumped onto the soil of his plant.
"And I was born in a nursery. There were lots of fairies there. And they told me a lot. And I told Myung-hyung a lot when I came here!" Sanha smiled and then walked behind the stem and then he was gone. Suddenly, gone.
"Where?"
Fairy Myungjun flew two rounds in the air before he headed to the fig plant and picked out fairy Sanha by his arms from behind a leaf and flew back to Minhyuk, dropping the younger fairy onto his head. Minhyuk could hear a faint laugh before the two fairy laid down on top of his head.
"Your hair smells really nice Mister!" Sanha dangled over Minhyuk's forehead, holding onto the human's bangs. Minhyuk squeaked before plucking the wingless doll- no, fairy, from his hair and put him on the ground before doing the same for the older fairy.
"So, let's get some things in order okay?" Minhyuk hummed at the two fairies who nodded, and then clasped his hands together.
"You two are magical plant fairies of the coral bells and the fig-" Minhyuk motioned to each of them with his joined hands. "And you live in???-" He raised his eyebrows at the two fairies.
"With!"
"You live with the plants okay. And you've been here for as long as I've had the plants, right?" The two nodded.
"Oh god! Do you like look at me all the time? Like the entire day and night?"
"Mostly, yes. But Myung-hyung puts me to sleep whenever that tall human boy comes over. Says I'm too young, but for what!?" Sanha quips up and stands with both his hands on his waist.
Minhyuk looked at Myungjun with wide eyes before picking up the fairy by his arms. "You little pervert! What the fuck!"
"Why am I a pervert you sex-fiend!? Can't you keep it in your pants for more than three days!!?" Myungjun bit at whatever skin of Minhyuk's hand he could reach.
"What does mister keep in his pants?" Sanha asked promptly, looking at the two with wide eyes, a face of innocence who has not been exposed to the vileness of this world. The older two looked at each other and Minhyuk sat the fairy down. The two of them fumbled over their words, Minhyuk with his red cheeks and Myungjun with glitter shining on his arms.
Sanha burst out laughing at their awkward fumbling and sat down. "Ah, this is fun!" The older two were lost of words, looking at Sanha with lost, wide eyes.
"Fairies see, and fairies talk! We might not have the organs but we know what it is!" Sanha relaxed with his hands on the floor behind him and legs criss-crossed.
Fairy Myungjun's mouth was still open as he stood up and tackled Sanha. "Why would you do that you little bitch!!" Sanha kept laughing as he hugged the older fairy and pet his hair. The younger fairy kissed his cheek and kept giggling for a while while Minhyuk sat dumbstruck.
"Okay wow. So I have not one but two perverts in my house?" Minhyuk finally spoke when Myungjun bit Sanha's nose softly.
"Hey! I'm not interested in seeing you getting sexed, that's why I sleep. Myung-hyung also usually sleeps but sometimes... he's too curious for his own good." Sanha sits up, Myungjun now on his lap getting his hair pet.
"I just sit on the balcony, never look. It looks disgusting anyways." Myungjun muttered under his breath before tucking his chin into his chest, looking like a scolded child.
Minhyuk closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Even just listening does not make you a good person, what you do is very wrong you know. I can send you to jail for that."
"I am not a person, so human morals don't apply to me. But I do feel bad now, I shouldn't have done that." Myungjun kept his eyes on the floor the entire time while Sanha cooed at him.
Minhyuk gulped before looking at his dear coral bells plant, the plant seemed at little droopy. He hated how timid and dull the plant looked, his dearest plant.
"Myung-hyung keeps the other plants healthy as compensation for the both of us living here! He also keeps your house smelling fresh and nice! Also, he aids you in sleeping too!!" Sanha said when he noticed the human's foul mood and his mate's droopy face.
Minhyuk breathed in a laugh. "I always wondered why I couldn't sleep well at Dongmin's or my parents."
Minhyuk looked at the two before standing up. "I'm going to shower now, don't you dare peep in. We will talk when I have a calmer head." Now acutely aware of his nudity, the human rushed to find his towel and a pair of loose shorts and t-shirt.
While showering, Minhyuk thought a lot, about a lot of things. These two fairies have been living in his house for a while now. And they appeared to be very affectionate with each other. They are magical creatures and one of them pops glitter out of his ears when he laughs and leaves a trail of it when he flies. The other one doesn't have wings but can hide very well in his own plant. Now objectively, Minhyuk is just dreaming. He will take a shower, go out, and realise none of it was real and he was too fucking tired that his mind started supplying him with some fantasy novel shit.
But. If all of this is real, and the fairies are magic and real, then do his parents know? And can he kick them out? But then his plants won't be healthy. He just noticed how drastic an effect Myungjun's foul mood had on his dearest plant. So kicking them out was clearly not an option if he wanted to keep his plants in this era. The pollution is so bad here it even makes Dongmin break out. Wait... does him not having break-outs also Myungjun's doing? Wow.
And so, he prepares a list of questions as he showers. And questions the two fairies like they are the highest degree criminals and he is their attorney.
1. "You two are born from magic? No sex?" - "Yes. We are born out of love and magic. No sex."
2. "You nurture my plants and keep them healthy?" - "Yes, we keep them healthy and they keep us alive. We feed on their energy. We give them health and they give us life."
3. "Are there any more fairies that might be hiding in my house?" - "No, fairies don't really like the city. They usually fly to forests when they grow wings."
Minhyuk formed an 'O' with his mouth. "Wait then are you just waiting for Sanha to grow wings to fly away and leave my plants to die?"
"What? No! Sanha cannot grow wings, some fairies can't. And even if he did, I doubt I could leave all these adorable babies to a barbarian like you anyways!" Myungjun looked over all the houseplants and sighed.
"I am NOT a barbarian! I take good care of them!" Minhyuk quipped back but shrinked back when Myungjun raised his eyebrow. Okay so, Minhyuk might have missed some watering appointments and used chemical fertilizers sometimes. And forgot to snip some dead leaves some times. But that hardly makes him a barbarian when it comes to plants. he loves them a lot!
"He also loves you a lot! He said he watched you grow up and now you feel like his own child to him!" Sanha said quickly, avoiding Myungjun's hands that aimed to keep his partner quiet.
Minhyuk cleared his throat as Myungjun twiddled with his thumbs.
4. "Are you boyfriends?" - "We are bond-mates. For a human, we are married, yeah."
"But you just called him a baby fairy!?"
"He is a baby fairy, he is my baby! Plus fairies don't age like humans. We stay alive as long as our parent plant, that is why many fairies take the seed of their parents flower to the forest and bond with that plant instead. This way, they can ensure that humans won't kill them. And we are reborn every time our parent plant is repotted." Myungjun flew up to Minhyuk's nose, kicked it and sat back in Sanha's lap.
"My parent plant died around an year before you bought my adopted plant. I can't grow wings because my parents plant died when I was barely three months old. Luckily the older fairies and the gardener saw the signs and helped me adopt a healthier plant and survive. And then you repotted the plant and here I am!!" Sanha explained happily and kissed Myungjun's head.
"Wow. I see, okay! You two are very affectionate by the way!"
"Just the normal amount. It's you who's not affectionate enough." Sanha said and smiled sweetly.
5. "Okay. Are you going to live here forever?" - "As long as you keep our plants."
"I have no intention of parting with my dearest Coral!"
"So you would abandon your lonely fig!"
"Don't twist my words fairy! I love my plants, all of them." Minhyuk snapped back softly, cheeks a little red.
6. "If you want to live here, there are some conditions. Would you follow along?" - "Yes, sure."
"Okay, no more listening to me having sex. In fact, you can't stay in the house when Dongmin is here." Minhyuk narrowed his eyes and the two fairies looked at each other.
"Listen, Mr. Minhyukie, I know us being here would make you uncomfortable. But I just wanted you to know that fairies don't derive any kind of pleasure from watching humans have sex. Our bodies don't have the... hormones? to feel that kind of arousal. We don't need sex to procreate, or to love each other. Sex is neither a need, nor a want for us." Myungjun explained, looking the human straight in his eyes. "And we can go to the neighbour's balcony plants whenever your boyfriends comes over. But we can't stay away too long, half a day at max."
Minhyuk listened and let thoughts form. It would be very embarrassing to sexile the fairies but... The thing is Minhyuk's sex drive is quite high, and if he gets too horny with no resolution, it effects his concentration quite a bit. So, not having sex is not an option.
"We... can try that hmm. Now! Onto other things." Minhyuk clapped twice before getting up.
"Since you're basically my roommates, and I am the one paying for everything. Take good care of my plants, my air and mostly of my sleep. What would you like for dinne- OH wait! WHat have y'all been eating?" Minhyuk walked to the kitchen and back with wide eyes.
"We feed on the plants' good energy, don't need human food." Sanha said, standing up when Myungjun flew up too.
"Oh, okay." Minhyuk nodded to himself and went to his kitchen to make dinner.
The fairies were very chatty, asking him about anything and everything. They asked him abut so many things that were basic to humans. Apparently, they had been watching TV when he was gone after figuring out how to turn it on and saw a lot of things that made them curious. They were especially curious about the forest and all the creatures that might reside there and about all the different types of trees. And human food. They were horrified when they came to know that humans ate plants too. Sanha was quick to question whether Minhyuk or his boyfriend would eat them or not. Minhyuk wanted to correct Sanha on the boyfriend comment but... couldn't really find the words so he let them be.
One day, Minhyuk came home to see the fairies watching a cooking show on the TV with horrified look. Apparently, they weren't aware that humans ate meat too, meat meant flesh and Myungjun threw up glitter on Sanha. The younger fairy looked absolutely disgusted and demanded Minhyuk took him to shower immediately.
Living with the two proved to be quite fun for Minhyuk, he took special care of the two magic plants with the help of his fairies. Dongmin stopped coming over soon too, and as much as the fairies were delighted to know they won't be sexiled anymore, Minhyuk's cries did upset them quite a bit.
And then, Minhyuk finally got a boyfriend, someone from his college named Moonbin. The guy was very sweet, looked like a cat and got to know the fairies too. Though the fairies would still get sexiled many times, they loved the love on Minhyuk's face. Maybe, Minhyuk found his bound-mate too. And that excited the little fairies to no end.
Sanha and Myungjun were happy living here, and whereas Minhyuk was so done with their pranks, he couldn't throw them out, or even get angry at them. Moonbin would scold them on his behalf and the fairies would actually listen to the taller human.
In the end, the fairies were happy, Minhyuk was happy and so was Moonbin. Dongmin had to get married to a woman of his parents' choice, but he was also happy with her. And Jinwoo, he was the witch who injected magic into the seeds so fairies could be born. Jinwoo was the Mother WItch to plants. But of course, no one knew.