"Hey dad. Are you free to hang out?"

Minkyu asked, bringing two plates of rice balls and watermelon slices.

"Of course Champ~. Any time~"

Mark smiled, and Minkyu immediately sat down next to him.

"So how have you been? After the whole Earth incident I mean"

"I can't complain. It was a scary situation, but we got through it in one piece"

"And you each handled it exceedingly well. I'm very proud of you all"

"Thanks dad~"

Minkyu smiled, munching on one of his rice balls.

Mark ate one of his watermelon slices, but he became worried once he looked at Minkyu in the face some more.

"Everything alright dad?"

He asked, still munching on the rice ball.

"O-Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. It just...you look so mature now. Maybe it's just your hair, or maybe it's just the new badass look you have on your face now. But you just look so cool..."

Mark smiled, admiring his son's face.

"You really think so? I just thought changing things up a bit would look nice. I think the wet look to my hair looks pretty neat"

"It sure does. I actually think it suits you a lot better. You should keep that style~"

"Oh, I intend to~"

The two laughed together and finished eating their treats, then Minkyu remembered something.

"Oh dad! I want to show you something!"

"Huh?? What is it??"

"While we were on Earth, I finally got my own Stand~. But it's not a humanoid Stand. It's completely different~"

"Really?? I wanna see~"

"Watch this~"

As White Album covered Minkyu's body, the air in the room became colder and frost formed under his feet.

"Ta-da~~. I can control ice just like you now~~"

He enthusiastically cheered once his Stand completely covered his body.

"You really can.... T-This is so amazing! What does it feel like~?!"

"Well, the inside of the armor it gives me is always warm. But once it comes off I can feel a little bit of the chill it leaves behind. If we're talking about that chill, I'd say it's very cold, but also very soothing"

"..."

"W-Was that not a good answer?"

"...That's incredible. That's the exact same feeling I have with my ice, especially since the day I got complete control over it~"

"That's a relief... But you didn't always have control over it?"

"Not at all. You see, I have a heart that's different from everyone else's. Specifically, it's a Crystal Heart"

"Wait, I think I heard about those from a book Sungmin read once. She said that they're very rare hearts and can turn out to be life threatening"

"That's right. It's threatened my life twice before, as a child, and as a teen. Did I ever tell you the story about what happened to your grandparents?"

"I think you told be some of it.."

Minkyu thought to himself.

"To make a long story short, I couldn't control my ice powers even if I tried. I was still only a kid back then, but I ended up unintentionally freezing them from the inside out"

"So that's how they died... But then, how does that play in to your Crystal Heart?"

"Crystal Hearts are only life threatening if someone that has one suffers enough emotional trauma. I blamed myself for my parents's death, and every time I blamed myself for something that was out of my control, I would begin to freeze up from the inside out. It happened after I accidentally killed them, and it happened when I got separated from your uncles a long time ago"

"But then, how did you survive...?"

"I saved him~!"

Donghyuck abruptly appeared in the room with a smile plastered on his face.

"Y-Yeah. Hyuck saved me~"

"Oh I get it! It's because he was able to thaw you out right~?"

"Well, not entirely. The first time, thawing him out only worked a little bit. He had to forgive himself to unthaw completely. Ironically, that was the day we first met~"

Donghyuck smiled.

"But what about the second time? You know, when you all got separated?"

"W-Well, we all got blasted off to different planets. Renjun-hyung was the one that found us and brought us back together"

"I went with him to Mark-hyung, but by the time we got to him, he was already freezing up. So when we got back home, the only option we had was to use a direct Heat Transferral to thaw him out"

The two explained.

"Heat Transferral?"

"It was a method that would heat me up physically and emotionally. Hyuck was the only one that could do it not only because of his fire abilities, but also because he's the closest to me"

"Ooooh~. But how did the Heat Transferral take place?"

Minkyu curiously asked, making the two blush.

"W-Well..."

"To make a long story short, I had to give him mouth-to-mouth..."

"Mhmm. He suuure did"

They heard Jaemin tease from the hallway, making the two blush even more.

Minkyu looked confused for a few seconds, but the more he thought about it, the more he understood and became embarrassed.

"O-Oh gosh..."

"B-But! If we hadn't done that, I wouldn't be alive today so there's that!"

"A-And Fluorite wouldn't be here either~"

Donghyuck smiled, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Fluorite? Oh! You mean your fusion! I remember him from when we fought against Woojin~"

"Speaking of Woojin, is he still contained???"

Mark questioned.

"Did someone mention Woojin? I saw him in a jar inside of the turtle after we woke up"

Shuyang answered, peaking into the room.

"You guys didn't let him out did you?"

Donghyuck inquired.

"Of course not! Everybody knows who Woojin is! Even everybody on this ship knows who he is! He's well known across the galaxies! We'd be crazy to let him out!"

"Well that's a relief... But is anyone even feeding him? I know he's done a lot of bad things, but he's still a person"

Minkyu frowned a bit.

"Don't worry Champ. We're not cruel at all like he is. We feed him and make sure he's doing alright"

"That's good to hear~"

"But it seems you're taking a liking to him Minkyu. Why is that?"

Donghyuck asked him.

"Don't get me wrong, I hate his guts for what he's done. But who knows? He might end up helping us in the future"