Chapter Text
Despite Kyungsoo's love for black and all that walk the thin line separating mortality from what’s beyond, he’s not a "weirdo" as some townspeople loved to call him nor was he any like his beloved family, who were also not "weirdos."
Though he was the odd one in his family full of odd ones, he loved them, still and earnestly. Father and Mother were always befuddled by his works that sometimes held too much of life yet they always supported him wholeheartedly. Grandmama, on the other hand, thought he was deeply disturbed for being too interested in normal human activities, but that's understandable; conservative beliefs in old age were considerably hard to destroy. His uncle had the same judgment as Grandmama but instead of lectures, he avoided Kyungsoo like a disease, like the soul of his pastel-obsessed serial man-killer wife was passed onto him to finish the deed, and sometimes Kyungsoo would consider owning this theory and conspiring with the imaginary spirit whenever the consequences of his uncle’s games inched closer to his beloved garden. Detonate a bomb in his room as he’s soundly asleep, sure, but one would be wiser to castrate oneself than let a single debris touch Kyungsoo’s plants. Not that they couldn't fend off trouble themselves but Kyungsoo was rather protective.
His two sisters were both lovely. He had been subject to his older sister's affection in the form of constant knife threats and poisoning, and his younger sister's, with patience and enthusiasm whenever he’s been successfully killed then brought back by her in the matter of minutes, hours at most, carrying stories and rare tokens from the dead.
"I think it would be romantic if my lover took me to this underwater cave," his younger sister sighed to Kyungsoo, a sixteen-year-old girl to her nineteen-year-old brother. She sat decorously on her made bed, exuding a fake image of primness. The longing in her eyes said otherwise. Kyungsoo drowned her voice out that went on and on with her visions of the ocean until she called him.
He looked up from the book on his lap and raised an eyebrow.
"Dearest Brother," she started, as if she had another brother to set him apart as the 'dearest', "have you dreamed of sinking into the arms of this lover as you—of one heart, mind, body, soul—sink into the caress of the sea? Do you agree that it is the perfect dream, the ultimate destination?"
Kyungsoo only shook his head, immediately brushing her off to continue reading the book she’d stolen from the local library’s restricted section.
She gasped, with great passion. "Outrageous! There is nothing so blissful as a love so great to take you to the grave. I've been yearning for it badly since I visited the river at the edge of the town. I demand you to come with me, for you shall reach a similar epiphany as I have."
Kyungsoo could have rolled his eyes and protested but he didn't, not when he was simply absorbed by the human accounts of ‘vampires’ —undead and lovely lonely beings thriving on the blood of the living, first sighted in Western Europe centuries ago and immortalized twice, first by their individual transformation then by the general integration into 'pop culture.' How fascinating! There was no such being in his extensive family tree, though Uncle had passively mentioned meeting some in his trips—only nodding passively.
If he had never even tuned in to her words at all, it wouldn't be surprising if his sister would just one afternoon watch him drown in sick enrapture. He would not protest, not when constantly being on the brink of total oblivion can make living much more vivid—something his family couldn’t grasp well. With every Earth-minute spent dead, his dreams to live forever to see the entirety of the world would bloom.
What bliss would fill him every time he entered that quiet domain. Time was a peculiar concept in the big blob that functioned similarly like the sea, disorienting him in its encasing, like it’s filling his head with promises of peace all the while he could feel his body shriveling up. This way, Kyungsoo supposed he could understand his little sister’s enthusiasm for drowning. Sometimes, it would be like he had walked for days or only just seconds, then the mortal coil would loosen around his neck and reality would greet him, with his younger sister's still-rolled-back eyes and the realization that it had been mere minutes since he was away.
Which was why when he felt arms pulling him out of his tranquil floating state at the murky river, right when he was about to succumb to the pull of the hazy realm, he was aghast.
"Are you okay? You're not injured, are you?"
Kyungsoo, in an unfortunate turn of events, started heaving and chasing his breath.
Holding him firmly was a tall boy around his age, with the fading red as his hair and perky ears. He looked Elven for a moment that had gone quickly when Kyungsoo blinked away the water clouding his vision and realized Elves were fond of long hair and had ears more pointy than ‘perky’. Kyungsoo glared at the wide eyes judging him with knitted brows.
"Of course, I'm not." He shrugged off the hands on his arms. "Mind your own business," he spat, then he surveyed the wide space around them. His sister was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, I was helping." The boy frowned. "Were you killing yourself? If you were, um, I promise that's not the answer."
Oh. Not only was this guy not Elven, he likely didn’t believe they existed. "And so what if I was?"
"Um," the boy looked taken aback, "if you have problems, please—"
"I do, and it's you intervening with my suicide. Don't worry, I never stay dead."
Kyungsoo thought the guy looked silly, his wide eyes growing wider as if the eyeballs could fall off any time. If his older sister were here she’d have grabbed it and looked upon the twitching eyeball in her hand while dictating ideas on what potions she could create with it, before giving it back. She’s very polite that way.
"What... is that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you would like it to be." With that, Kyungsoo walked through the floating plants, carefully stepped on rocks underneath, and inched towards the dry land slowly. His clothes were heavy and the wind was getting cooler as the sun set. Idly, he wondered why his younger sister would leave him like this.
"Well," the boy followed up beside him, "I think it's a joke. You'd be a great comedian. Haha."
"Would you like it to be a joke?"
"I think… that's better than being the actual truth?"
Kyungsoo hummed. "Indeed, how one encounters reality is a choice."
As Kyungsoo continued walking, he heard the movement of water beside him recede. "Does that mean you can die and come back to life?" Sounds of splashing came faster before it slowed down and he felt the other's slight warmth beside him once again. "What are you, some witch?"
"No." He almost added, 'my older sister is,' but bit his tongue. In the few years of Kyungsoo's lifetime, he learned that most people would never understand even the slightest bit of their family legacy. It was best to be all hushed about the family even as his own family would proudly brandish themselves at any inopportune opportunity—common social etiquette, another thing they don’t grasp well. He ignored the boy and successfully reached the dry land.
"A zombie, then?" The boy called out from a few feet behind, lagging behind and audibly struggling to leave the water as Kyungsoo dried himself. In his voice, Kyungsoo could hear joviality that did not intend to show open-mindedness but disbelief in and ridicule of Kyungsoo's abilities. With a bitterness muted by exhaustion, he continued to ignore the boy.
Once he had worn his shoes, albeit uncomfortably, he wordlessly turned towards the woods. The dark woods parted imperceptibly but the shadows extended in greeting.
"Hey, wait! Where are you going?"
Kyungsoo paused and turned to face him. From the edge of the river and fixing his clothes, the boy looked like a mess. Hair flat against his forehead and shirt clinging to him like it wanted to squeeze all blood out of him. "Home," he answered.
"Are you sure? I'll walk you!" He showed off a wide smile so suspiciously warm for someone who had entered the cold water to save a colder stranger.
"No, thank you." At this, he turned back and continued to walk in the direction of the foreboding woods. There was a quiet song that beckoned him closer and with each nearing step, he felt more and more at ease.
"Is that path even safe?" The boy continued to pester, uncertainty in his voice. "How will I know you won't try to kill yourself again?"
Kyungsoo did not look back until he reached his home.
⸸
"Why did you leave?"
"I saw the future."
They were by the fireplace, his younger sister on the cushioned seat and fiddling with the trinket Mother had lent her while Kyungsoo sat on the floor, head resting against the armrest.
"I thought you only saw the past."
"Precisely." A click was heard from the intricately designed golden torture device in her hands but not one of them budged.
Kyungsoo frowned. "Then, you saw nothing."
"Time is something terribly complex. None of us mortals are able to grasp even the tip of its iceberg thus we settle with the conclusion that it is not real, or reduce it into something simple."
He had no energy left to ponder about the deeper meanings of life. "Okay."
"How is Chanyeol?"
"Who?"
Finally, his younger sister sighed and gently set aside the trinket beside her. "The boy with the big ears who pulled you out of the water and asked you to revive his pet ferret."
"He hadn’t asked me to revive anything."
Her lips formed an 'o' shape and solemnly she nodded. "Do tell when he does. Please bring the ferret to me."
Kyungsoo shook his head and felt his lips twitch in pride. "You are growing up fast. Mother and Father will be ecstatic. Have you thought about Father's proposition to you?"
Rolling her eyes, she countered, "And you're still ignoring Mother's request. Mother and Father will not be ecstatic. And while on the topic, have you let Uncle off the hook yet?"
Kyungsoo shook his head once again and huffed. "Of course not. Last I checked, he’s still swinging. I think he’s liking it too much. I have never been adept at enacting vengeance."
"Verily," she said, soft smile tinged with a sharpness, and a larger click resounded from the trinket beside her. Kyungsoo sighted a mischievous glint in her eyes and with eyes wide in alarm, he swiftly stood to run for the stairs. Her lovely, manic laughter bounced off their old walls, following him to the door of his room. Mentally, futilely (because he never properly trained), he cursed her.
⸸
The sun was warm on his skin and with the cool temperature that the impending September was bringing, it was heavenly. A soft glow bathed the secluded part of the park and the world edged near the realm of his dreams—those filled with misty mountains and flowing rivers. None of his family shared this dream as him but one day, he would find it in himself to imitate the footsteps of his older sister and leave to travel the world. He hoped to find this bliss manifest in his reality.
It was a good afternoon for Kyungsoo but it did not seem to be for a particular boy with unhealthy chemicals on his red hair, distractedly walking around the vicinity with a long, dejected face.
"How are you?" He asked softly in courtesy of the birds and the slumbering cat nearby once the boy was near enough to hear. Much to Kyungsoo's annoyance, the boy jolted and shrilled, waking the cat and scaring the birds.
He blinked at Kyungsoo before shaking his head and answering, “Please, please, do you know anyone who can help my ferret? She’s dying and the vet’s closed for now and Mom said there's no helping her but I'm not ready yet. I already lost a ferret before. It's too painful. I feel so hopeless!"
Kyungsoo observed… Chanyeol, was it?—Kyungsoo observed Chanyeol as he stomped to the bench with frustration, a blank face staring at a stressed one.
"All mortal beings must perish."
Chanyeol released a sigh so loud, it made Kyungsoo question if he should have been more miserable when his pet snake departed with Death. "I know but still!"
Kyungsoo inhaled, readying himself to say no until he remembered his younger sister's words. Slightly slumping, he grunted, "I know someone." He doubted Chanyeol would trust him but Kyungsoo could tell his sister he at the very least tried.
Contrary to his expectation, the boy beamed. “Really?”
Unsure, Kyungsoo nodded and his heart lurched when he noticed the boy’s almost-elven human ears slightly shift when he grinned. It was… endearing. Confusion filled him together with a heavy, fluttery sensation in his guts. He looked away and inhaled deeply.
Eventually, Kyungsoo brought Chanyeol to his sister, sitting peacefully under the tree, with her legs tucked under her as she stroked her hellish black cat ironically named Merricat. In Kyungsoo’s small time walking the Earth and the wretched cat’s smaller time, Merricat had never been remotely ‘merry’. Merricat was fond of killing rats and tiny birds, and sneaking to his garden to frighten his spiders (at least she had never frightened his plants), and biting Kyungsoo's fingers for no reason, and glaring at everyone. Unsurprisingly, she stood and hissed at both Chanyeol and the dying ferret tucked in his arms. Only his sister's whispers calmed her down and a moment later, the cat turned its tail, arrogantly showing her butthole as she sauntered away.
His younger sister needed no words and immediately had her hands hovering over the ferret's body on the grass. In her loud exhale, the air stilled. Silence came as fog encircled them. Beside Kyungsoo, Chanyeol inched closer to him and gripped the sleeves of his pressed dress shirt. Annoyance spiked in him but how it crumbled when he turned and saw Chanyeol's eyes wider than ever that they seemed to terribly wish to escape his sockets even without the help of his older sister’s poking fingers.
“She’s a– a witch? Is this safe? Will I have to pay for my life or something?”
“No, yes, maybe," he curtly answered.
"What?!"
The wind came and picked up. Kyungsoo exhaled in boredom, wishing his younger sister would quickly do the deed. In front of them, with her eyes shut, his sister chanted lowly and gently moved her hand around and towards the ferret. The closer the distance, the faster the wind picked up, the more obscured their visions were, the tighter Chanyeol held onto him—his arm now. Finally, her hand made contact with the ferret. Her mouth shut and the surroundings cleared, the fog retreating almost immediately.
It was as if nothing happened, everything's the same, except when she opened her eyes, they were rolled back still. The ferret jumped back to vitality and ran around the grass. Meanwhile, the three humans stayed still—one stuck in limbo, one calmly breathing, and one gripping the calm one's arm.
"W-will I die? Don't get me wrong, I love Zzar and I want her alive but is my life worth her life?"
"Shh."
In their periphery, Zzar the ferret chased Merricat the cat and lo and behold, the cat was tolerating her and not slashing her face. What an odd creature, wanting to be clean all her life but would let a stinky mustela jump her around. Kyungsoo considered perhaps it was the traces of the afterlife in the ferret but belatedly he realized he had died so many times it’s uncountable.
"Oh," his younger sister said, finally back in the realm. That was quicker than usual but Kyungsoo was just eager to leave. "Where is Ryumin? Ah, I see. Your ferret is back!"
"Her name is Zzar. But—"
"Ah, Zzar is your name for her but her, well, guides call her many names. Though, her simplest is Ryumin. Who has more power: a measly mortal or her spirit guides?"
"Oh, uh… them?"
She smiled pleasantly. "You do not need to start calling her Ryumin if you don't want to, especially since it can confuse little Zzar."
Chanyeol forced a smile and awkwardly laughed. "Yeah, but uh, sorry I forgot to ask what about… payment? H-how will I pay? What if I cannot, um, afford… to pay?"
Her eyes widened and her smile became more pleasant but oddly, it made the hands clutching Kyungsoo's arm tighten. "It was not Ryumin's time yet and the spirits ask for no reparations. These things happen! A minor act alters the course of Time and suddenly, this town’s veterinary doctor is dead.”
“W-what?”
“I know. But if there's someone to ask, ask my brother.”
"Really? That's— Wow, I can't thank you enough." Chanyeol laughed in relief, loosening his hold on Kyungsoo's arm and relaxing his shoulders. He turned to Kyungsoo. "Um, I never caught your name."
He bit on the inside of his lower lip before he spoke. "Kyungsoo."
"Kyungsoo! Um, Kyungsoo, uh, as payment to you and your sister's help—oh, what's her name?—what can I do for you? That was really cool, by the way, a little scary but Zzar is now running around, I think even faster than how she usually does, woah—"
"Nothing," Kyungsoo cut him off. "Leave me alone." He pointedly ignored how Chanyeol's face fell.
"No, I helped you, Chanyeol," interjected his younger sister with a glower at her brother. "You should ask me instead."
Chanyeol stilled and blinked before he gulped. "Right, uh, what can I do for you?"
She beamed at him. "Befriend my brother."
Kyungsoo had not snapped his head so fast in so long. Still, it was not fast enough to temporarily die. Kyungsoo glared at his younger sister who held a twinkle in her eyes that irritated Kyungsoo for it insinuated something unreal, entirely made-up, totally not him. Dear ancestors, he knew that look. It was simply absurd.
"I'm your younger sibling, I know you," she lied so horribly it made Kyungsoo want to choke her to a state of comatose, and turned to the boy beside him. "Don't fret, Chanyeol, my older brother is happy to be your friend."
Kyungsoo started to regret not learning curses well as he willed his glare to be imposed on his sister stronger. Beside him, he could sense Chanyeol shifting awkwardly.
"Um…"
His younger sister giggled. "He likes nature and the quiet. The forest is his most ideal venue, but the library could work too."
⸸
Reluctantly, Kyungsoo let himself be pulled around by Chanyeol. He ignored the looks they were receiving as Chanyeol walked around the stores in the center of their town and he followed with a big frown on his face. Whatever, he’d let these people finally have an interesting topic for dinner. Wasn’t he so benevolent?
"What do you think about this book, Soo-yah?”
Offended, Kyungsoo whipped his head at Chanyeol who held up a thick book with a hardbound leather cover. “What did you call me?”
“Soo-yah,” he exclaimed with a wide grin. “It’s cute.”
Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in outrage. “I am Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo only. Do not call me cute.”
Chanyeol pouted and Kyungsoo wanted to smack him. “I didn’t call you cute, I called your nickname cute.”
Kyungsoo felt his ears heat up—in frustration, definitely—and suppressed the urge to hit the boy on the back of his head with a much thicker book in front of them.
"But what do you think, Kyungsoo?"
Kyungsoo squinted at the title cover. "I have read it already. It was satisfactory."
"You have? Woah, this is," he opened the page randomly rather atrociously that Kyungsoo pitied the book, "not something I would read for fun. I would need a dictionary beside me and it would be a bother."
Kyungsoo silently watched Chanyeol's frown get deeper the longer his big eyes stayed on the book.
"Hm," he placed the book back and skimmed the rest in the row before grabbing one, "what about this?"
"I have read it. I personally find the Book of Ecclesiastes hilarious but the Book of Revelations is the most intriguing. Song of Songs is inspiring on a good day."
Chanyeol gaped at him. "You've read the Bible? All of it? I can't even finish Genesis."
Kyungsoo nodded solemnly. "When your neighbors love brandishing it towards you like a shield, you have to wonder what is written."
Chanyeol's face fell so dramatically that he thought his dramatic sister should have befriended him instead. "I'm sorry, that must be terrible."
Kyungsoo arched an eyebrow, genuinely confused. "Why must you apologize for the wrongs that are not of your doing? You know, I never really understood the logic of Jesus Christ dying on the cross to cover the sins of others but to each their own."
Chanyeol looked down at the Bible in thought and nodded before he placed it back on the shelf.
"Well," Chanyeol grinned at Kyungsoo, "do you want to eat street food?"
⸸
Since that evening, Kyungsoo had fallen in love with street food. They tasted like an inch closer to death, even better when they’re fresh off the boiling oil, and how it was heavenly. Chanyeol realized this progression and used it to its fullest, it seemed, and while it’s not the most intricate manipulation there is, Kyungsoo found himself pliant at any mention of greasy food cooked in the polluted atmosphere. And perhaps Chanyeol’s presence was slightly pleasant too.
Eventually, he 'had' to meet some of Chanyeol's friends as well, Baekhyun and Sehun. It was a nice cloudy day and he strolled just at the edge of the forest and the neighborhood in leisure until Chanyeol jumped to his path and pulled him towards the center once again, excitedly talking about two of his friends who went on to achieve higher education in the bigger city nearby.
Kyungsoo wanted to at least hide his ancestry if he had to meet them, until Chanyeol hinted at it. Kyungsoo felt himself grow cold.
"What?!"
"No way."
"Is he one of those people?"
"Like, the family at the top of the hill? Is he their youngest child?"
"Woah, wait, you live there? But the forest was completely opposite the town…"
Kyungsoo could not even glare at Chanyeol anymore. He was willing himself to stay calm and not look away from their scrutinizing gaze. "I'm the middle child," he answered.
Baekhyun seemed horrified, Sehun was unsure, but Chanyeol seemed delighted.
"Really? When can we meet your siblings?"
The two stared at Chanyeol in disbelief. Kyungsoo could only empty his mind.
Baekhyun nudged him. "What the fuck, Park Chanyeol?" He screamed-whispered.
Chanyeol only looked at him weirdly.
"Excuse me, haha," was all Baekhyun said before he pulled Chanyeol away, Sehun following them. "You're befriending someone from that family? Aren’t they witches?" He continued to scream-whisper.
"What? So what if they're witches?"
"Oh my… Are you brainwashed? Did you eat anything weird? Black rice? Suspiciously good food but it isn’t really food?"
"What are you trying to say? Sehun, please knock some sense into Baekhyun. And brainwashed? Really? Do you think I’m that gullible?"
“Yes,” they whispered in unison.
"You gotta admit, they're suspicious, Chanyeol. I heard they're a bunch of cannibals."
"But they're nice. His sister even healed Zzar."
The two visibly stilled.
“No way."
“I thought you said there was no hope?”
"They really are witches."
"There had to be an exchange. What did they have you do?"
"Only to befriend Kyungsoo—"
"Oh, no—"
"Chanyeol—"
“Which I would have done anyw—"
"I'm not a witch," Kyungsoo had enough and interrupted their conversation, all three jumping on their feet. "Only my eldest sister is. She's traveling so there’s no need for apprehension."
"Oh, oh my god..." Baekhyun stared at Kyungsoo in horror before he took a step forward and held his clasped hands in front. "K-Do Kyungsoo-ssi? I didn't mean it. Please don't kill us!"
Sehun followed, holding his visibly shaking hands up. "Only... only Baekhyun hates you. I just don't know you, nothing personal. If you're going to sacrifice someone, it’s him—"
"Bastard! I don't hate him," Baekhyun screamed-whispered again. He seemed to be fond of its futility, much more about propriety than actually concealing himself—a common practice that Kyungsoo couldn’t entirely understand. He turned to Kyungsoo with an overly sweet smile. "Haha, I don't hate you. Don't kill me, please. I have dogs to feed."
From behind them, Chanyeol sighed then stood by Kyungsoo's side, somehow startling the two. "Stop that, both of you. Kyungsoo is kind. I hadn’t expected this from either of you, really…"
Though Baekhyun and Sehun continued to look at Kyungsoo unsurely, his dismay slowly disappeared as he stared up at Chanyeol, with an arm intimately across his shoulder. He could do nothing but stare up at him as he resolutely declared him his friend. From his periphery the other two inclined their heads in guilt.
When Chanyeol finally turned and met his eyes, showing him a small and warm dimpled smile, Kyungsoo felt fainter, a bit like drowning on a shallow pond. He hoped it was all genuine, and not just the second coming of a pastel-obsessed serial man-killer wife intent on enslaving one of his family again for their own gain. It’d be fun, he supposed, but he hoped he’s less like his foolish uncle this way. Not that Chanyeol was pastel-obsessed but vengeful spirits do adapt.
"Don't mind them," he told Kyungsoo later. "They're just… intimidated by you and your family. I promise they are good friends. I’ll... I'll talk to them for you."
"I do not doubt that they are good friends to you," he said, voice steady, but somehow Chanyeol still attempted to placate him. “There is no need. You can come back to them. I’m heading home.”
"Soo— Kyungsoo, please. Give them a chance. I swear, I'll talk to them again."
On their trek uphill, Kyungsoo halted, wondering why Chanyeol was intent on martyring himself when Kyungsoo didn't even ask in the first place, asking for his forgiveness for them as if Kyungsoo was the repeatedly revised, grossly egotistical, ungodly image of the Catholic god. As Chanyeol seemingly shrunk into himself under Kyungsoo’s pensive stare, he realized it’s not much about Ooh Fear The Wrath of the Satanic Son Kyungsoo but Chanyeol’s inclination for harmony. It’s not much about appeasing Kyungsoo as if he's a creature of the apocalypse but hoping everyone in his life were on good terms. It's just how Chanyeol was; at the realization that Chanyeol didn't see him as a monster, and that slowly, he's learning the ways he lived his life, his chest felt lighter.
“Alright,” and relief washed the other’s face, “but Chanyeol, listen to me when I say that I do not care if people do not want me in their lives—" a generalized statement for he did care, unlike his family, content in the loneliness of being othered… though only a tiny insignificant bit. "I am content with mine as it is. You don’t have to agonize yourself over me."
Chanyeol only nodded with a growing smile on his face. "You just called me by my name."
"So?"
“It's your first time and we've been friends for two weeks!”
He watched the light return to Chanyeol’s eyes and continued his walk. "Has it been two weeks now?"
Chanyeol nodded eagerly, still holding onto his wide smile, and Kyungsoo, like he had inhaled the dust and cobwebs in his attic, found himself aching with hopes for their friendship to last long.
⸸
There was a delightful sense of deja-vu as Chanyeol trembled beside him, clutching the sleeve of his wool coat so tight he could rival his younger sister’s pet octopus when taunting the little creature and holding up its favorite snack, except Chanyeol was doing it in fright.
“Why…” Kyungsoo started, reeling in his exasperation and carefully choosing his words so as to not further aggravate his already incredibly stressed friend. Friend. He still warmed at the thought. “...have you asked me to bring you here, then?”
“I wanted to spend time with you…” Chanyeol murmured, crouched and face pressed against his shoulder, the slightest of his breath tickling Kyungsoo’s neck. The wind blew, causing the leaves to rustle, causing Chanyeol to jolt, before his grip loosened slightly “And your sister said you loved it here…”
Kyungsoo’s brows furrowed as he tilted his head towards Chanyeol, surveying his face. “Still, you should not have asked to be brought here if you didn’t want to be here yourself. Moreover, the forest should be a peaceful place to me but when you're shaking my arm like that, it isn't.”
If it was possible, Chanyeol’s wide eyes grew impossibly wide. Kyungsoo entertained the thought of its moistness against his tongue, its fragility under the edges of his teeth, until Chanyeol hid it under his lids and averted his gaze. “Oh, I'm sorry.”
The distance did not escape him, and he sighed as he pulled Chanyeol closer, looking around for a spot relatively brighter and more spacious. “What exactly are you afraid of?”
“Um… I dunno… everything? The dark? Possible ghosts? Insects?”
“No insect here is deadly, only annoying at best, but I assure you, the ghosts of this forest are amiable. I cannot say the same for other spirits—”
“Oh…”
“—but just as long as you don't spit or piss or kick or disrespect anything here, they won't bestow a curse upon you and the children of your children. Finally, the dark is more often just the dark but we shall stay away from it.”
Although it had lessened further, Chanyeol was still gripping his coat.
“And anyway, I can negotiate with them. No harm will ever befall you as long as you are by my side.” Kyungsoo’s hand reached for Chanyeol’s but as if only comprehending his actions, he faltered and stared at his twitching fingers, inches away from the one clutching his arm. He could no longer take it back, as unbecoming it was of him to seek touching others, but he followed through. He gripped Chanyeol’s fingers enough for his trimmed (chewed) nails to leave crescent marks. “I hope you can place your faith in me.”
Chanyeol rewarded him with a rare rendition of his bright smiles—shoulders relatively relaxed, dimple as deep as can be, but eyes soft and glittering, not much the often wide and blazing.
Much later in their stroll, after an encounter with seven creatures and spirits of varying kinds that Chanyeol fretted over, also to varying degrees, they found a lone cactus, the type to thrive in the humid air and the gritty sand and not the soft and moist soil. It was unusual for one to be growing in such an environment, but Kyungsoo sensed no sort of malicious enchantment. It was thin and tall, it was not where it was supposed to be, and it was beautiful.
And so, he took it with him, huddled by Chanyeol’s precious scarf he lent an excited Kyungsoo, who was suddenly going on and on about his greenhouse. Where Mother’s garden was full of meat-eating plants, Kyungsoo’s plants had their kindred as their favorite meal. Without Kyungsoo to look after them and his spiders to guide when he’s away, they’d have eaten each other already. In contrast to Mother’s macabre-looking collection, his was an abundance of green and red and yellow as well as some rare blue ones that never failed to amaze Kyungsoo and even occasionally his mother. And yet, out of all of his majestic and overgrown plants that offered him company in his lowest moments, his favorite was the tray of tiny self-sufficient cacti.
Chanyeol was smiling, and Kyungsoo vaguely noted that it was akin to his earlier rare smile, but the lights in his eyes were softer, and the depth of his dimples were shallower.
“Maybe that’s where you should take me next time.”
Kyungsoo paused his fussing over the cactus to picture Chanyeol in the company of his plants, bathed in the glow of sunlight through the foggy window panes, with the spiders skittering around and excited. Hm. Maybe not the spiders yet. Eagerly, he nodded. “I would have to tidy up first. You know how vines often are. Mine are quite fond of breaking the other pots in the room.”
Chanyeol nodded in what seemed to be of understanding. It was highly doubtful that the vines in Chanyeol's garden liked to steal wine from the cellar or knock at their caretaker's window insistently at the dead of night but alas, Chanyeol had had enough bouts of unease for the day. Kyungsoo decided not to clarify.
They parted at the foot of the steep hill of his home. Gray clouds loomed above like a blanket and already, Kyungsoo missed the sun-dappled forest and Chanyeol’s proximity, his long arms clinging to him.
Kyungsoo dashed straight to his greenhouse, found a pot to be filled with sand and soil, and transferred the cactus with gentleness. As he observed it to be the tallest in the family, fiddling with the soiled soft scarf, he felt his lips twitch upwards.