Yunho doesn't follow them to school on Friday, and Mingi doesn't fault him considering what had happened the other night. In fact, he couldn't sleep too last night, staring at nothing as he buried himself under the covers, the sound of San flipping through books his background noise.

While Mingi dealt with shock and horrible events by shutting everyone and everything out, San dealt with them by digging himself further into school work and surrounding himself with information so his mind wouldn't think of anything else. In fact, he'd been staying at Mingi's house for the entire week, nose deep into books and notes whenever he had the time. Mingi figured it had something to do with his dad, so he never bothered his friend when he begun his research.

Now, Mingi can barely eat breakfast, the buttered toast tasting like paper when he bites into it.

San doesn't look better either, very quiet as he finishes off his pancakes.

Gia shows up from the corridor, her pyjama set bright pink and a general eye sore, as always. "Good morning, you guys. What's up with this mood? And where's Yunho?"

Mingi knows his aunt's changeable work schedule has her out of the loop a majority of the time, but he really isn't in the mood to explain everything that happened to his aunt right now. Especially when it takes him back into the past; how he'd felt the exact same way Jongho did and how he'd been close to doing something drastic to himself.

Fortunately, San comes to his rescue, far too intuned with his feelings. "Yunho isn't coming with us to school today. He isn't feeling well."

Gia's smile drops. "Is he sick?"

"He just needs to rest," San replies, smartly avoiding the main reason why Yunho's being like this. Hell, Mingi doesn't feel going to his shitty school today, but it'd be absolute torture to be all alone in the house while Yunho's on the other side, unresponsive. He also doesn't want to leave San all by himself.

Gia nods, hands pushing her fiery hair aside. It's longer now, pushing past her shoulders, and Mingi knows it's only a matter of time before she cuts it again. It's one of the few things about her that Mingi could relate to. "Okay. But, he still needs to eat though. Fortunately I have most of today to myself, so I'm gonna be checking up on him."

"Thank you," San smiles.

"There's no need to thank me," Gia waves her hand, and then she's sitting in front of both boys, head resting on her palm. "So, how did the game go yesterday night? Yunho had been excited talking to me about it all week. It went awesomely, I hope?"

Mingi's jaw clenches, which his aunt quickly picks up on.

"Oh no," she gasps, covering her mouth. "Your school lost, didn't it?"

"We won actually," Mingi says, forcing himself to remain composed. He knows he's failing however, very close to breaking apart at the seams.

"So...why do you guys look so solemn? Are you guys also sick? Do you want to stay home from school toda -- "

"Someone tried to fucking end their life last night, okay?" Mingi snaps, his harsh tone cutting his aunt's sentence short. In an instant, her shoulders droop and her expression falls, her brown eyes wide and dismayed.

San's tense beside Mingi, growing even more quiet, and Mingi wishes he'd never said a fucking word.

"Shit. I'm sorry," Gia swears, sinking into her seat. A grim sort of understanding mars her features, because she's been here before, and Mingi avoids her gaze when it searches for him.

"I'm gonna go wash the dishes," San volunteers before Mingi can say or do anything else, and before long he's gathering the plates and utensils, scurrying towards the kitchen.

As soon as he does, Gia folds her arms and sighs. "I'm so sorry, Mingi," she apologizes once more. "I shouldn't have asked. If I only knew -- "

"You didn't," Mingi says, biting the inside of his cheek and still dodging the woman's stares, "so it's okay. I didn't mean to shout at you like that. It's just... it was a lot."

"I know." Gia's voice mirros sympathy. "Fuck -- it must've been so terrible, wasn't it? Is that why Yunho's still in his room?"

Mingi slowly nods, and Gia exhales, running her hands through her hair. Like always, whenever they remember this topic, remember the memories, Mingi can't ever look his aunt in the fucking eye.

He doesn't know if it's shame or what, or the fact that his aunt was the one that found him face down in that bedroom, suffocating and nearly unconscious. That'd been why they'd moved houses in the first place.

"They're okay now, right?" Gia asks.

"Yeah." But Mingi knows it's only physically.

San comes back right then, and guilt fills Mingi once again, even when he knows he didn't do anything wrong. Concern overshadows San's features as he hugs Mingi at that moment, his affinity for physical touch as his love language apparent.

Mingi returns the hug with all his might, because while he isn't one to usually be physically affectionate with others, he really, really needs this right now. And he's so fucking grateful that he has someone like San in his life; someone who knows how he's feeling by just looking at him, and acts accordingly.

Another pair of arms embrace him then, and Mingi can't ease away the lump in his throat when he sees his aunt on his other side, the woman's expression immensely caring.

Mingi doesn't know he's crying until Gia wipes off a tear, her soft smile nothing but encouraging. It's the same smile she had when he came out to her and told her he's trans, the same smile she carried when she didn't hesitate to become his legal guardian when no one else wanted him after his parents' deaths.

"It's okay," Gia reassures, and at that moment Mingi chooses to believe her. After all, she's been by his side all this time -- been his family. And San too has been there for him since they were kids, supporting him through his every hurdle and staying even during his worst moments. They both stayed, didn't leave him.

And Yunho, while knowing Mingi the shortest had managed to worm himself into a spot in Mingi's heart that was made just for him, a spot that Mingi doesn't think he'll ever leave.

They're all there for him, and although Mingi may not have been supported by his parents and the rest of the world, it doesn't matter because these people here love and accept him, and he's not going to do this alone.

So yes, he'll be okay.

• • •

Mingi's in math when San leans in to whisper, "I kinda have to talk to you about something."

The teacher, a burly man called Mr Jeon is currently scribbling questions on the board, a majority of the students copying them down. Jongho isn't there, just like in their earlier classes.

Mingi ducks his head, brows furrowing in confusion. "What is it?"

"After class," San replies, fiddling with his black pen. His legs are shaking under the table, betraying his impatience.

"Seriously?" Mingi says. "Now I'm not gonna pay attention to the teacher 'cause that's all I'm gonna be thinking about."

"You act as if you're always paying attention in class. I've had to kick you to stop you from sleeping more times than I can count," San explains, smile teasing when Mingi glares daggers at him. Mingi can't be mad however, especially at those endearing dimples that line the shorter's cheek whenever he's happy.

"Brat. I'll have you know that I am a very studious student," Mingi boasts.

"Riiight," San adjusts his glasses, playing every part of a stereotypical nerd. "Then copy down the equations on the board."

Mingi attempts taking his pen to dot down the notes, but drops it at the very last second as if it just stung him.

San just shakes his head, amused and so not surprised. "What did I expect?"

"There are way too many numbers on the board," Mingi races to defend himself. "My brain can't fucking compute gibberish."

At this, San nudges him in the rib. "It's not gibberish."

"Yes it is. Tell me where I'm gonna have to use algebra in the future. Nowhere, that's the answer. This shit is just sucking the life out of me like a freaking vampire."

"Mingi, you're really something."

"You couldn't even reply," Mingi argues, "because even you know it's bogus."

"Is something the matter, students?" Mr Jeon suddenly asks from the front, gaze focused on San and Mingi. To make matters worse, several other eyes are also trained on the two, including Jaejun and his two lackeys.

San turns speechless next to Mingi the way he always does when some attention is diverted onto him suddenly.

"Probably talking about their date later today," Jaejun says with a snicker, which a few other students reciprocate. What a bunch of assholes.

"Silence," Mr Jeon commands, but no one is listening.

"What? Interested in joining our date too?" Mingi spits, eyes narrowed at Jaejun and his fists clenched. He wants nothing more than to sock that stupid fugly smile off his fucking face, but he knows he'll just make things worse if he does, which is unfair.

"Fucking gross," Jaejun sneers. "I'm not a fucking freak of nature like you are."

Mingi prepares to stand, not able to fucking take it anymore, but San grabs on to him, keeping him in place.

"Kim Jaejun!" Mr Jeon yells, his booming voice easily overpowering the murmurs of the other students. "Principal's office. Now."

Jaejun grabs his bag to head out, but not without scowling at Mingi and San in disgust on the way. Mingi flips him the bird, and doesn't give a shit even when Mr Jeon gives him a warning look.

Mingi seethes in his seat for the rest of the class, glowering at anyone who stares his and San's way. He really hates this place.

"It's so stupid," is the first thing Mingi says when he and San finally leave that class and walk to their lockers. "It's so fucking stupid that idiots like Jaejun are still allowed to breathe. We can't even exist without him trying to fucking ruin our day."

San looks sympathetic where he stands, gaze lowered. "I'm sorry, Mingi."

"It's not your fault, San," Mingi tells him, raking his fingers through his hair. "It's not either of our faults that this world is so fucking unaccepting."

"...Do you want to leave?" San asks, but Mingi shakes his head, suddenly remembering what the shorter said earlier.

"You told me you wanted to talk to me something," Mingi says, opening his locker to haphazardly shove some books inside. The small mirror at the corner reflects his sullen expression and pale lips. He looks so tired. "What is it?"

"Oh, right," San turns in his locker combination and opens it, before glancing side to side to make sure no one's there.

Mingi notices, of course he does, especially with how restless San seems right then. "What's going on?"

San chews his bottom lip, and then he's shifting through his neatly stacked books, clutching something wrapped in dark plastic before long. He shuts the locker, gaze still cautious.

He moves closer to Mingi and slightly unfurls the plastic, letting the taller peer into it.

Mingi's brows knit at that the flower he sees, the violet plant itself wrapped in another clearer plastic. "You...wanted to talk to me about a flower?"

San closes the bag and shakes his head. "It's not just any flower. I saw it poking out of Jongho's bag yesterday."

Mingi's brow furrows even more. "So you took it."

"Because I recognized it from somewhete," San says, eyes pleading with Mingi to understand him. "But I need to be sure, so we have to go somewhere right now."

"Where?" Mingi questions, his multiple thoughts running a mile a minute. "What is this about?"

"You know Jongho's also in the gardening club, right?" San has already started walking down the hall, and Mingi has to jog to catch up with him.

"I wouldn't know because we're not exactly friends."

"I don't know how he got this flower," San continues, racing down the stairs, "but if it's what I think it is, then it's bad."

Mingi is bewildered beyond comprehension, his mind all jumbled and incoherent. He decides to just follow San and leave all questions behind until the guy finds what he's looking for.

The wind is cold and harsh against Mingi's skin when he trails after San into the little shed the school's gardening club usually keeps their potted plants. No one's around, except for this small girl with long dark hair that's tending to something in the corner.

"San -- " Mingi begins, but said male is heading in the girl's direction, as if in a trance.

Mingi dashes for him, but slows when he sees what the student is watering right then. It's three of those same strange purple flowers, their circular petals wide and eyecatching.

"Hey," the girl greets, her dark brows arched. "Can I help you?"

"We're just curious," San starts, looking worse off than Mingi, his skin pale. "This plant -- where did you get it from?"

"You mean the 'Purple Bubbles'?" The girl says with a chuckle. "I mean, that's what Jongho calls it. You two are in his class, right? He hasn't been answering my calls lately."

San seems to have only grown paler, which bothers Mingi immensely.

"Where did you get this plant? Did Jongho bring it?" Mingi asks the girl.

"I think he found the seeds somewhere, but he had trouble growing it, so he asked for my help," the girl answers, combing a hand down her long hair. "Is there a problem?"

San shakes his head. "No. But do have any idea where he might have seen it?"

"No."

"We came to collect the plant," Mingi states, lying through his teeth. "We're friends with Jongho, and he wants to care for it at home now."

The girl just stares at the both of them for a second, but then she grins, one that almost splits her face in half. "Of course, you guys can. But be careful, these flowers are very fragile. And tend to them well."

With San still strangely silent, Mingi goes ahead and carries the pot, unnerved by how the girl's eyes follow his every movement.

"Have a good day," she beams when San and Mingi step out of the shed, but as soon as they do San grabs the potted plant and dumps it into the plastic bag. In an instant, he ties it up.

"San?" Mingi questions, his friend's erratic behaviour freaking him out.

"These flowers aren't supposed to exist in this world," San exposes, watching the bag as if it holds poison. "Humans aren't supposed to come close to it or touch it."

Mingi's eyes widen in fright. "What?"

"I saw them one time in my dream, Mingi," San continues to explain. "In the elven enchanted forest. So how the hell are they here?"

All of a sudden, Mingi recollects the odd and extremely bizarre behaviour of the girl that had conversed with them in that shed of the gardening club. He feels his pulse quicken, and then he's spinning on his heel to go back.

He hears San's voice calling after him, but doesn't halt until he stumbles back into the shed.

The girl isn't there anymore.

San looks as baffled as Mingi feels at the revelation that they might have just encountered someone that isn't of this realm.

• • •

"Gonjl flowers," San tells Mingi on the bus on the way home from school. The uprooted plant is securely wrapped and hidden in his bag for evidence, and Mingi watches on as he pulls out a weathered book that he's never seen before.

"Where'd you get that book from?" Mingi asks, its design something that's extraordinary.

"Wooyoung," San says, "last Sunday."

Mingi blushes because it was on that very same day that he and Yunho had gotten a whole lot more intimate, but fortunately San doesn't seem to notice his heated cheeks.

"I saw the flowers the second time I showed up at the Zeeta forest," San continues, flipping open the book in his hands. "Well, I drank something with them in it."

Mingi's brows nearly touch his hairline. "You drank it? I thought you said that humans aren't supposed to come close to it."

"I didn't know then. I saw Wooyoung and his aide, and then I was having an anxiety attack and he gave me that drink to calm me down," San explains. "But it didn't hurt me or do anything bad to me despite Wooyoung saying it's poisonous to people not from his kingdom."

What if San isn't a human? Yunho's words from before echo in Mingi's head right then, before his thoughts are cut short by San pointing at something specific on one of the pages of the book.

It's a drawing, quite detailed and streaked in bits of royal purple, and it makes Mingi immediately think of the flowers currently in San's bag.

"These are the same flowers," he comments, which San nods at.

"Yep. It also says right here that while it's known to have a calming effect on Sol elves -- the place where it's grown -- it can heighten feelings of paranoia and emotional turmoil when repeatedly inhaled by humans in its plant form."

"Jongho..." Mingi mutters, and a morose expression shadows San's face. "Where would he have gotten something like this, though? Did...did that girl give it to him?"

"Maybe she left the seeds where he'd see them," San says after a beat. "And...and when you said we were Jongho's friends, she was more than eager to hand the rest of the flowers to us."

Mingi doesn't get it. What does that girl have against Jongho to expose him to such a dangerous plant that had possibly worsened his mental state?

"You...said Wooyoung told you the plant was poisonous to people not from his kingdom," Mingi says, trying to put the pieces together. "Does that mean it's bad for the northern elves as well?"

San grows quiet as he trails a finger over the words written next to the image, and the more Mingi thinks about it, the more the sinking feeling on his stomach grows.

"They've never been grown in the northern kingdom," San says, and Mingi's hands squeeze into fists. "So they aren't immune to its side effects."

"And now they're in this world, when the reason Yunho came here in the first place was because the people in his kingdom were getting sick," Mingi rationalizes, his chest feeling like something heavy's been pressed on it. "And Jongho's the one person Yunho hung out with the most after me and you."

San looks petrified. "Oh shit."

"We need to tell Gia and Yunho," Mingi tells him.

San appears unconvinced. "What if it triggers some sort of war between the two kingdoms? We still don't know who that girl we saw was, or where she came from, and that's what we need to find out first."

"So you're saying we should do nothing?" Mingi asks, bewildered. "Yunho could be in danger."

"The flowers came from Wooyoung's kingdom, but I don't think he's responsible for what's happening to Yunho's kingdom. In fact, I know he isn't. So someone must be taking them out of there so the southern kingdom would get blamed if everything gets exposed now," San says, a determined look crossing his features. "I'm going to see Wooyoung tonight, make him bring me to wherever their merchant ports are."

"San, are you crazy?" Mingi's mouth drops. "What if you get caught?"

"I'll tell your aunt and Yunho the plan, but we'll stay quiet until I get to the bottom of this." San looks a bit too nonchalant regarding the content of his words, and Mingi doesn't like it. "I won't get caught, because Wooyoung is going to help me."

"How are you so sure?"

San looks at Mingi. "Because we promised that we'd trust each other."

• • •

"Nope. This isn't happening," Gia states the moment San relays his plan to her and Yunho over dinner, telling them about those flowers they'd seen at school. "You're not going there on your own."

"It isn't the first time I've gone to the Sol kingdom," San explains, fiddling with his fork, "and I've gotten to know Wooyoung and I know he's more than willing to help me."

"What if you get hurt?" Yunho asks right then, features stunned at all the information that's just been relayed to him. Mingi brushes his legs with his to show that he's there, and Yunho doesn't move away.

"I won't, I promise," San smiles, before looking Gia's way. "Because if you just help me with a disguise, I think it could work. And when Wooyoung and I figure out what's going on, you'll be able to help Starlight kingdom get rid of the illness that's affecting their youth. And Yunho will be safe."

Gia's lips purse into a tight line, before exhaling a deep breath. "You really trust this prince, huh?"

"He's never given me a reason to believe otherwise," San answers, and Mingi has to wonder what kind of relationship they'd cultivated in such a small amount of time to generate so much trust. But then again, Yunho hasn't been here for long either, and Mingi's absolutely besotted by him.

"...Fine. I'll get you something that elves wear, as well as a watch," Gia says. "And I'm holding those...Gonjl flowers for safekeeping. But, the second you're not back here before tomorrow afternoon, I'm calling up my colleagues and we're gonna infiltrate the southern kingdom, alright? And we're gonna find out why you're able to transport to a real place in your dreams later, young man."

"That'll be messy as fuck," Mingi comments, to his aunt's exasperation.

"Language," she reprimands. "Damn."

San looks more than relieved that she agrees, but Mingi doesn't relate to how chill he is about the whole thing.

He meets Yunho's eyes across the table, and feels more comforted and relaxed when the elf gives him one of his beautiful, reassuring smiles.

God, Mingi just knows it's gonna hurt like a bitch when Yunho has to leave.

• • •

a/n: thoughts?