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Jisung loved plants. Cacti, succulents, ferns, flowers, baby trees—it didn’t matter, he adored them all.
Plants, however, did not love him.
It was almost tradition at this point that anytime Jisung went to the store, he’d inevitably come back with a tiny potted plant cradled in his arms. It never seemed to matter what Jisung did to his little green babies, in the end, they always ended up brown and lifeless. His devotion to the plant mixed with a healthy dose of ADHD was usually his downfall, either he over-watered the tiny little thing or he forgot to hydrate it completely. His friends had even tried to help him keep track of a schedule, setting alarms on his phone for when he should water his newest baby, but nothing seemed to save them.
In the end, they all turned a sad brown color and wilted irreversibly.
His latest attempt at fatherhood had lasted a whole whopping four months and Jisung had been proud. His little succulent, Yeri, had been thriving until exams had hit and Jisung lost track of the days, only remembering to check on his baby once all of his deadlines were behind him. In that time, Yeri had taken in too much sun and not enough water and had turned brown and wilty.
Jisung had tried to nurse her back to health, petting her little stalks and begging her to come back to him as he poured more and more water into her soil desperately.
Seungmin called a time of death three days later and Jisung held a funeral behind the basketball courts, gently burying her corpse in a small hole next to some lilac bushes.
Felix, the angel of a best friend that he was, held him and rubbed his back as he mourned the loss of his child and declared that he was never going to parent another plant again— that he couldn’t go through this sort of loss anymore.
A week later he had a little ficus named Ricky.
When Ricky died a mere five days later, Chan declared a plant ban until they were all moved into their new shared housing for the following school year.
“Hyung will help you take care of it,” he’d promised, tucking Jisung’s teary face into his chest as he helped the younger boy bury Ricky next to Yeri.
“Guys,” Changbin exclaimed, bursting through the front door of their new house. He had a wide smile stretched across his lips and a plastic bag dangling from his wrist as he stumbled into the living room where the majority of his new roommates were gathered with the exception of Jisung who had excused himself from their weekly movie night to go wander around in the campus gardens. “You know how Sungie’s been, like, super depressed lately?”
Minho rolled his eyes, not even bothering to lift his head from Hyunjin’s shoulder as he shot Changbin a withering look. “No, I had no clue our resident child of chaos has been moping around like a sad, pathetic little lump.”
The younger huffed, folding his arms across his chest in annoyance as he glared at the elder petulantly. “Hyung,” he whined. “I’m trying to tell you I found a solution!”
“I don’t want to get him another plant yet, Binnie,” Chan cut in gently. “I don’t think any of us are ready to endure another funeral— Jisung included.”
“We won’t,” Changbin insisted, reaching into the plastic bag to pull out a decorative succulent. He held it up proudly for the rest of the room to inspect.
Jeongin sighed, flopping backwards onto Felix’s lap. “Hyung, we’ve tried succulents before. They’re not immune to Jisung-hyung’s black thumb.”
“No,” the elder huffed. “Look.” He stepped forward, shoving the little potted plant directly into Chan’s face until the eldest was going cross-eyed as he tried to look at it.
Sighing, Chan accepted the plant and held it up to his face at a more reasonable distance. “Wait,” he murmured after a few moments of inspection. “Is this... fake?”
Changbin grinned proudly, bobbing his head up and down in his excitement. “Yup!” he chirped, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Doesn't it look real?”
“Yeah,” Chan said, turning the little pot around in circles in his hands. “Except for the leaf that says ‘made in China.’”
Hyunjin snorted, tilting his head around Minho’s in order to get a good look at the fake succulent. “You’re planning on tricking Sungie with that?”
“Of course not!” Changbin huffed. “I’m not trying to trick him. I just— I saw it at the shop and thought: ‘well there’s a plant that he can’t kill!’ and bought it for him!”
Seungmin snorted. “He’ll find a way, I’m sure,” he deadpanned.
Changbin shoved a finger against the younger’s lips in irritation. “None of that negativity. This is literally the one plant that Jisungie can’t kill.”
“A plant I can’t kill?”
Everyone’s heads turned as one towards the door where Jisung stood with his shoes half toed off and red-rimmed eyes.
“Ah, yeah,” Changbin stuttered, taking the fake succulent back from Chan before passing it over to the younger who accepted it as though it were something delicate and precious, cradling it between his palms reverently. “The shop lady said that it’s— ah— it’s a trooper... nearly impossible to kill.”
“Wow,” Jisung breathed, hearts in his eyes as he examined the plant. He held the succulent as close to his face as he possibly could, going slightly cross-eyed as he checked over its fake leaves for imperfections. “Thank you, hyung, she’s beautiful. I’m going to name her Cleopatra because she’s going to live forever.”
Seungmin leaned over to whisper in Felix’s ear. “Should we tell him that Cleopatra died young?”
Chan leaned over to smack the younger’s shoulder, shooting him a warning glare before turning to Jisung. “That’s a beautiful name, Sungie,” he praised, melting in relief when Jisung puffed up at the compliment, clearly having not heard Seungmin’s remark.
“I’m going to go put her in the sun so she doesn’t get cold,” Jisung declared, darting off into his shared bedroom to situate Cleopatra on his desk.
“Does he... not realize that’s not a real plant?” Jeongin asked in awe.
Changbin shook his head, watching where his friend had disappeared in exasperation. “Probably not,” he admitted. “He’ll figure it out soon though.”
“Wow,” their maknae breathed. “That hyung is dumb.”
Minho leaned over to give a reprimanding flick to their youngest’s forehead fondly. “Yah,” he scolded. “You thought chocolate milk came from brown cows until Channie finally broke the news to you last week. You have no right to call Sungie dumb.”
Jeongin stuck out his bottom lip, turning his head away from Minho’s smug gaze. “What else was I supposed to think?” he mumbled petulantly. “They’re brown.”
Jisung loved Cleopatra.
She was so bright and vibrant and he almost thought that she was too perfect to be real. But she truly was a trooper. He had been watering her every morning before he left for classes and every night before he went to bed because no matter how often he fed her, her soil dried up almost immediately and he knew that that couldn’t be good for her. But even with perpetually dry soil, she still looked just as healthy as the day Changbin gave her to him.
He truly couldn’t thank his friend enough. Cleopatra was exactly what he needed to lift his spirits, especially after the long string of painful deaths of his past babies. He was determined to make sure that Cleopatra didn’t befall the same fate as her predecessors.
Jisung made sure that the little succulent was in direct sunlight every morning, wanting her to soak in all of the vitamin D she could so that she would grow up to have strong bones. She loved it when he stroked her little leaves and cooed at her and he loved how smooth and vibrant she was. A sign of a healthy plant.
“I’m going to be the best dad ever,” he cooed, kissing Cleopatra’s pot. “Just you watch, my little pharaoh queen. You’ll never die with me taking care of you.”
Months passed and Cleopatra was still going strong to absolutely no one's surprise except for Jisung. He was practically blinding with how brightly he shone with pride at keeping the little succulent alive. His friends and housemates had, after the first week of seeing Jisung’s vibrant mood, unanimously decided that they would do everything in their power to keep that happy expression on their friend’s face for as long as they could. This meant that, after Jisung left for classes and once he had fallen asleep for the night, one of them would take Cleopatra to the sink and pour out the water collecting in the bottom of her pot from Jisung’s attentive waterings before returning it in exactly the right position.
It had never been their intention to keep the truth from Jisung but none of them were sure how to break the truth to him which they knew would break his heart. And to be honest, they couldn’t decide whether they found the whole situation more funny or sad that Jisung still hadn’t figured it out yet. The seven of them sat down one day while Jisung was out and tried to come up with a game plan on how to get out of the situation they found themselves in.
Nothing really came out of the conversation except for the unanimous agreement that they wouldn’t get Jisung any more fake plants.
It then, of course, came at no surprise when, the very next day, Seungmin came home toting a tiny fake cactus for Jisung.
“It’s a rare breed,” he explained, handing the little pot over to his awed roommate. “It doesn’t need water at all— just sunlight.”
Jisung’s eyes widened in delight, racing over to the sill of the window in the living room and setting it directly in the center where it would get the most sun. “Thank you, Minnie!” he exclaimed, running back over to Seungmin to pull the younger in for a tight hug.
Seungmin grinned smugly, the expression hidden to his plant loving roommate but the rest of the household saw it plain as day. He received more than a few glares from his roommates that only made him grin wider.
The cactus looked even more fake than Cleopatra and everyone knew it.
Everyone except Jisung.
It became a thing after Seungmin had explained himself to his friends after Jisung had gone to bed.
“It’s a shiny new plant that doesn’t need to be watered,” he stressed. “If Sungie’s attention shifts to this one, we won’t have to empty Cleopatra anymore because he’ll forget about it.”
Everyone had been in awe of his brilliance and had each brought home at least one “rare plant” that was “impossible to kill” for Jisung by the time summer hit. Each plant was more ridiculous looking than the previous one but Jisung never even realized that something was amiss with them. He loved them all and named every single one of them.
He was flourishing with so many successful plant children thriving around him though Cleopatra still held a special place in his heart and he doted on her hand and foot, watering her day and night without fail and, unknowingly, driving his friends crazy. No matter how many pretty new fake plants they brought home for him, Jisung still adored Cleopatra the most.
As annoying as it was to empty the succulent every day, it was worth it to see Jisung so happy. So, of course, the day Chan came home to a silent house when he knew Jisung was home was worrying. He went up to the younger’s room, knocking on the frame of the door when he caught sight of Jisung standing in the middle of the room with Cleopatra in his hands, a despondent look on his face.
“Sungie?” he called, stepping into the room when Jisung didn’t respond to him. “Hey, buddy, what’s wrong?”
Jisung glanced up at the elder, holding the succulent out between them in confusion. “Why does Cleopatra say she’s made in China?”
Chan froze, feeling his heart stop in his chest before kicking into overdrive. “I— what? What do you mean? I mean— it’s just—”
“What’s going on?” Jeongin asked, coming into the room, the rest of the household following after him when they heard Chan’s frantic stuttering.
“Cleopatra,” Jisung reiterated. “Her leaf says she’s made in China... did you— did you buy a fake plant for me to take care of? Have I... been watering plastic all this time?”
Changbin sighed in resignation, stepping up to the younger and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Sung,” he whispered.
“Are all my babies fake?”
“Yeah, Sungie,” Chan admitted. “We just— we couldn’t stand seeing you so sad because your plants kept dying. We’re sorry for deceiving you.”
Without warning, Jisung burst into tears, throwing the seven of them into a panic as they crowded around him. They showered him in hugs and kisses, apologizing over the top of each other. Hyunjin ended up with Jisung’s face pressed in his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around his younger roommate.
Before long Jisung’s sobs started to morph into laughter, clinging on tighter to Hyunjin when he tried to pull back to check on him. It was a wet, warbling laugh that quickly melted into loud happy giggles as he pulled back from Hyunjin’s chest to beam at his friends.
“What did I do in a past life to deserve friends like you?” he asked. “I’m so lucky to have met all of you. Thank you— thank you for always taking care of me.”
Jisung still watered Cleopatra every night, smirking at whichever poor roommate was in the vicinity as he poured way too much water into the pot before kissing her little plastic leaves and leaving his friends to dump it out.
They do— because they love him— even if they’re cursing him the entire time they do it.