This is Not My Obituary

The Ones Who Are Always Fine

ZeYu and Xinlong looked between themselves and then back at Shuyang. "You." They said in unison, patting the youngest's shoulders.

"What? No! Why me?" Shuyang protested, stepping back from their small huddle at the cavern's edge. ZeYu and Xinlong exchanged glances once again, a slight nod from both of them. Xinlong placed his hand on Shuyang's back opening his mouth to explain, but before words formed he pushed the younger forward into the cavern. "What the fuck!" Shuyang screamed as he fell, pitch black enveloping his sight. "He'll be fine." ZeYu hummed, crossing his arms. Xinlong nodded as Shuyang continued to flail in the open air, forgetting how deep the cavern was as a child.

He took a few deep breaths as he focused, praying the same events would take place as when he was a kid.

He had fallen in once, but was caught by the very nature of the grounds. They had always fancied the younger for his boyish charm and adorable appearance.

As the man neared the bottom, he felt himself slow down, a force outside of himself cradling the man as his feet landed gently on the earthen stone floor. Shuyang took awhile to regain his breath from the anxiety he had felt from his fall.

"You motherfuckers!" The two men above ground could hear his voice travel as they both smiled. "See, fine." ZeYu said aloud, really only to himself.

"Why did you push him like that?" The grounds whined in Zeyu's ear. "He was gonna be fine anyways. You have a crush on him." He teased.

Xinlong looked ahead as the figure sat in front of the two, mouth moving hut he couldn't hear a thing. The figure looked straight on at Xinlong, pointing downwards through the darkness.

"Ask him why he's doing that?" Xinlong barked over at ZeYu as the grounds began to hit the grass with his fist angrily, a small pout on it's rather disturbing face.

"What's up?" ZeYu asked.
"You ought not mess with him." The grounds seethed, grossing its arms like a spoiled child.

"They just didn't like that we pushed him." ZeYu sighed, moving his weight from one hip to the other. Xinlong just nodded with a quiet hum.

The two men stared deep into the cavity, searching for any sign of Shuyang besides his occasional profanities.

"Find anything?" Xinlong called down.

"What the hell am I even looking for?" He shouted, eyes still cloaked in the darkness. He crossed his arms over his chest to regain some warmth the chilly cavern had taken from him.
"Anything weird." Zeyu called.

"This whole place is fucking weird!" The youngest screamed out, throwing his arms at his sides, breathing heavily. "Calm down, you're fine." Xinlong rolled his eyes.

"No I'm not. I'm cold." Shuyang pouted again, kicking the ground about with the tip of his shoe.

"Poor baby." The grounds huffed, a look of true sadness on its face. "He's a grown man." ZeYu grumbled.

All the while Hanyu and Zihao sat cross legged on the dewy grass, both as quiet as can be. Zihao ran a hand through his hair, rearranging each strand so it would be perfect. Hanyu, on the other hand, didn't give a damn what he looked like in the moment, a slight grimace on his face.

"Do you think they're okay?" Hanyu spurt, bringing a thumb between his teeth and chomping down, falsely relieving some of his anxieties. He hadn't torn his thumb up like this since he was in high school, they poor man in this exact situation. The two who couldn't hear, see, or be supernaturally protected by the grounds, sat back and waited for the favored ones to come back with news.

"Yeah. We've all grown since then so if anything they should be even more okay than last time." Zihao sighed, laying back on the grass, not a single care over his pristinely pressed shirt, or messing up his hair.

"They weren't so okay last time though. I mean, that's why we all left." Hanyu said quietly, looking around as if the grounds would somehow target him. Zihao bit his lip in contemplation and cocked a brow, thinking over the last time they had all been together like this. Zeyu was screaming into the air at the top of his lungs, Xinlong sobbing because the grounds kept changing form to scare him, Shuyang suspended in mid-air upside down with no way down; and MingRui half dead while the two oldest watched it all happen.

"I don't miss it." Hanyu huffed out as he thought over everything. In hindsight he was just a kid dealing with way too big of a burden. He was the ring leader of sorts, trying to keep the supernatural phenomenon a secret from the clueless, idiotic adults in this town, also trying to protect Dela from her parents because of the baby they never got to meet. While Simultaneously keeping his own parents off of his back about knocking her up at such a young age.

It was too much for some 17-year-old kid, yet he did it. Not without years of obsessively contemplating the traumatic experiences. But to be fair, they were all a messed up from it.

"They'll be fine." Zihao concurred, not opening for any discussion. That was that. Zihao said they'd be okay, then they'd be okay. Hanyu nodded shortly.