DAY EIGHT 💫 #46 Somnabulists Exodus (Sleepwalkers Awakening) (4/4)

[exohousewarming]

(previous)

Epilogue: On Olympus.

*

Almost six months had gone by since Jongin and Kyungsoo were freed from perfect but fabricated suburban life, and they were now living in a large safe house with all the other rescued test subjects and their loved ones; Jongin hadn’t even thought about them having families to keep safe too- he’d been so focused on getting his own family to safety.

Today though, was much like many of the days they had had back home, with Jongin waking up to Dosik bouncing on the bed, “Dad, wake up!” he shouted excitedly, “We want pancakes for breakfast so wake up!”

“Pancakes hm?” Jongin laughed when he turned to the smiling face of his eldest son, “How about-“ he paused for dramatic effect, “tickles instead!”

The excited squeals of laughter that filled the room when he did just that had Jongin’s heart so full of love he wondered if it would actually explode one of these days. Kyungsoo’s laughter soon joined that of his son when his husband rolled over to see what all the commotion was about.

Barely a week after their own extraction, Jongin had gone with Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongdae to liberate Yixing, and one of the first things the healer did when they got him back to the safe house was bring their fallen child back to them. It was nothing short of a miracle, and Jongin knew that he would feel forever indebted to him for the amazing gift he had given him- a second chance with his family as a whole.

“Daddy!” Jongsik squealed when he came running into the room as fast as his little legs could carry him, laughing when Kyungsoo scooped him up and joined in the tickle fight until they were all breathless and red-faced.

“Come on Jongsik!” Dosik shouted, grabbing his little brother’s hand as they climbed off the bed, “Dad’s going to make pancakes for breakfast.”

“Pancakes!” Jongsik squealed, running off with his brother, presumably to the kitchen, and Jongin heard the sound of the dogs chasing not far behind; apparently excitement was a running theme this morning.

When he and Kyungsoo were both out of bed and dressed, Jongin smiled as his husband took his hand to lead him down to the kitchen, where the boys were in fact already sat at the table waiting expectantly.

Setting to work on breakfast, Jongin cooked several large stacks of pancakes just in case any of the other residents wanted some too, and laughed at his sons’ cheering when he set a plateful down on the wooden table.

“It’s the little things.” Kyungsoo commented as he went to retrieve the orange juice from the refrigerator, pausing to pull him into a deep kiss that made the children giggle to one another.

Breathless, Jongin smiled into the kiss before pulling away, “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

Kyungsoo shrugged, the faintest blush colouring the apples of his cheeks, “Just because I love you.”

Heart skipping several beats, Jongin kissed him again, “I love you too.”

Laughing when they were interrupted by the refrigerator beeping at them to tell them they’d left the door open for too long, Kyungsoo took the orange juice to the table, “Uncle Chanyeol and his girlfriend are going to babysit you tonight boys.” He told them, “What do you think to that idea?”

“YES!” the both shouted excitedly, probably because being babysat by Chanyeol usually meant an evening of video games and cookie bake-offs with either Yixing or Minseok.

Jongin raised an eyebrow at his husband, because this was the first he’d heard about having a night off from parenting.

“After spending the day home-schooling the kids,” Kyungsoo said, closing the distance between them to wrap his arms around his waist, “I’m all yours for at least what-“ he paused in mock thought, “Five or six hours.”

It took Jongin all of about thirty seconds to catch on to his husband’s meaning, “Well in that case,” he smirked, “I’m definitely hot for teacher.”

Kyungsoo laughed beautifully, and then turned more serious with his next words, “Is the meeting today?” he asked.

“Yeah, test subject one is the last of us, Baekhyun doesn't want to leave him behind,” Jongin told him, squeezing him affectionately, “And honestly neither do I. Why, would you rather I not go with the team?”

Kyungsoo shook his head, smiling fondly, “Just promise me you’ll stay safe, and make sure you come back to me.”

Jongin kissed him gently, “Always.”

Watching the kids eating breakfast then Jongin smiled, then looked back to his husband to see the promise of later shining brightly in his eyes and had never felt happier.

Perfect was a relative term, he decided, because though there was no doubt dark and difficult times ahead of them – all of them – where they would have to regroup and reform and take the fight to Catalyst so that they could show them that they were mindless slaves no longer, Jongin felt his life was more perfect now than it had ever been.

And for as long as his family remained strong and bonded together – no more secrets, no more lies - it always would be his idea of perfect, because for the first time in his life- Jongin was wide awake.

“When the skies and the grounds were one, the legends, through their twelve forces, nurtured the tree of life. An eye of the red force created the evil, which coveted the heart of the tree of life, and the heart slowly grew dry. To tend to embrace the heart of the tree of life, the legends hereby divide the tree in half and hide each side.

Hence, time is overturned and space turns askew. The twelve forces divide into two and create two suns that look alike into two worlds that seem alike. The legends travel apart. The legends shall now see the same sky but shall stand on different grounds, shall stand on the same ground but shall see different skies.

The day the grounds be kept a single fracture before one sky in the two worlds that seem alike, the legends will greet each other. The day the red force is purified, the twelve forces will reunite into one perfect root, and a new world shall open up.”


~*~

Comments

RE: THIS IS MY PROMPT OMG MY PROMPT

[dkyngsoo.livejournal.com]

AND WHEN YOU HAD DOSIK TURN ON THEM WITH RED EYES OMG I WAS SCREAMING. I just checked my prompt after reading and I saw I put that either one of them can die, or one of their kids... I honestly forgot this part. So when you had Doshik, their little boy, against them... I was equal parts heartbroken and amazed by the turn of events. I knew it couldn't be too easy to escape. And then that knife scene I was crying so hard omg. Jongin. Poor Jongin. I just, when Doshik's eyes turned brown and he was saying it's alright I was bowling my eyes out. And when Kyungsoo was waking him up and the guilt that Jongin felt after..... I just. I have no words. Even when Jongshik asked them and they said he was in a special sleep, I was crying again and it was just. I hate you so much you beautiful soul.

But if I have to choose my favorite part, favorite dialogue, out of everything, it would have to be this:

"...I don't care how fabricated my life has been up to this point, and I’m sorry that you’ve lost people Baekhyun but do you want to know something? The way I felt my heart break when I had to leave Kyungsoo behind- that was real, and my whole life I never want to feel that way again, so I’m going back.”

Perfect. Just bravo. I cried here. I had to stand up and give myself a moment because I actually had something similar written with kaisoo but it's non au. And this is just the perfect way to describe the whole situation. That even though everything was fake, the marriage, the life they had, the memories... what isn't fake is the feelings they have for each other. You can act out anything, you can live a lie, but what he felt in those moments, those strong emotions of attachment and love, those are real. And I loved that Jongin said it here.

I love that this has so many elements to it, the corporation interfering with superhumans to use them as weapons of war, the experiments, the controlled environment, Baekhyun breaking everyone out of their control cities (a clever nod to Monster), the experiments they've lost, needing to rescue yixing before they can revive Doshik, the conspiracy, the incoming coup from the experiments, Kyungsoo as a teacher who can effectively homeschool their kids in the safehouse... I just love this so much. There are so many things you included in this one action-packed mystery-ripe fic and the best part is how all through out it, it never lost that sense of domesticity, that feeling of family love that kept them all going.

I don't really know what else to say because I think I already said too much even though I think no enough words can express my love for this fic. Thank you so much for writing this. It's such a great fic. I couldn't have asked for a better fic interpretation of my prompt. Your writing really carried the plot, from the building of their home life to the gradual progression to the darkness underlying their seemingly perfect life. You had me in your world and your story. Impressive!

When you post this to your own account, I hope to spread this more to other people so they can enjoy it too. Because this is a fic meant to be treasured and reread over and over. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me a fic full of Kaisoo love. It really is so easy to imagine them here, so in love and perfect together.

Thank you thank you ❤