Chapter 1
Notes:
English is not my first language, please be kind :)
Chapter Text
It can be said that Soobin has always been a lonely fairy; while it's normal for winter fairies to keep to themselves and not be known for attending bonding parties or going out of their season, Soobin was somehow more of that. Even within the same community as him, he could only be seen go out with he's childhood friend: Kang Taehyun.
It was easy to spot him in the crowd, with his infinite stature and his face frozen in eternal beauty, but difficult to talk to him. The fairies of spring, summer, autumn and even winter itself who had tried with the youngest, driven by a sense of courage and audacity in venturing towards that beautiful cold face, had received only a polite refusal from Soobin. There had once been a rumor about him and a spring fairy named Arin, but in the end they had only exaggerated a simple conversation between the two during a demonstration in the common square. Even Taehyun had believed that rumor then and there, going to his best friend's house offended for not being the first to know and only receiving an indignant look in return.
«Don't tell me that now you believe this nonsense too?» his friend replied indifferently as he offered him a cup of hot chocolate, making Taehyun breathe a sigh of relief. So no, Soobin was a decidedly secretive fairy.
Everyone all knew very little about him, even though they were from the same season and the same neighborhood as him. After the death of his parents in an accident near the autumn season, an attack by the excluded fairies on the community during the harvest festival, the boy had never been the same. Those stolen-from-life deaths was talked about for months, and although the winter fairies were low-key compared to all the others, Soobin and his new title as an orphan had gotten the most attention.
The only ones who had stood by him without ulterior motives were his best friend's parents and Taehyun, who had welcomed him like a second son into their little family. The mother was a spring fairy, fragrant in her hugs and ready to give him all her joy, and the father was an autumn fairy, a little pessimistic and warm in his mild tone of voice.
It was not uncommon these days to find two fairies from different seasons bonded, yet in their time they had often faced discrimination from even their own seasons. But in the end, from spring and autumn, winter was born, Taehyun. And, despite being the crossroads of two different seasons and not pure blood like most in the neighborhood, Soobin's best friend was the embodiment like him of a perfect season fairy.
But, back to Soobin and his aloof side, not many fairies could have had the honor of making his acquaintance, given his absence at most of the most famous social events. So right now the younger one finds himself wondering who the hell put his name into the suggestion well, of all the more open-minded or educated people in his season... but he'll probably never know.
Yet now here he is, shocked and immobile in the crowd as everyone turns to him as if in unison. Taehyun, standing next to him, also stares at him with a surprised expression. The winter councilor says his name aloud again, after the icy silence of the mass, and he finds himself moving forward confused as he makes his way through the people. In reality, a chasm forms between him and the man next to the well, a way of free access for Soobin, as if everyone was suddenly curious about the result.
Every year there was the tradition of drawing lots from the magic well of each season a name provided by the community, avoiding power maneuvers by the most mischievous fairies after the war that many years before had almost divided the seasons.
As he watched the counselor pull the bucket up from the well a few minutes earlier, he was calm next to his best friend. Even as he stuck his hand into the pile of paper inside the old wood, Soobin looked at his nails boredly, scolded by Taehyun who urged him to pay attention. So how did he end up climbing the small dirt hill to the well while everyone watched? The man stares at him, his gaze cold and slightly indifferent to the boy lost in front of him, as he unrolls a light blue parchment with a flick of the wrist. «According to the rules and regulations that have been in force in this kingdom for ever and ever, from today until this very day next year the person drawn will be required to govern with loyalty and honesty the country in which we all live.»
«The swearing-in ceremony will be held tomorrow together with the other three seasonal fairies drawn, in the common square at three in the afternoon. The fairy will have to promise over his own life to reign for his community and for all the other seasons without double ends, without expecting anything in return and without disclosing confidential information to third parties-» Soobin had heard this speech a million times, in the crowd behind him. But now here he is, immobile in the face of the whispers and comments that spread like wildfire among the winter fairies.
The mind empties and goes to his father, a figure he sees only faded into a now faded and distant memory; his role as advisor had taken him away from him along with his mother, and Soobin wonders for a second if fate is such a joker that it makes his son pursue the same end as his parents. He might cry, if the lump in his throat and the tingling in his nose were valid clues, but he holds back in front of the crowd.
Becoming an advisor had never been something that Soobin had ever really aimed for, perhaps even scared of the power that role gave to a complete stranger, drawn by lot from a well full of paper. His best friend Taehyun would certainly be more educated than him, intelligent as hell and attentive to every little detail. But him? Soobin was an average fairy, if not for his good looks and intimidating aura.
He would be doing a bland, if not horrible job, and he already knew it. As the old councilor passes the scroll between his hands, as if in a passing of the baton, and bends his back in an awkward bow, Soobin finds himself praying in his mind that the other three fairies drawn could be more experienced and with more wisdom compared to him. Soobin would just have to stand on the sidelines, watch the other council members make the big decisions and give them all the credit.
But it is possible to say that fate is not on his side in this either.
Everyone had heard of Jung Wooyoung, in their world... even in the season of winters, which made it really far-fetched. With his long legs and his hair always styled differently and in bizarre colors, he posed more like a summer fairy than a spring one.
Although the warm and middle seasons were somewhat similar, the spring fairies usually smelled of flowers, laughed in a composed manner and could often be seen embroidering on the endless fields of grass that characterized their season... almost as if they were superior to others; summer fairies, on the other hand, were more for dispassionate joy, fruity flavors mixed with champagne and recreational activities such as a game of beach volleyball or a barbecue organized on the spot with the neighbourhood.
For this reason, Wooyoung's frivolous, light-hearted and nothing short of party spirit preceded him in his spring reputation now tainted by stormy episodes. At every party that took place in the square, you could witness the drunken version of the young man prostrating himself in an embarrassing scene to say the least. Although Tae's mother often indulged in frivolous rants about how beautiful and intelligent the fairies of the new spring generation were (note: superior to the others), the name of the elusive Wooyoung often made all her confidence collapse.
Soobin remembers how he once saw his big, red, graceful face on the cover of the winter newspaper, while the headline read large: "Spring Fairy Destroys Lemonade Stand at Annual Summer Festival.". Taehyun had laughed heartily at the news, bringing the crumpled newspaper directly to Soobin's door: ruined by his own fingers as he clutched the thin paper in the throes of a fit of giggling. And Soobin confesses that he laughed with him at the ridiculous and sarcastic article of the winter journalist, even if now he would rather eat that piece of papper than receive the news of his extraction as spring councilor.
Of course, however, he had done well with the extraction of the autumn fairy. Bangchan was known for being kind and serious at the same time in different seasons, loved by everyone if possible and described as a good soul.
Soobin had seen him in passing at a Moon party organized by the winter season, ending up bumping into each other in a silly and careless way in front of the stage; he was shorter than Soobin but his smile seemed so warm that it melted him down to his feet, if he had to describe the feeling he felt.
Although he didn't often talk to many others outside of his childhood friends, or at least that's what Tae said when he told him the gossip he heard at work that, in his own words, he didn't really listen to (even though he loved telling it to Soobin every time he returned from the office), he managed to attract all attention to himself with a simple smile. Which was perfect for Soobin, already deciding to willingly give him all the attention of the public parties he will be forced to attend in the future.
Soobin hoped in his heart that if he had a panic attack tomorrow during the swearing-in ceremony or before a speech at a future city event, the elusive Bangchan's reassuring hand would rest on his back when Tae wasn't there to do it for him.
And last, but (definitely) not least, we had Choi Yeonjun: The most popular summer fairy of all the available seasons. Soobin had only had the chance to see him once, during the swearing-in ceremony last year. He was beautiful, just as they said from season to season, and it had taken his breath away with a simple wink from across the square.
Even though his eyesight wasn't the best, Soobin perfectly remembers the pleasant curve of his lips, his blond hair in a disheveled and messy cut but perfect for him (even if Soobin had the impression that anything would have been good for the fairy), the soft muscles under the white tank top. He looked more like a mermaid, with the surreal beauty that characterized him and the ability to persuade compared to a harmonious song, but the fluttering wings of canary yellow shaded into a warm violet on the delicate tips left no room for misunderstanding.
He was also famous for the amazing parties he threw at his house twice a year; to be able to participate, you had to receive a personal invitation from the host, thus making them even more popular and talked about in all the surrounding seasons. Soobin had never had the honor of receiving an invitation, obviously, but, if what was said around was true (about how magical and unique they were), he had somehow managed to make Soobin harbor the desire to want to want to participate. At least once... even though he had never told anyone about that dream, not even Tae.
Always surrounded by fairies of every season and rank (it was rumored that he had also had an affair with a fairy of emotions, far from the capital, and a werewolf in distant forests), Choi Yeonjun could never be said to be alone... though he just never would have been anyway, considering the seasons' collective desire to possess him. This is why he said he was unapproachable, this is why he didn't surprise Soobin too much at the news of his name. It wouldn't shock him if he discovered that fairies from other seasons (including his) had also gone to the well in summer to put his name in secret.
So, when Tae finishes speaking, stating the names of the other four councilors drawn and elected like him that he had discovered from season to season, Soobin can half breathe a sigh of relief. he wasn't sure how Yeonjun would work for such an important role, but at least he knew that he too would draw all the joy, celebration and cheer towards himself, taking it away from the antisocial winter fairy.
«Tell me the truth, Soobin.» his best friend begins, even though the older one already knows that he won't like what he asks him at all, «Did you put your name in the well?»
«What?!» Soobin stands up from the sofa in horror, in front of the attentive eyes of Tae and his parents in front of him, ready to understand him if in case he wants to confess the recklessness, and the wings flutter on his back in an indignant and agitated manner, «I thought it was you!»
«Me? And why should I?» Tae asks in surprise, blinking motionlessly, taken aback.
«To encourage me to get out more.» Soobin says, pointing his finger at him in an accusatory manner, «Just a week ago you told me that sooner or later you would force me to get out of my bubble!»
«But what does that mean?!» now Tae also stood up from his chair, shaking his head almost offended by the major's accusations, «I always say it, that doesn't mean I put your name in the well out of spite!»
«Boys.» Tae's father calls them to order, who until then had remained silent even in the face of his wife's disconsolate crying for her adopted godson. «This won't change anything, whoever put Soobin's name in the well won't help us.»
The funny thing about this whole scene was that the fairies couldn't lie. Neither Soobin's response ("What? I thought it was you!") nor Taehyun's ("Me? And why should I?") had actually given a direct answer to the initial question; the fairies perhaps couldn't tell lies, but they were good at distorting the truth to hide it. The only way to shed light on the events was to ask both of them for a firm answer like "No" or "Yes", but, at his father's authoritarian tone, Soobin doesn't have the courage to open his mouth.
«What we need to do now is put our souls at rest and face this long year together.» he sentences, leaning a little from the sofa to touch Soobin's outstretched leg covered by wide trousers with his hand, still standing face to face with his blood son. The mere touch of the figure that for Soobin is closest to a father, makes him fall back into the armchair behind him, in an exhausted sigh. «I know it's a lot to take in, son, but I'm sure you'll be able to do a sublime job.»
«Yeah, sure.» the fairy snorts ironically as his bent leg begins to tremble: a bad habit of anxiety and agitation that had manifested itself over time. «Jung Wooyoung will be on the board... Jung Wooyoung, do you realise?! Who the hell put his name in the well?»
«That fairy should be banned from the spring season...» comments Tae's mother, giving voice to the thoughts that accumulate in his head. «Mother.» The nearby son calls her back, his tone of voice mocking. She stares at him, as if she hadn't said anything wrong, as if banishing a fairy from your season wasn't like a death sentence. «What? It is true!»
Only some fairies were removed from their season. Usually the decision depended on the council of ministers; the case was examined by the commission, but everything was always based on what the fairy had done to get to the point of being discussed at the council table. The scenarios ranged from simple shoplifting to murder, domestic violence or illegal political propaganda.
When you no longer belonged to a season, you were forced to wander aimlessly and without a home to return to. Only once had Soobin had the opportunity to see an excluded fairy: he was returning from work and had decided to cut across a little-frequented alley; he will always remember the gray wings that adorned her motionless back, the dull and sad face that stared at him almost as if she didn't really see him.
It didn't hurt Soobin to see his figure rummaging through the bins on the desolate street: after all, a group of those fairies had taken his parents away from him. However, as much as he didn't appreciate his colleague's frivolous and too carefree character, he certainly didn't wish poor Wooyoung to be struck off. Also because, logically, he was now part of the same council that should have excluded him.
«Regardless of what you think is right or wrong, mother», Taehyun comments angrily, «I'm sure that the council of ministers will do an excellent job this year.»
Soobin isn't quite sure about this as a best friend and finds himself tossing and turning in bed without falling asleep until the next morning, where the dark circles under his eyes show black, his face as dull as a burnt out candle and his blue wings almost withered on his back. If someone notices something, he takes care not to point it out to them.
Soobin is confident that the crowd will take notice: If last year's swearing-in ceremony was anything to go by, nearly the entire kingdom will attend today's retreat. All to calm Soobin's hot spirits, of course. Taehyun reminds him, just to observe the older one's grimace at the reminder with amusement (and run away when he seems to want to punish the younger one with a physical reaction.)
However, upon arriving at the parliament, Soobin is separated from his best friend, who had been kind enough to accompany him to the ceremony site (or rather drag him, depending on the perspective) up to that point. Taehyun shakes his hand before letting him go with the staff; even though his face is frozen in an eternal expression, the orange wings faded to blue (a perfect combination of winter, autumn and spring, if you asked Soobin) move uncontrollably, so much so that the youngest doesn't even seem to notice the flickering on his back.
«I'll wait for you on the other side.» he reassures him before Soobin is almost dragged away again, only taking a quick glance over his shoulder to see the slender figure of his best friend walking away one last time.
Soobin finds himself walking through a series of nondescript rooms, long bare corridors and past countless doors, before arriving at a large room packed with running people and loud voices. Together with him, he manages to see his other colleagues surrounded by hurried staff, even if he has neither the time nor the courage to greet them before being thrown into a director's chair in a secluded corner.
From his point of view, Soobin can see, swallowed by four staff members, pink wings up to the yellow tip and recognizes Wooyoung in them; Surrounded as he is, he can only see an angular, made-up profile in him in front of a well-lit mirror. A little further on, Bangchan holds his chin up so that the spring fairy can apply the eyeliner correctly.
When he lowers his head and smiles in thanks to the makeup artist at his side for the good work, his eyes meet those of the younger one who were already staring at him and he greets him kindly with his fingers before repositioning himself as the fairy requests.
Only Yeonjun can't be seen in the room full of people; Soobin doesn't even have time to crane his head a little to look better for the older one, before an autumn fairy appears in front of him to put a light foundation on his face. Apparently the tallest one was the last to arrive, if Soobin was anything to go by, how quickly he was given important information and how quickly the makeup artist worked on him, but he tries not to let the anxiety get to him.
Yes, well, picking at the cuticles of his fingers with his nails and making his legs tremble in the chair to the point that the makeup artist has to scold him, is just the least Soobin can do; If Taehyun were here he would congratulate the greatest on the way he is reacting to the event... maybe.
«Agitated?» a voice calls him back to his side and, as soon as Soobin opens his eyes with the permission of the fairy busy on his face, the well-made-up vision of Bangchan next to him illuminates him. «I feel like I'm going to vomit any minute.» the tallest one jokes.
«Yeah, me too.» he reassures the older one as he sits uninvited in the director's chair beside him, leaning towards Soobin with his elbows resting casually on his knees and the face leaning forward. Although the youngest is forced to keep his face turned in front of him and his eyes closed for the make-up artist, Bangchan's voice on his right who tells him the reaction of his family and friends to the news of his new position, manages to some way to calm him down.
«How did your parents react?» asks when he finishes, drumming his fingers softly on Soobin's bent knee; without him realizing it, he had stopped tapping his foot on the floor who knows how long ago. «I actually got accused of putting my name in the well.» Soobin smiles at the sentence, amused by the difference in the two's reactions.
«Don't worry, you're not the only one.» a third voice joins the duo and Wooyoung moves his chair until he reaches Soobin's left, even if the make-up artist doesn't seem to appreciate too much the crowd that is creating around the new council member. «My boyfriend teased me all day yesterday…as if I didn’t know he was the one who put my name in there.»
Soobin can't look Wooyoung in the face for more than a handful of seconds; the guilt for what he had thought about the boy less than twenty-four hours earlier devours him, even if in the end he hadn't even said so much.
The winter fairy, however, wasn't used to badmouthing anyone, so bumping into the older one at such close range from his despicable phrase made him feel like shit. «You have a boyfriend?» Bangchan asks curiously next to him, almost making the youngest breathe a sigh of relief (How do you say? Saved by the bell).
«Choi San, autumn fairy.» Wooyoung informs with a warm smile: as if, just the memory of it, makes him melt right there in the chair. «You should know him, he works as a bartender in your seasonal square.»
«Of course, it makes delicious pumpkin juice!» Bangchan's face lights up as they both start talking about the autumn fairy and the best bars in the capital. Soobin just listens, closing his eyes when he has to and watching them when he can; he smiles softly at Bangchan every time he looks at him, as if he's worried about not including him in the conversation (even if the little one is fine with that.)
«And you Bangchan? Do you have a boyfriend?» asks Soobin, when he realizes that it's now been entire minutes since he's said anything. Bangchan seems to light up at the question, but more at the fact that the taller one had finally said something than at the actual sentence uttered. «No, I'm happily single. What about you, Soobin?»
Soobin doesn't have time to open his mouth though, before a huff of laughter escapes Wooyoung's lips. The two at his side turn simultaneously towards the boy, where a sense of guilt slowly appears on his face. «Sorry, I-» he coughs uncomfortably as he scratches the back of his neck with flailing fingers, «I mean, the famous and unapproachable Choi Soobin is known to not date anyone.»
Soobin's guilt towards Wooyoung eases a little, with the realization that the older one was gossiping about him like the younger one had done the day before. It didn't please Soobin, of course, but he sure couldn't stop anyone from talking about him when he wasn't around. «Yeah, I'm not dating anyone right now.» the taller confirms, turning towards Bangchan, who seems almost confused by the situation as a nervous laugh escapes his lips.
«I finished.» the makeup artist takes her leave as she fixes Soobin's blonde bangs one last time with fingers, smiling in a quick bow as she leaves. «Okay, let's go then.» Bangchan claps a friendly hand on Soobin's leg as he rises from the director's chair beside him, stretching his back as he sits up. The younger one observes him and a weight in the center of his chest loosens: the awareness of having a person like the older one on the council somehow reassures him.
«Where is Yeonjun-ah?» Wooyoung asks, uttering the question that the taller hadn't had the courage to ask since he entered the room. «Right here.» Soobin jumps a little at the voice behind him, right in the corridor overlooking the common square, and the three turn towards the slender and calm figure of the popular Choi Yeonjun.
When he turns, the summer fairy smiles at the spring fairy at his side; Soobin can't help but think that he was even more handsome than he remembered or saw from where he stood that time a year ago. He has changed, if only slightly. Only the hairstyle, with a longer black cut on the back of the neck and on the face, in a color that is certainly darker than a bleached blonde.
Soobin had heard (again from Taehyun's gossip) that Yeonjun had been friends with Wooyoung for years now, despite the different seasons the two had known each other since they were children. The Spring Fairy had attended every party that the elusive Yeonjun had thrown over the years and the Summer Fairy could often be seen with Wooyoung at every street parade, if you didn't count the gossip of their secret relationship (although the spring fairy had just denied everything, with the revelation about his love story earlier).
The thing that consoled Soobin was that Bangchan also didn't know anyone from the new council, approaching the tallest while the two childhood friends seem to join together in a handshake complicated to make. Of course, the older one was certainly more extroverted than the winter fairy, so he would have had no problem communicating with his two colleagues and quickly creating a relationship with both, but for the moment Soobin basks in that warm awareness of a fake alliance.
«Anyway, nice to meet you, I'm Yeonjun!» the summer fairy extends his arm towards Bangchan, who smiles kindly before shaking his hand with him (as if he were not known throughout the capital). When it's Soobin's turn, however, the older one smiles almost differently, even if Soobin doesn't know him enough to be really sure. «What beautiful wings you have Soobin-ssi, can I touch them?» Yeonjun asks as he raises a mischievous eyebrow, holding Soobin's large hand in his for longer than normal.
A fairy's wings could be said to be the most sensitive part of their body, the one both most vulnerable and fragile to just the touch. Usually, a fairy would let another fairy touch they’re wings when there was a confidence equal to the level of a mating bond or platonic relationship close to a family relationship (by blood or otherwise).
Soobin often touched Taehyun's wings like the younger one did with the older one, to get the other's attention or try to calm him down in complicated situations, but you certainly couldn't go and touch the wings of complete strangers at your own convenience. So, at Yeonjun's question, Soobin feels justified in gasping in surprise.
«Yours are definitely prettier, Yeonjun-ssi.» Soobin croaks in embarrassment once the older one lets him go, amused by the smaller one's pointy ears shaking softly; if Soobin didn't have all that layer of foundation and concealer on his face, the red face would show how flustered he was in front of the summer fairy.
Soobin had never met someone so brazen to ask, after a quick introduction, to touch someone else's wings, even though his childhood friend seems almost used to his colleague's annoying behavior.
«When you're both done,» Wooyoung rebukes him once an awkward silence builds in the deserted hallway, «I'd say it's time to go.»
In fact, the ceremony goes faster than Soobin had ever hoped (or prayed). From the stands above he manages to glimpse Taehyun and his parents before taking a step forward and placing his right hand on the ancient book in the lectern, passed down from council to council and within which the first real peace treaty after the war between seasons; Soobin thought he would never in his life have the opportunity to touch such a precious heirloom, but apparently he was wrong.
Soobin had seen Bangchan do the scene correctly and without any stuttering less than five seconds before, so the younger one was (more or less) sure that he too would have done it without any problems.
«Choi Soobin, son of snow and cold, born under the black moon and a citizen loyal to the community,» it was strange for the youngest to hear those words from the perspective he was in, with the crowd staring at him motionless and he who, less than a year before, was among them, «do you swear by your own life to reign for your season and all others, to keep the peace and avoid war, until the end of your treaty?»
«I swear.» strangely his voice comes out firm, suddenly aware of the role he has been given, and he focuses his eyes on the man in front of him who seems emotionless. «May your judgment set us free!» the people speak loudly, together with the man on stage with them, and the chorus echoes in the square crowded with people while Soobin takes a step back to return to his colleagues.
And then, as Soobin expected, the celebration banquet welcomes them as the main protagonists. However, if the youngest disappears after a handful of minutes and is nowhere to be found for the rest of the evening, no one says a word about it.
Chapter Text
Choi Soobin was doomed. Really though, he was not exaggerating as much as he used to. Having become a counselor for less than a month, he was already looking forward to leaving office and going back to his sad and boring banking job.
He had taken an oath, of course, but no one had told him that becoming a council member was such a pain in his ass. If you didn't count the colleagues he was forced to work with every day....
«Soobinnie~» the summer fairy's chant reaches deep into his bones, leaving him to turn toward his voice and look away from the computer for the fifth time since that morning. «Yes, sunbaenim?» the voice comes out colder and more apathetic than the younger man had intended, even as the desire to leave the room now and not in three hours (exactly at the end of his shift) invades his thoughts again, as it has for entire minutes now.
A pout appears on Yeonjun's face that Soobin would find adorable, if it were not already the twentieth time in the entire week that the older man has addressed it to him; he frowns, pushes his lower lip out and wrinkles his nose, causing the winter fairy to sigh, aware of what is coming. «How many times have I told you to call me hyung, Binnie?» repeats the council member… again.
The problem was that Soobin was not comfortable enough with his colleague to allow himself to call him friendly, considering that, except in the office or at social events in the middle of the square, the two did not speak to each other. Taehyun had told him that he took things too seriously, but if not a council member, then who?
«I don't think there's that kind of confidence between us to call each other informally, sunbaenim.» explained Soobin again, as if they hadn't had this conversation a million times by now (to the point where Wooyoung went up to him and asked the younger one on his knees to do as Yeonjun asked... «At least for once.» he had pleaded).
«But you call Bangchan hyung!» at the call of his name, the older man lifts his gaze from the computer to shift it between the two boys, accustomed to the morning discussion and not at all bothered by the commotion in the office. «Good Lord.» Instead, Wooyoung taps his forehead on the desk, right on the keyboard as he takes to typing meaningless sentences on the computer screen, tired of listening to the same bickering between the two every day.
«Because we spend our lunch break together,» Soobin informed him as he returned his eyes to the computer screen, intent on avoiding any kind of distraction from now on. He knew he was being childish with Yeonjun a few times, but the winter fairy wanted nothing more than to be left alone. He also recognized, however, that to avoid all this, he could have simply called the older man by a more informal honorific, but he just wasn't going to give in.
Soobin imagined that that peace would not last long, considering that he had been working with the summer fairy for a month now and there was no way to keep him quiet. To think that he really believed the problem would be Wooyoung… how wrong he was.
«Then let's have dinner together from now on,» Yeonjun sentences from his desk, stomping his feet on the floor to crawl with his chair toward him; the wheels glide across the floor with almost annoyance, moving stealthily toward the younger man despite the fact that the winter fairy can see him very well out of the corner of his eye. Soobin does not allow him to approach any further though, getting up himself from his chair to leave.
«I'm going to get some papers for the printer.» everyone knew inside that room that Soobin wasn't really leaving for that reason (but he could have been, so it wasn't really a lie), but no one pointed it out as the younger man leaves the currently overcrowded desk. «Anyone else need anything?» but he waits for no answer as he closes the door behind him, breathing a sigh of relief once in the deserted hallway outside the office.
Working as a council member was not so bad: the pay was great, the working hours were short, no one bothered him on the street (intimidated by his new position in politics), and, although Soobin would never really admit it out loud, the power swelled his chest whenever he was in public under the gaze of the other fairies. But Choi Yeonjun? A living hell.
The first week had actually gone well: the four councilors had focused more on getting to know each other and building confidence than getting down to business right away, making sure to create good teamwork for the year ahead. Perhaps Soobin had kept a little more in the background than the other three council members, but that hadn't stopped the youngest from speaking his mind when something didn't add up or intervening during a confrontation.
Wooyoung had turned out to be more cooperative and serious than Soobin had ever imagined, considering the low opinion he had of the spring fairy before he started (something he still felt guilty about to this day). He often arrived at the office late, it is true, or forgot to finish all his work during the shift the day before, but otherwise he was good at what he did.
It had nothing to do with the fact that, under the guise of his barista boyfriend, he always brought free breakfast to the other council members: an iced Americano for Yeonjun, a caramel and pumpkin latte for Bangchan, a flower and vanilla smoothie for Wooyoung (each time with whipped cream recreating a cocoa heart on top, which the younger councilor found disgustingly corny) and a chocolate with marshmallow for the winter fairy ... no, Soobin hadn't even noticed (it would be corruption, otherwise).
In addition, the spring fairy often took care to include Soobin in the debate when the three of them were in the middle of a heated argument (most of the time for frivolous reasons), always asking his opinion on the matter ("Soobin-ssi what do you think? I'm right, aren't I?").
Working with Bangchan, on the other hand, was just as Soobin had imagined it would be: quiet, tidy, silent. Even the eldest would sometimes get distracted, sure, and start rambling on with the tallest about matters irrelevant to their charge, but it was okay for everyone to take a break once in a while from their work and the bright computer screen that often burned their eyes. Most of the time the elder spoke, that is true, but Soobin liked to listen.
Of all the council members, Bangchan was definitely the one the winter fairy relied on the most: he questioned him about what terms meant that were too playful for his intellect, told him what he had done once he got home the day before as they turned on the computer together for a new day's work, asked him how to fill out forms too difficult for an ex bank employee.
And Bangchan was extremely kind to him, almost reminding him of Taehyun when he still respected him as his hyung. Once, during the end-of-month party at the fall season (the only one they had fortunately had after the charge), he had stood by his side for the entire duration of the event and never left his side, not leaving him to his own devices even after his seasonal friends or his proud family had arrived… Not like the other two councilors, who had defected to drinking and celebrating like two fairies in courtship.
Soobin had been watching them from afar talking animatedly with other fairies their age in the middle of the square, although the taller one would never admit aloud (considering he didn't even know quite how to classify it) the strange feeling he had when he saw the summer fairy leaning on the shoulder of a long-haired brown autumn fairy, laughing heartily at whatever the other had just said.
Only later would he find out that this fairy was named Beomgyu and was a longtime friend of his colleague, which, however, did not reassure him at all.
In fact, the only one Soobin could not really understand was the hot-seasoned fairy himself: Choi Yeonjun. Why did the older man's presence bother him so much when he was so close as to touch him? How could he set off foreign emotions and feelings in the winter fairy's body without even meaning to? Why was it that the summer fairy, despite trying in various ways to get into the younger one's good graces, could never let go of Soobin with him?
Even when he included him in the conversation with intelligent questions, even when he went to his desk to ask for help (despite clearly not needing it), even when he approached Soobin in front of the parliament every day before work or stopped to talk to him in the hubbub of city festivals ("Sorry, I lost my eyes on you. Can you help me find them again?"), the winter fairy was always on the alert in his presence.
Hence, the older one's insistence and clingy nature toward Soobin. Every day in the office it was always the same story: the summer fairy pestering the winter fairy to the point of exhaustion, to the point where the other two members of the council were driven away from them and poor Soobin was left to fend for himself. The winter fairy understood his behavior, his apprehensive attitude to win his cold trust, too bad it only made his confused situation worse.
As he types in the number for hot chocolate at the machine, Soobin finally realizes that he was probably the problem. Winter fairies were known for not opening up to many outside their social circle and often staying in their own season, it's true, but only with the summer fairy...he just couldn't get any further than usual for cold fairies.
Taehyun had told him this veiledly when they had talked about it at his house a few days earlier, although Soobin had not really listened to the younger man; lately he did not seem to get it right according to the younger one, which only made the older one grumpier. Yet he was right, although he had no idea why he couldn't have a normal conversation with Yeonjun before running off at the mouth. Was it the two opposing seasons that were holding him back? Soobin doubted it.
The machine informs Soobin that it is finished, causing him to jerk a little in surprise at the audible call, before moving the plastic cup into the case and opening; the little one sighs as he bends down to pick up the hot chocolate, stretching a little as he stands up like a tired old fairy.
There was nothing he could do about it anyway, right? Soobin knew he had a problem, he recognized his limitation to his colleague, he just didn't know how to go about it. Bangchan had told him that sooner or later he would open up naturally with the other two colleagues as well, that it was just a matter of time and habit, and not to worry too much, although Soobin could not say he was as sure of this as the autumn fairy.
Soobin gasps as he takes a sip of his hot chocolate, scalding his tongue a bit at the unexpectedly hot drink, before setting out to return from where he had escaped less than five minutes earlier. He stops to pick up some papers for the printer on the way, just so as not to return empty-handed to the office and be even more blatant in the eyes of his colleagues, and heads toward the room reserved for board members with a slow (though long, considering his legs) pace.
When he opens the door, however, to greet him he finds only a busy Yeonjun with complicated-looking papers. The summer fairy lifts just a mischievous glance toward the winter fairy, humming a sweet and familiar «Soobinnie~» welcome, before returning to his work. «Where did everyone go?» asks the winter fairy as he returns to his seat, leaving the blank sheets of paper on the way beside the unlit printer with a dull thud.
«Bangchan went to the bathroom.» the older man replies as he lets go of the paper and lays his fingers on the computer keyboard, puffing tired already from the bureaucracy. «Wooyoung-» his eyes shift to Soobin with a confused look, as if he expects to read the answer on the younger man's face, his eyebrows furrowed with doubt and his face tilted slightly to the side, before he shrugs his shoulders devoid of any form of hope toward his childhood friend. «Who knows?» the voice exhausted for the colleague (this makes the winter fairy smile, but he hides it behind a hand in time).
Soobin nods, even though the fairy's gaze has returned to the bright screen again, and sits down at his desk. Surprisingly, for the first time, a pleasant silence falls between the two of them, with only the clatter of the keyboard and the faint click of the mouse playing in the background.
This is surprising for the winter fairy, actually. Not that he took his colleague's professionalism for granted (the summer fairy had often shown himself devoted to his work and serious about important matters), but Yeonjun usually did not miss an opportunity to tease the younger one when he had the opportunity, especially when alone.
The lack of flirty banter and awkward exchanges makes Soobin somewhat uncomfortable, as if he is about to beg the fairy to say something… anything. Fortunately, he doesn't have to wait long.
«Soobin?» the Yeonjun voice rumbles through the empty room and Soobin turns toward him this time without a snort, eye roll or annoyance on his face; he just turns toward the summer fairy, with an almost curious look and anticipation of whatever his colleague wanted to communicate to him. This makes him a fairy with contradictory behavior, especially given how he had reacted before, but Soobin banishes the thought from his mind. «Yes?»
Soobin realized that he was like an addict, who, however, did not recognize that he was one. Because no matter how much he complained in his head or to anyone else about his annoyance toward the summer fairy, as soon as Yeonjun did not give his full attention toward him, he felt somehow lost.
So, at his slightest call, after not even a handful of minutes of that peaceful silence, Soobin is ready to give the elder whatever he wants. Which made him a fool, he knew, but he couldn't do anything about it anyway.
«Do I make you uncomfortable?» the question catches Soobin unprepared, as if he had prepared in those few seconds before for something stupid Yeonjun usually said. He blinks, staring at the figure of the major on the other side of the desk, who in turn stares at him expectantly. How to respond to that?
«No, of course not.» at least the winter fairy did not have to reassure the summer fairy about the truthfulness of his words, considering that he had provided him with an answer without equivocation or the possibility of a veiled lie. Soobin was good at that, Taehyun always teased him about how little he could really be honest with others, but he did not feel like lying to Yeonjun at the moment.
Yeonjun nods, muttering with his mouth closed in assent. The colleague's frowning eyebrows, however, leave Soobin interjected, as if the summer fairy is not entirely convinced by the other fairy's words. «Do you prefer Bangchan, though?» there is mischief in his voice, as if he is teasing Soobin, and the younger one smiles, humoring him. «Of course.» mutters the winter fairy with obviousness.
«Bitch.» Yeonjun mutters in a low voice with a roll of his eyes in mock annoyance, before huffing out a laugh that leaves no equivocation for Soobin, who chuckles amusedly. «Sorry.» he says anyway, even though he knows the summer fairy is joking, and watches him move the long strands of dark hair behind his ears, more as a reflection than annoyance; the winter fairy can't help but stare at the movement thoughtfully, before averting his eyes, guiltily.
«Do you want me to stop?» he suddenly asks again, regaining from Soobin his newly shifted gaze. This time it is the youngest turn to frown, confused. «To do what?»
«To try.» and the question actually gives way to different kinds of interpretations for the poor Soobin. For several alternatives open up in his head, several scenarios one more imaginative than the other, but still it seems that Yeonjun has no intention of adding anything more, simply staring at the winter fairy with a watchful gaze, as if intent on reading every smallest expression Soobin lets slip across his face.
Yeonjun was referring to wanting to become more friendly with Soobin? More united in work as colleagues? Of talking to him to try to have a civil dialogue, of smiling at him from across the office mischievously as his wont? Yet, the possibility of becoming more intimate, even outside the office? Almost romantically speaking? Soobin does not allow himself to think about that variant, not wanting to create too high expectations for his poor chances with the summer fairy.
That dot, however, does not leave his mind as he watches Yeonjun; he opens his mouth before closing it again like a boiled fish, uncertain how to respond. «No.» he finally manages to croak.
«Just- Just be a little kinder, okay?» Soobin had not had a friend since elementary school, from the time his parents had died he had not allowed himself to offer friendliness or gentleness to anyone but his family, and even this new position was already straining him more than he had ever been.
Being a banker was easy for Soobin: you worked alone, performed his simple task, smiled at customers just if you wanted to and did not have to stop for small talk with any of your colleagues. Being a board member, on the other hand, was almost hell for the winter fairy.
Constant conversations, always with someone to call on the phone or talk face to face, the obligation to attend every town festival (which were extremely numerous, Soobin had noted considering he usually just avoided them, as if hiding their existence), working with three other councilors you couldn't deliberately ignore.
He was afraid, intimidated, frozen in a position and status he had held onto his whole life; he needed time and space, gentle caresses more than violent tugs. Soobin did not want to stop Yeonjun's outgoing, energetic personality; he did not want to force the elder to be who he was not only for him.
He only longed for understanding, listening more than anything else. And the summer fairy seems to catch all of it only from his veiled gaze, nodding just once without hesitation. «Sure.» he whispers, making it almost difficult for Soobin to be able to hear him, before smiling slowly and a little shyly at the winter fairy.
«If I do, then will you call me hyung?» a sly smirk alters the first one on his plump lips (making the winter fairy wonder if he had just imagined the moment), and Soobin's heart tightens in a pleasant and eternal grip on his chest to say the least. The winter fairy looks away (again) from Yeonjun, but not before his pointed ears flicker softly without warning. «I can think about it.»
«All right, then.» the summer fairy doesn't tease him though, grumbling cheerfully at the winter fairy's positive response; so excited by Soobin's words, Yeonjun's yellow wings flicker softly on his back like a little dance of happiness. The smaller man watches him one last time, his eyes hidden by his blond bangs as he stares at his colleague back at the computer, before smiling involuntarily.
And from that point on actually, things go more than well for the winter fairy. Weeks go by, and Soobin begins to get used to the character of the other councilors ("I told you." Bangchan had whispered to him the first time he saw the winter fairy relaxed during his shift at work).
Somehow, the winter fairy's anxiety began to melt a little, like ice around his bones now ingrained with time, and as the work progressed, Soobin became more and more comfortable, falling into a routine now enjoyable even to the rest of the council members.
Wooyoung was always the same laggard, Bangchan the same quiet fairy, and Yeonjun the usual flirtatious one. But Soobin? he was fine, finally. His parents had pointed this out to him once they had visited him at the office unannounced, but the winter fairy had simply shrugged without offering more information.
Things with the summer fairy had also become easier, surprising even the rest of the council or Taehyun himself. When they were outside the office in informal and unlabeled clothes, Soobin still felt a bit awkward and intimidated by the summer fairy, especially during parties in the square or when they casual ran into each other at the city market. But while at work, the two were able to have a normal conversation without the need for anyone to run away (please note: Soobin).
Halfway through the second month of the treaty, Wooyoung decided to introduce the rest of the council members to the mysterious boy who diligently prepared breakfast for each of them every morning.
Choi San is a singular autumn fairy just like his fiancé, introverted at first but then pleasant-talking, with an infectious smile and a reassuring hand resting always on his boisterous boyfriend; a little taller than Wooyoung, with neatly coiffed black hair and an angular face, San could be said to be perfect for the spring fairy in Soobin's eyes.
Yeonjun knew of him already, of course, exchanging a handshake with the autumn fairy similar to the one he usually did with Wooyoung, and Bangchan had seen him several times at the café in the plaza of the same season, complimenting the fairy once again on the delicious drinks he managed to prepare each time. The only intruder at the end was Soobin, who had watched the four of them talk slightly intimidated.
The summer fairy had quickly found him with his gaze, still pinned and motionless to the chair from his desk, before pointing at him with his hand and officially introducing him to San without hesitation. If at first Soobin had hated him for the awkward move, he was glad in the end.
The winter fairy had felt Yeonjun's warm look on his face all along as he exchanged pleasantries with the autumn fairy, but his hand on his lower back and reassuring fingers gently stroking him from above his shirt had surprisingly helped him.
He would never tell the summer fairy, aware of the teasing the latter would give him for the rest of the year, but Soobin was immensely grateful.
At the end of the third month, Bangchan instead introduced Soobin to all his friends at a winter season party. (“So that you would feel less uncomfortable, in your own home.” the counselor had justified himself, making Soobin melt a little at his feet.)
Bangchan actually had a different group of friends than the youngest had imagined, but they all complemented each other in some way. Minho was a little scary, despite the fact that he was a winter fairy like Soobin, but his mate Han and the others could read something in him that the taller one had failed to grasp at first.
Changbin, the one Soobin had already the occasion to see often alongside Yeonjun and Wooyoung, despite the younger one's low regard (some would call it jealousy, but Soobin preferred not to think about it), had turned out to be funny and pleasant, more so than the winter fairy hated to admit to himself. Fortunately, the summer fairy did not seem to notice, however, smiling at Soobin as if nothing was wrong and talking to the counselor cheerfully.
Felix and Hyunjin, the two spring fairies, also seem nice to him, although at first the winter fairy was convinced that they did not like him very much. Jeongin, on the other hand, insists on maintaining a professional honorific and an attitude formal with the winter fairy because of his position as advisor, even though Bangchan often calls him back with a sweet «Hyung!»
Seungmin has a tender smile and chubby cheeks, although he always hides them when he laughs at some joke, and Han, despite being as shy as Soobin and not interacting much in conversation, is funny; The winter fairy is convinced he would get along well with the autumn fairy, if only Minho didn't glare at him every time he tried to talk to him.
What was strange, however, was the way Yeonjun brushed his knuckles over his lower back as he talked animatedly with Hyunjin; a light touch, almost as if he had imagined it, but warm against the thin shirt.
However, when he breaks off in conversation to look over his shoulder, the summer fairy is talking quietly with a spring fairy almost as tall as Soobin and with exotic features, as if nothing had happened.
It's there though, the sidelong glance he sneaks at him tells Soobin more than all those fairies around them can understand, and he blushes embarrassedly as he goes back to talking to Hyunjin, who asks him amusedly why his ears are shaking so suddenly. He doesn't think too much about it though, glossing over it when Jeongin asks him something, though the touch still stings on his back as the feeling of his eyes pointed at the back of his head.
Then, in the fourth month of the treaty, outside the office, during the lunch break, two familiar fairies show up in Soobin's eyes by now. Choi Beomgyu, the one he had already seen talking to Yeonjun often during town festivals and looking confident just like the major, and the mysterious spring fairy, now with a name to his mysterious face: Kai Kamal Huening.
«Hyung!» the tallest one calls him back as all four councilors exit the palace, shaking his arm as if he were not within a few feet of them. Beside him, Beomgyu humors him, «Yeonjun-ah!» even as he voluntarily removes the honorific title from the eldest's name, running away, however, when the summer fairy pursues him with his hand raised and on his face the intent to beat him.
Soobin is left dumbfounded at the chase between the two, with Wooyoung laughing quietly at the scene now familiar to his eyes and Bangchan smiling in amusement, before being grabbed by the autumn fairy's shoulders and forced to become a human shield to protect himself from the oldest man (probably chosen among the three because he was the taller, although that did not console Soobin much).
Fortunately, however, the fight is short-lived, although Soobin raises his hands in a vain attempt to protect himself from the two as they run around his tall body, and the spring fairy laughs instead of helping him.
Beomgyu, despite his loud voice when talking or arguing with the summer fairy (more often than Soobin could have imagined possible), and Hueningkai, with the shrill laugh that is almost absorbed by the walls, are really nice. Not that Soobin doubted this, of course, but considering how they had presented themselves to the councilors their first five minutes...
Everything was going well until that day.
Soobin and the other council members had finally decided to take charge of all the cases of investigated fairies to be evaluated, to decide together whether to keep them in their home season or make them excluded. A task they had procrastinated long enough, now that they were now in their fourth month of the treaty.
Yeonjun seemed strange though, sensitive to the subject since they had brought it up the week before. The winter fairy had noticed it, the veil of agitation that had passed over the older man's face at the mere mention of it or the tugged smile he had directed at his colleagues, but he told no one, not even Bangchan on his lunch break or Wooyoung in the office.
On the day of the assessment itself, it is like a confirmation for Soobin. Yeonjun looked like he had not slept at all the night before, with two dark circles under his eyes and slightly pale wings on his hunched back. The winter fairy was not accustomed to seeing him in that state, considering that the summer fairy used to show up to work flawless, but again: he doesn't notice him, upon entering the office.
However, he did not imagine being attacked even ten minutes into the meeting, after endless minutes of silence from his colleague on the other side of the table.
«God Soobin, can you hear yourself?!» the winter fairy jerks at Yeonjun's loud voice at him, surprised by the sudden outburst of anger. «How can you make a fairy excluded just for obscene acts in a public place?» at this point, the older man's face is contorted by a grimace the younger man had never seen, causing him to shut up on the spot.
«Jun, he did it in a children's playground…» Soobin tries to justify himself; although he speaks softly, in the large but suddenly silent meeting room, his words echo in the walls as if he had yelled at the major as well, although he cannot even look at his face as he opens his mouth. «I understand this may sound extreme, but-»
«It was 3 a.m. Soobin, there was no child!» Yeonjun resumed shouting, as if he was not yet ready to tone it down in the courtroom, and his words rumbled much louder than those of the winter fairy, in the silence of the two colleagues interjected as to what to do with the enraged council member. «Jun-» Wooyoung tries to intervene.
«But someone saw him, right?» chides the youngest one to the wide eyes dark with anger pointed at his own, despite not even being sure what he is saying as he opens his mouth. Maybe he should have just kept quiet while Yeonjun vented his anger on him, maybe he should have just acted as usual and not said a word, but the words flow like rivers, even though he regrets letting them slip out soon after. «Someone must have report him, otherwise we would never have had his file on the table by now.»
«Definitely not a child, though!» at this point, however, Yeonjun rises from his chair, causing it to clatter uncomfortably on the marble floor at the sudden snap, and Soobin shrinks back onto his own, on the other side of the table. The wings flicker uncontrollably on the summer fairy's back, and the canary yellow, against the warm sunlight coming in through the window behind Soobin, makes all the trimmings at the edges shine like stars in broad daylight. «We've all seen a cock at least once in our lives Soobin, grow up!»
«You can't make every fairy excluded who does the slightest thing you don't like!» now he seems to be speaking more personally, attacking the winter fairy as if he knows all about his past, his experience, the hatred for excluded fairies that invades his head, and this makes Soobin sink deeper into his chair. «Can you be professional at least once in your life, or do you have to act as always as a child?»
«You have a role to play, you can't always do as you please!» the winter fairy would like to defend himself, to raise his voice just as Yeonjun does in front of him, to have the courage to say whatever is on his mind at the moment, but the only thing he can do is to let his leg shake uncontrollably under the table and let his lungs eat up all the air they can get (slight).
«Will you make me an excluded too, when you will find out that as a child I stole a tulip from a florist in the spring season?!» should he perhaps reply, to such a question? Soobin doesn't know what to do, with his hands in his lap and fingers intertwining and loosening in agitation, though he doesn't trust himself to speak now in front of his colleagues who watch the scene, petrified. »That fairy was just pissing in a bush, God-»
«Maybe we'd better take a break, shall we?» finally Bangchan interjects, at Yeonjun's pointing finger counting the poor winter fairy squeezed into his chair, ready to attack the youngest one across the table with more venom-filled words. «Yes, I think it's best for everyone.» even Wooyoung seems to agree, getting up from his chair with a slow movement, almost afraid that Yeonjun next to him might attack him as with the other fairy, before approaching.
«Honey, come on, I'll buy you a coffee.» Wooyoung finally plucks up his courage, casually but carefully resting a hand on the trembling shoulder of his childhood friend, who jerks uncontrollably at the heavy breathing that runs through his entire body and the nervous heartbeat that is probably pounding in his head; Wooyoung's gaze says much, much more than Soobin can read at this moment, aware perhaps of what is happening to his colleague compared to the other two counselors.
«Maybe coffee is not the better option…» Bangchan interjects from across the table, gazing thoughtfully at the cup of iced American that ended up right in Yeonjun's seat, with the ice long since melted and a brownish mush at the end of the plastic cup.
«A chocolate cake, then.» the spring fairy quickly changes his mind, gently pushing the colleague out of the room, still silent after all the shouting previously vented within the four bare walls. Once left alone, Bangchan approaches Soobin, still petrified in his chair, as one with the wood and thin arms, before sitting sideways on the table and facing his still immobile friend from above. «Are you all right, Bin?»
If Soobin shook his head, would he be singled out as soft? An idiot too sensitive for such a role, just as Yeonjun had veiledly told him moments earlier? He stands still for a while, in doubt even knowing what he really feels in this memento; head down and fingers still in his lap, he stares at a crack in the floor he hadn't noticed before, as if really deciding on what to do.
«Yes, I- it's okay,» he says instead, because in the end nothing happened… right? Whether his chest ached and his heart tightened just a little at the summer fairy's harsh words, that was his own business. Maybe it was because of the heavy sentences, maybe because of the half-truth or because his pride had been slightly inclined to the heavy statements, but Soobin was aware that most of the pain came from the fact that it was Yeonjun, of all people, who had yelled those harsh words at him.
But deep down, the older man was right: the man was drunk, tiredly returning from an office party to his way home, too clouded by alcohol to realize that what he was urinating in was not his bathroom but a flower bush a block away. Disgusting as Soobin found it, was making a fairy excluded for a stupid misdirection really fair? Was Soobin really putting veiled selfishness ahead of his role?
«It's my fault, hyung.» the confession escapes the lips of the winter fairy, who sighs at Bangchan's reassuring hand in his hair, letting his fingers gently scratch his scalp in an almost fatherly gesture. «Your fault?» asks the older one, caught off guard at the younger one's so nonsensical sentence, but, when Soobin lifts his gaze to his colleague, with a veil of tears blurring his vision and his button nose red from restrained sobs, he does not press for an answer.
Soobin had noticed, but had pretended to see; it was his fault that the summer fairy had finally snapped at him. He had noticed how he was drinking his second dose of iced American as early as nine o'clock in the morning (although in theory it was not that strange, for the colleague's normal blood caffeine levels), the way he responded rude about everything or how he moved uncontrollably and constantly uncomfortably while sitting at the meeting table. But the winter fairy had preferred not to see rather than ask. He was the bad colleague, not Yeonjun.
When the other two fairies return to the meeting room, however, with a calmer Yeonjun and a quieter Wooyoung (the spring fairy's hand on his colleague's lower back, the strands of hair shading the summer fairy's downcast eyes against the sun), no more word is said about what happened. That Soobin remained silent for the rest of the session, despite his desire to speak on some sentences or make comments, holds him in the back of his throat, tired even to actually open his mouth.
No one insists on hearing his opinion, fortunately for Soobin, although the winter fairy can feel Yeonjun's gaze on him whenever a fairy's fate is decided, a unanimous verdict without his approval. When his shift is over, however, his older colleague is waiting for him outside the city hall, his black jacket folded neatly over his arm and his shoulder bag slung over his shoulder; as soon as he sees him, Yeonjun turns to him, hesitantly. «Soobin.»
Soobin remains silent, puzzled about how to deal with the other fairy; was he going to yell at him again? Was he going to argue with him even outside working hours? The winter fairy could not have borne it a second time, at such a close distance from the first, however, he remains standing where he is in front of him, watching only the thin, dark eyes of the summer fairy, waiting for the truth. «Hyung.»
«Let me buy you dinner, as an apology.» Yeonjun looks intimidated, almost frightened at a refusal from the winter fairy, and this is another new version of the oldest in Soobin's eyes, always so sure of himself that he doesn't quite know how to behave at an embarrassed sight of him. The winter fairy takes a moment to take a closer look at him: the way he clutches the strap of his bag with tight fingers, his eyelids low on watchful eyes, his mouth pulled into a straight line (though his lips are so plump as to give a harmonious appearance).
He decides on the spot that he likes it, that different side of him, but he keeps it to himself as a small smile escapes his lips, involuntarily making the dimples on the sides of his cheeks pop out.
«There's nothing to apologize for hyung, nothing happened-» Soobin takes a step toward Yeonjun, still motionless from where he had found him just out of the office, and the summer fairy opens his eyes a little and knits his eyebrows together in a way so delicate, so sweet, that he looks like a child ready to cry because his balloon suddenly flew away.
«I-» he interrupts him, leaving Soobin in mid-sentence, watching him now in silence, after the slight blush that begins to streak Yeonjun's cheeks with an almost hypnotic manner. «I said things I didn't mean, inside that room, and I honestly don't know how- how that could happen.»
«Please, let me do this.» and how can he at this refuse, when Yeonjun almost begs in front of him for a silly reparative dinner? If, however, Soobin melts a little, at the older man's veiled face of concern toward him, facing the darkness of the night and his tall figure overshadowing it, that one does not tell a soul. «All right.»
«But I had told my best friend that I would have dinner with him... is it all right with you if I ask him to come?» suddenly Soobin remembers as they walk slowly, simply savoring each other's company, toward the nearest restaurant to be reached on foot, with streetlights illuminating their bodies and complicit in their shadows stretched across the asphalt. «Sure, Soobinnie.»
That’s how they find themselves waiting for Taehyun outside the restaurant where together they had decided to dine, close to the summer season, giving Soobin time to observe that most unusual version of a shy Yeonjun at his side, embarrassed by the situation despite the fact that they had clarified less than half an hour earlier. The winter fairy says nothing, though, to his stiff figure under the cold light of the neon sign, only smiling surreptitiously at his eyes that look anywhere but at him.
«Sorry, I'm late!» the warm voice of Taehyun resonates in the uncrowded street, running and walking at the same time toward them across the street; the usual smile on his lips, the classic formal business suit that Soobin had seen him wearing a million times by now, the dark hair always hastily styled, make the heavy heart that the winter fairy had felt clenched all day long in an unpleasant grip feel a little light. «The navigator went a little crazy in the car!»
«As if you didn't know you were watching the last episode of Fairy of Shampoo without me,» Soobin accuses him once he's in front of him, speaking softly but loudly enough to be sure he was heard, and Taehyun simply clicks his tongue, with a mock-offended «I'm not a traitor like you.» muttered before turning to Yeonjun.
«You must be Yeonjun-ssi!» the tone softens, the annoyed expression swapping places with a more cheerful one as his eyes take on a crescent shape as he looks at the summer fairy, who nods before smiling at Taehyun's friendly face. Soobin watches the scene in silence, a smile forming involuntarily on his lips at the introduction of the two; for some strange reason, his heart warms as he stares aside at the two interacting.
«It's a pleasure to meet you!» continues Taehyun before bowing to the figure of the advisor, who follows close behind in a gesture that is far too formal for Soobin. When he comes back up with his back straight though, the winter fairy seems so cheerful about his acquaintance with the summer fairy that Soobin doesn't say a word, not even to tease him a little. «Soobin hyung has told me a lot about you!»
«Stop it.» mutters Soobin softly at his side, before pinching the jacket-covered best friend's hip with long fingers, who jerks in surprise before laughing along with Yeonjun at the council member's red face.
«Milmyeon is perfect when it's hot.» Taehyun smiled happily as the ahjumma nimbly carried the three bowls of cold noodles, thanking the woman with a nod of his head before she left. «Are there many restaurants like this in your season, hyung?» Winter Fairy asks Yeonjun ("Taehyun, go ahead and call me hyung."), seated in front of his two colleagues, immediately starting off in a rant about how to make the chili paste mix perfectly with the broth, without really giving Yeonjun time to respond.
Soobin was actually grateful to the best friend for his pleasant talk, stuck in his seat next to the eldest and not really knowing what to say to dampen the tension. Yeonjun seemed happy about it too, smiling at Taehyun's quick words before humoring him, stirring the noodles with chopsticks as he said, even though the other winter fairy was focusing most of his attention on Yeonjun.
Taehyun does not seem to notice the now almost lukewarm coldness of the two seated in front of him, guiding the conversation masterfully on pleasant things to listen to or comment on with others, even if he occasionally casts a low, full glance at his best friend in words only he can understand.
Eventually, Soobin's two neighboring fairies discovered their common passion for the gym, exchanging in front of now-empty plates and abandoned chopsticks on the table their workout sheet or suggestions on perfect warm-up songs. The winter fairy was more than happy to let them continue their chat about exercise as he glared at Yeonjun, happy that he was no longer nervous… about whatever had him so worked up that morning at the office.
And Soobin does not mention the incident, not even when they let Yeonjun pay the bill for everyone and leave the restaurant late at night, under the full moon illuminating the dark sky and the restaurant's light flickering off in a flicker, closing. «Do you all want a ride home? I have my car nearby.» asks the summer fairy once outside, his thumb pointing over his shoulder to an undefined spot, his other hand in the pocket and the jacket now on, with the evening chill in the air despite the warm weather.
«Don’t worry hyung, we can walk.» Soobin reassures him with a smile; Taehyun nods, affirming his friend's words with a big look. Yeonjun seems interdicted, however, now silently observing the face of the taller winter fairy in front of him, with words on the tip of his tongue that he doesn't seem to want to let slip away, though; if Taehyun weren't around right now, Soobin wonders, would he open up to me? Or would he sweep his thoughts like dust under the rug?
«Sure, that's fine.» he says finally, shaking his head as if to drive them out of his head. «I'll see you tomorrow at the office Soobinnie...and it was really nice to meet you Tae, we should hang out more often!» the words sound sincere and he smiles warmly in Taehyun's direction, even as he casts sidelong glances at Soobin throughout the greetings, long eyelashes shadowing his angular face and stiff mouth.
Before he leaves, however, he suddenly embraces Soobin in a warm grip of strong arms and a hard chest against the winter fairy's flat one, interjected by the older man's unexpected move. «I am so sorry, Binnie. Forgive me, please.» he whispers against his ear, in a sob that is almost painful to hear, and the youngest cannot help but squeeze Yeonjun in his long arms, on hips too tight for his large hands, indulging the oldest gentle grip on him.
«Don't be sorry hyung, really.» a warmth spreads up from Soobin's stomach to his cold chest, melting a little against the summer fairy in the embrace that tastes like the sea and cloudless skies. That the vice around his heart that had been gripping him since that morning depended on the fear that Yeonjun despised him (more than as a colleague) as a person? For as he had gripped him before in dull pain, now it seemed to drip away like melted ice.
And even as Soobin tosses and turns in bed that night unable to sleep, despite the snow beating faintly against the bedroom window like a distant lullaby and the crackling fire in the fireplace lit in a magical dance, the warmth of Yeonjun's body under his thick clothes never leaves his palms that have always been cold.
Chapter Text
Soobin had never had so many friends in his life. Whenever he went out to the square, even if it was just to go to the convenience store or to take a silly walk through the seasonal snow, there was no moment when he was left alone.
Minho, as cold and aloof as he was at first with the younger one, eventually opens up to Soobin more than the other winter fairy could have ever imagined, often going to the joint market together and a few times bringing along Han, who proves to be just as nice as he imagined.
Hueningkai, the spring fairy, was always in the way of the tallest wherever his going (as much as this pleased Soobin, though he would never admit it out loud), accumulating passions with him own such as anime and video games.
Instead, Beomgyu finds an excuse each time to show up at his house and talk about his best friend, leaving no imagination to the winter fairy about the nature of his boundless interest in the unsuspecting Taehyun. Especially when he openly declares his love it to him the third time he shows up at his door, leaving Soobin and Yeonjun laughing at him.
However, when the two fairies propose to Beomgyu to ask Taehyun going out on a date, the autumn fairy turns into a red, stammering mess, shaking his head shakily enough to make Soobin worry about a possible stiff neck. At the end Yeonjun simply convinces him to talk to him, helping him the next time to properly introduce himself to the winter fairy, who smiles kindly at him.
Hyunjin makes himself available to Soobin to teach him how to paint (a common skill among spring fairies but one to which winter fairies are not at all prone), Felix often gives him his homemade brownies when he has extra left over, Changbin always stops to speak warmly to him whenever they bump into each other on the street.
Jeongin, with his infectious smile, asks every time he sees Soobin to buy him lunch, no matter how much Bangchan chases him away when he sees him making puppy eyes at the winter fairy. Seungmin, on the other hand, always asks the taller one to teach him how to ski, considering that in the autumn season there were only dry leaves and pumpkins on the streets instead of snow and colorful lights.
Wooyoung's friends, once the counselor decides to introduce him to the rest of the council at a spring season party, are also sympathetic. San, despite having seen him only once in the office, seems happy to see the winter fairy, pulling him into a hug strong enough to almost crush him.
Unlike Bangchan's warm group, however, the spring council member's friends are even stranger, in the good sense of the word. Jongho, the youngest of them, also seems to be the shyest, despite Wooyoung yelling at him in the middle of the square to show everyone his secret talent for splitting apples in half with his hands.
Seonghwa and Hongjoong are the oldest among them and the most adult couple, although they seem just as noisy as everyone else in the group.
Once a time, before Soobin was drawn as an advisor and received the position of council member, word had spread among the other seasons that the winter fairy and the spring fairy, Seonghwa, were having an affair together.
Although it was untrue, the rumor circulated for several months among the squares and seasonal festivals, surrendering to the fictitious rumor when finally everyone admit that no one in the seasons ever really seen the two fairies talking to each other.
So, the first time he had seen Hongjoong, Soobin had froze a bit at his authority figure. The older man seemed calm, though, friendly enough with the winter fairy to soothe Soobin by his side.
Although he holds Seonghwa close protectively, jealous almost, in the face of a possible second gossip between the two. Yeonjun, however, seems to go along with the older man's behavior, like a mutual agreement between the two friends, as he keeps Soobin close to him all the time.
Mingi, the summer fairy, actually disappears into the crowd as soon as the introductions are over (they will see him again at the toy stall around the corner, fighting with the owner over a stupid stuffed animal after knocking down the pyramid of empty cans with the ball), while Yunho, after a glass of bubbly, shows Soobin his talent with juggling.
Yeosang, despite being silent most of the time and addressing only his friends and Yeonjun, whom he has known since childhood anyway, is really handsome. Soobin confesses this to the other counselors the day after the party, in the office, and Wooyoung laughs at his rosy cheeks after the confession.
At the revelation, however, the summer fairy remains dumbfounded, although even Bangchan smiles in amusement. Yeonjun has nothing to be jealous of, however, considering that every night he was the one having dinner with Soobin after work (picked up habit from that nasty fight now forgotten).
«Do you like Yeosang?» He asks to the winter fairy as soon as they were alone, sitting on the steps outside the convenience store and with instant ramen resting on their legs, and Soobin only smiles at him, shaking his head at his subtle gaze. «Good.» whispers the older man at the revelation, blowing on the hot noodles inside the cardboard bowl as nothing happened.
(If the next time they see the winter fairy, Yeonjun clutches his colleague securely by his side, encircling him with his arm and brushing his fingers over the advisor's narrow waist as if to claim his territory, Soobin pretends not to mind, although his wings flutter a little on his back at Yeosang's glance at the older man's hands around him.)
Taehyun can't explain it, how the elder was able to open up in this way to so many people, but the best friend only smiles at him, almost as confused as he is of the progress of things.
So how could Soobin imagine that after six months, halfway through their treaty, everything would collapse like a house of cards in the wind?
Actually, the day had gone well: the work had been easy, the sky clear despite the fact that there was always snow and ice in the winter season, the food at the restaurant was better than the usual (conditioned perhaps by the discount the owner gave Soobin and Bangchan for lunch).
Everything had come crashing down in the evening, with the sun festival in the summer season and the obligation for the winter fairy to attend (Yeonjun would cut off his wings if he did not show up). As hard as Soobin tried, however, with the help of Bangchan and Taehyun in socializing with the guests and opening himself up to new conversations even without them, he was looking forward to going home.
«You look like you're about to shoot yourself.» comments Hyunjin as he flanks him in front of the banquet, decorated with creeper branches and lavender-scented candles, a warm smile on his face. «Is it that so noticeable?» asks the winter fairy as he lifts his gaze to the center of the square, straight at a slightly hungover Yeonjun with a bright smile turned to the green-winged fairy in front of him.
When the summer fairy giggles at whatever the other has said, wings flicker on his back and pointed ears move along with his mouth, amused even in his body, with hypnotizing manner.
«It means you're not drunk enough.» the spring fairy at his side chants, bringing him back to reality before handing him to remedy a glass with pinkish liquid, silver glitter and suspicious bubbles. Soobin, however, takes it without hesitation, sipping the peach-flavored drink slowly. «No one can be drunk enough to prepare for this.»
«Still haven't gotten used to it, huh?» Hyunjin laughs softly, indecisively grabbing a piece of blackberry cobbler and abandoning the idea of the strawberry macaron on the tray, despite the doubt of choice. Soobin smiles at this, more at the furrowed brow and pout on the spring fairy's lips at the confusion of such a silly choice than at the obvious statement. «Do you think I could escape without being seen?»
«If I were you, I wouldn't try.» a third voice joins the duo, and as they both turn in unison in its direction, Yeonjun's slender figure does not even pay attention to them as he takes a handful of fruit salad from the banquet.
Without Soobin's noticing, the summer fairy had disappeared from the central square and secluded behind him to listen to the conversation, although his menefrecient attitude would have you believe anything but.
Eventually, however, he lifts his feline gaze to the winter fairy, the hint of a smile on his lips as he observes him with an almost reproachful manner. «I-I couldn't do it anyway.» Soobin tries to justify himself when Hyunjin, perhaps sensing the heavy air between the two, vanishes with a final shrug at his friend (as if to wish him luck) and decides to leave him alone at the mercy of the summer fairy.
«Are you sure?» asks Yeonjun foolishly as he leans his hip against the banquet table and takes a bite of the freshly picked fruit salad, looking almost indifferent. He stares playfully at the winter fairy, making his colleague's dimples pop.
Soobin smiles, surrendering that he has just been discovered, and he allowed himself to look at the council member from head to toe, now that he finally has him in front of him. Yeonjun wears a shirt so loose that it reaches up to mid-thigh, pitch-black but with just enough transparent silk to mislead.
The shirt could have served him well as a dress if he had wanted, although the summer fairy had been smart enough to pair it with dark shorts underneath, considering that, at the mere lifting of his arms, it revealed his already fairly bare thighs… Without it, it would have been the end of the winter fairy. The rest of his legs were covered by black platform boots, giving the illusion that the fairy had the longest legs ever.
In comparison, Soobin felt like a beggar by his side. In the simple black V-neck loose sweater and pants long enough to make him trip over the soft fabric at his feet, he looked almost as if he had just left the office… when in fact Soobin had also been busy getting ready for the summer party. That he wanted to impress the warm season, and in particular a foxy-eyed fairy, was certainly not the point of the speech.
However, when he brings his gaze back to his colleague's face, with the shot glass close to his lips and the champagne failing to blur the fairy's heavenly vision, Yeonjun is staring at him with his head tilted to the side and a face of expressionless illusion.
For in fact, beyond the facade, the slightly half-closed eyes and pouty lips with the hint of a mischievous smile told Soobin that the older man had noticed the way he had eaten him with his eyes up to that point, no matter how discreet Soobin had tried to be. «Didn't anyone tell you that it's rude to stare?» Yeonjun teased him.
«Didn't anyone tell you that you look awful tonight?» tries to resolve the situation Soobin with a wicked joke, chuckling agitatedly as he turns his head in the direction of the banquet at his side. The dishes materialize before his eyes again, though the winter fairy can tell he has lost his appetite.
«No.» Yeonjun replies by stepping further forward, until he brushes Soobin's bare shoulder with his own as they both turn their bodies toward the well-appointed table. Soobin squares him off to the side, and Yeonjun stares back at him, as close as he had seen him since the beginning of that evening. «Tell me.»
«I can't.» confesses Soobin to the eldest, because all know: fairies can't lie. And to the younger one, Yeonjun was definitely the star of the party tonight. He grabbed a fish skewer from the tray in front of him and bit into the skewered shrimp, trying not to think about the shameless confession he had just made to the council member. The summer fairy murmurs in assent, a prolonged «Mh.» from the sympathetic air; Yeonjun seems not to want to tease Soobin, which comforts him.
«Do you want to see the stalls together?» asks the summer fairy after a moment of silence, where they both basked in each other's simple presence. Soobin nods, leaving the now-finished glass of drink there, before delving with the elder inside the spiraling path of the flea market.
In fact, if Soobin had to be really honest, there was nothing of interest for sale: bracelets and necklaces of common provenance, collectible gemstones of dubious origin, pointed ear covers made of cheap material. Yeonjun illustrates each stall to the youngest one, and Soobin doesn't have the heart to point it out, despite his little participation anyway, and the elder one smiles at each vendor behind the counter.
But then, suddenly, a bang fills the square. So loud that it jolts Soobin, who fails to realize that it is actually just fireworks and not the same explosions that killed his parents. His parents... Soobin had not been able to save them, but maybe he can save these people, maybe he can save someone else.
Why then can't he get up? Why does he lock himself in a ball in the midst of people like that time so many years ago, like a child too afraid to do anything really useful? Soobin was vaguely aware of the people around him, the laughter at the fires and the shouts of joy at seeing the colors in the sky.
But then why did the winter fairy seem to hear cries of pain? Why did he seem to sense terror in the air, along with concrete and explosive dust? He gasps as he looks around for air, dizzy and unable to find his way around the noisy people.
Yeonjun... perhaps he can save him. But why is the first person to reach Soobin's mind the summer fairy? The rational part of his brain shuts down along with his ability to breathe, and panic grips his thoughts as his gaze turns to the crowd; his own heavy panting is the only deaf thing that reaches Soobin's ears, beyond the loud bangs and the realization of what was not actually happening.
Why did it have to happen now? Why did fate hate him enough to kill him too as it had done to his parents? Why did it have to take away from him the only people who had finally managed to make him forget how sad he was? Hot tears streamed down his cheeks, but Soobin didn't even notice; heartbeat in his ears, cold sweat down his back.
«Hyung- Jun- Yeon-» the words tremble in his throat as he reaches with trembling fingers for the broad shirt of the summer fairy, not actually realizing that he is crouched on the ground in a remote corner of the market, dragged away by the same Yeonjun he was supposed to save in theory. And in practice? Soobin was a coward, a clueless, a good-for-nothing; He was a child who can't even tie his own shoes, a bunny abandoned on the roadside.
Wings beat fast on his back, trembling like the young man's body, as he clutched the only rational thought in his mind: Yeonjun. «-od, breathe.» had the summer fairy said something? Soobin can't hear anything but his own quickened pulse; his eyes staring at the older man's plump lips, trying to read in them what Yeonjun was trying to say, but he can't make out a single word.
«Yeon- Yeonjun are you o- okay?» Soobin pushes toward him, clutching the summer fairy's strong arms in his hands; his gaze plots on Yeonjun's blurry face, though his grip is strong. The older man watches him with wide eyes, though he seems almost deformed to the blurred eyes of the winter fairy.
However, Soobin focuses on the relevant details: The fox eyes, the delicate mole, the pronounced cheekbones, those inviting lips. «Soobin...» the younger one would never get used to the sound of his name on the older one's mouth.
«We must g-go, you- you-» Soobin squeezes Yeonjun again with his hands, in an urgency made of terror and fear. To go where? the winter fairy has no idea, but surely away from there. But what does he want to do, someone like Soobin in his condition? He was unable even to walk straight at the moment, let alone carry the summer fairy to safety.
Another firework explodes above their heads, and Soobin shakes his head and narrows his eyes as if to remove the noise from his ears, which are shaking uncontrollably like his wings. «Binnie, breathe.» Yeonjun's voice seemed to come from underwater, distant and muffled.
«Can you breathe for me? Come on, Binnie, in and out. In and out, like this.» Yeonjun grasps Soobin's hand tightly to his arm and brings it to his chest, where the buttons of his loose shirt are not hooked and the skin of his hard breastplate shows in the soft moonlight.
«I'm fine, you're fine.» the older man's calm breathing and warm body movement soothes Soobin, though not to the point where he stops shaking. His other free hand, still hooked almost painfully on Yeonjun, drags him onto his chest-deep, and the difference in heartbeat hits the counselor.
Soobin strained to follow Yeonjun's voice like a distant call, his chest tightened as if by an iron grip. But Yeonjun continued to speak to him in that sweet way, in a calm, confident voice, until the winter fairy was once again able to breathe.
«Babe, I'm here.» the nickname causes Soobin to lose his bearings for a second, and he leans slowly over the older man's forehead until he bumps with his own and brings them together.
No doubt he looked awful: Red eyes from crying, puffy cheeks, his blond bangs ruffle on his forehead and now attached to the summer fairy. But Yeonjun's ethereally beautiful face soothed him, despite his eyebrows furrowed with worry and his wings agitated perhaps as much as his own.
It was only at that moment that Soobin realized the natural good smell that the eldest one had. It smelled good, like clean laundry hanging out to dry, like newly bloomed flowers in a field of grass in the sun, like the sea in the middle of the week: quiet, without tourists and strong but warm wind.
He focuses on that, reaches for the soft fabric of the sheets with his fingers, those still closed buds and colorful petals, that summer breeze. Soobin basks in it, after a shuddering sigh leaves his lungs.
Then the warmth of Yeonjun's lips came to him like a hot bath, running through his spine in a jolt of surprise that quickly died down, however, to make way for excitement. Soobin had to admit that he had never kissed anyone before in his life, but he did not imagine that it was very different from what he had seen on television since childhood. Yet he was wrong. Perhaps it was because the one he was kissing was the famous Choi Yeonjun, perhaps it was because he had been dreaming of this moment for months.
Yeonjun was tall, so he didn't have to keep his back arched to reach Soobin's mouth; he bent his head up just a little, which was nice. His plump lips were a warm, pleasant contact on his, so much so that they reminded him of the feeling of tiny snowflakes on his face.
The way he growls in the back of his throat when Soobin bites his lower lip softly was a sound no actor on TV had ever made. It made Soobin's stomach give off a strange feeling, one that the youngest man had never felt before. It only made him wish for more, to chase that light flicker in his chest until he died in it.
Yeonjun tilted his head and slid his tongue into Soobin's mouth; fuck the fireworks, this was real. The only sounds Soobin could hear now were the slimy noises of their lips moving together and the pounding of his heartbeat booming wildly in his ears. His hands found their way to Yeonjun's narrow waist and held him in his arms.
A trembling sigh from Yeonjun landed in his mouth and the fairy melted onto him so that they were chest to chest, the summer fairy now in the taller's lap on that meadow behind some stall of who knows what. Soobin, however, could not keep his hands still on the eldest man's body, not now that he had finally had a taste of his months-long wet dream, so he ended up with his fingers in the middle of his shoulder blades, between the junction of his wings and where the pronounced spine poked out from under his skin, and then up and down his back.
Yeonjun squeaks at this, surprised at the proximity of the tallest man's palm to his fragile wings, but melts again at the same awareness of the slightest distance. His hands, however, unlike the winter fairy, search for him beneath the light black shirt that covered Soobin's slender body, slipping it off his pants to sneak under the hem, brandishing warm fingers over the youngest one's cold, sensitive skin; pelvis, stomach, back, chest: he could feel Yeonjun everywhere.
Eventually he reached Soobin's face and cupped it in his hands, pushing their lips against each other so hard that even their teeth clashed. Yeonjun's tongue was certainly more experienced than the winter fairy's, trying to keep up with the older one in a tangle of saliva and soft moans, but the summer fairy's slight dominance over him feels good on the lips. It makes him want more.
Soobin pursues the counselor's mouth when Yeonjun's long legs tighten around him; the feeling of a warm walk in the sunshine conquers his heart, forgotten because of the always cold season of winter. Everything feels so good; he feels so hungry for the greatest that he cannot realize that his breath is beginning to fail him. But he can't, he can't...
«I need-» Soobin pulled away from Yeonjun's mouth after entire minutes, panting a step away from him and observing the small trickle of saliva still connecting him, the older man's plump lips wet, «I need to catch my breath.»
Yeonjun's hands, however, do not leave the winter fairy's face, now stroking with trembling fingers the hairline at the base of Soobin's nape and moving his thumbs over his heated cheekbones. He licks his lips softly, still staring at the tallest one's red ones, before leaning forward to place a trail of light kisses on his cheek, jaw and then down to his neck.
Soobin lets him, tilting his head more just to give him more space and wordlessly allowing him to do with him what he thought best; Yeonjun hums against his skin, delighted by the offer.
The summer fairy nibbles gently on the counselor's neck like a fox tasting before devouring, willingly accepting the invitation. And in a way Soobin feels like prey right now, with Yeonjun straddling him and his hands holding him down, but the winter fairy is ready to be eaten.
A hoarse moan quickly leaves the tallest one's lips as the elder's plump lips chase the junction between neck and shoulder with wet kisses, throwing back their heads toward the night sky and the moon illuminating their joined bodies; moist noises wafting through the warm evening air in a way that made Soobin's head spin. How had the winter fairy lived all this time without this feeling? Without Yeonjun on top of him, the older man's half-naked legs around him, his hungry fingers everywhere on his skin so sensitive?
His neck tingles slightly at the spot where the summer fairy sinks his teeth and sucks particularly hard, sure that he will be sore the next morning but aware that he doesn't care about anything… not even about the future sign that will surely numb his pale neck, the chokers he will be forced to wear, the lingering memory of this night.
Soobin boldly slid a hand under the older man's loose shirt, feeling his stubby muscles and warm skin as he had always wanted to do, and makes the summer fairy awaken from the long series of wet kisses from his neck; Yeonjun hissed as he felt Soobin's palm slide over his abs, trembling slowly.
«Love,» Yeonjun calls him back to himself with his hands still on the nape of the younger one's neck, tugging softly at the fairy's blond hair to get his attention, «may I touch your wings?»
Soobin wanted to ask the summer fairy what was his problem with his wings, Soobin wanted to ask why he kept asking as if his life depended on it, Soobin wanted to ask what he found so interesting about it or why he was so insistent on touching the most fragile part of him. But the only thing he can do is nod as he stares trembling with lust at Yeonjun's ethereal face, which stares back at him in the same way.
Yeonjun pulls him into a tight embrace, letting the tallest man tuck his face into the crook of his neck. And Soobin kisses him right there, on the Adam's apple bobbing up and down nervously, before caressing the summer fairy's bare thighs with trembling hands, alternating between light caresses and mischievous fingers poking curiously into the hem of his short shorts.
The summer fairy presses his knees even tighter around him, aroused by the tallest one's touch, before finally brushing against the much-desired winter wings. Soobin feels more than sees Yeonjun's long, warm fingertips hesitantly traverse the fragile edge of his wings, which flicker reflexively at the touch before settling for him.
The short nails slowly trace all the squiggles, the subtle curves, the black lines. Soobin can only squeeze the older man's thighs tighter, pushing his fingers into the soft, delicate flesh so hard that they turn white, so hard that Soobin is sure it will leave a bruise on him, and then climb back up his hips and desperately anchor himself to Yeonjun. «Touch mine too, Bin.» Summer Fairy gasps in his ear, making the tallest one melt both at the sweet request and at his lips on his flushed earlobe.
And Soobin, with the permission of the summer fairy, finally touches restlessly those beautiful wings. The canary yellow, despite the soft light, shine together with the light spray of lilac. From over the shoulder of the eldest, under the full moon, his wings seem so delicate, so precious, that they almost make Soobin cry.
Up close he can see the silver shining on the thin wings, creating patterns between them that are devoid of logic but at the same time harmonious with each other; they shine like stars on the darkest nights, like fireflies in a remote forest. Soobin brushes his fingers all over the right wing, starting from where the wings are rooted and tufts of grass protrude from the warm skin to the soft tip.
A warm sigh leaves Yeonjun's mouth, who clings even more tightly to Soobin because of the feeling so pleasant. The winter fairy doesn't know if the summer fairy is feeling the same, but for him, it feels like being on a cloud with the uncertainty of falling at any moment; entrusting one's fragility to someone else, the terror of being destroyed at any moment, made both of them hover. But, at the same time, feeling light and basking in the pleasant sensation of granting someone that immense power made their fingertips tremble.
Soobin had forgotten what it felt like when you let go with a fairy other than your own family. It had been so long that loneliness had seemed like normalcy to him, until he forgot that heady feeling of lightness, trust, love.
«Soobin.» Yeonjun gasps before pressing a demanding hand to the nape of the tallest man's neck and moaning in his ear, moving his hips over the winter fairy all the while until they are joined together as one being.
Only at that moment, still distracted by the intoxicating feeling of Yeonjun on top of him and his wings on display all to himself, Soobin realizes his hard erection pressing against Yeonjun's. «Yeonjun.» Soobin whispers accordingly.
The winter fairy moves away from the summer fairy's neck, and the gaze with dilated pupils points into his, although Soobin is not sure what he means to the older one. Yeonjun, however, seems to understand something, something Soobin does not know either but communicates in the silence of the evening, before he begins to move his hips in smooth movements between the two of them.
It no longer matters that they are in public, that someone might see them, that in theory right now the council members should be over there, in the square, showing themselves united with the people and talking to them. Why should Soobin think about that, when the intoxicating sensation of Yeonjun on top of him rubbing his erection with his is so pleasurable?
The winter fairy's hands are still resting dangerously close to Yeonjun's wings on his broad back, involuntarily brushing the junction between skin and wings on his back again. This makes the summer fairy moan, driving the sound all the way into Soobin's bones; the mouths of both of them ajar and close to each other, just a breath away from a wet kiss, exchanging sinful gasps and hot breaths with each other.
Yeonjun licked his lips as he stared closely at the way Soobin was beginning to wiggle, his hips thrust upward to meet his movement so adorably. «You are beautiful.» Groans the older man in a trembling voice, lips molding words to Soobin's.
The winter fairy is unable to speak, but if he were able to right now, he would argue with the elder that here, if anyone is beautiful, it is him. Because Yeonjun, with slightly damp hair sticking to his forehead and temples, crimson-red lips parted in a silent scream, eyelids lowered by uncontrolled passion and pupils dilated in the night, is the true deity here.
He just needs more, more.
Electricity coursed through Soobin's body every time Yeonjun matched their pants-covered erections, chasing something they surely shouldn't have here, in a plaza packed with people behind them who were probably wondering what had happened to the two counselors.
«Y- Yeonjun-» the summer fairy's name on Soobin's lips turns out to be a sin-filled prayer, something that only makes the eldest moan more at the mouth than the winter fairy. He rewards him with a wet, open-mouthed kiss as quick as a comet star but as warm as the summer sea.
Yeonjun slides his hands through the winter fairy's blond hair, grasping the disheveled locks with his fingers to anchor the smaller one to the ground. The dull sound of their pants rubbing at a rapid pace is camouflaged by the music of the party behind them, though the loud gasps and their trembling voices, to close ears, would leave no doubt even to the most naive listener.
Soobin grips the summer fairy's waist tighter, anchoring himself to him as the older man continues to move faster and faster; his hips begin to stutter, his knees tremble, and his wings flicker to the edge. Yeonjun moves even closer, forehead against each other and lips barely brushing against Soobin's as he speaks, «Binnie, I'm- I'm going to-»
«Do you have any idea where Yeonjun and Soobin have gone?» The summer fairy's voice is interrupted by Bangchan's behind them, far enough to leave them with the certainty that the older man cannot have heard them but with the knowledge that he is nonetheless one step away from them.
Yeonjun stops instantly over Soobin, their erections still aching in their pants but forgotten by a cold shiver up their backs; the fear of being caught now no longer as exciting as before. «I have no idea, I haven't seen them since before the fireworks.» Wooyoung's voice is added to the eldest, the worried tone mixed with the hubbub of the party, now coming full circle to their red ears.
«Maybe they went home?» Taehyun? What was his best friend doing with the other counselors? Had they really been missing for so long that all their friends were worried? Soobin peered from under Yeonjun's pleasant weight at the older man's face, who in turn stared at the winter fairy's face with wide eyes and cheekbones splashed with pink.
«We should get out of here.» Soobin sentences in a low whisper, his hands still on Yeonjun's back as he holds him involuntarily against his chest. «Yeah, we should.» The summer fairy agrees, although his trembling hands cling tighter to Soobin's blond locks as if unwilling to let go.
In fact, despite the point just made, neither fairy seems intent on losing that contact with each other. They just stare at each other, so close to kiss but too far apart to do so. "Five more minutes." the tallest one thinks selfishly, reaching out a little toward Yeonjun to brush the tip of his nose against the curve of his pale neck.
The eldest sighs, warm and trembling, before slipping his hands under Soobin's light shirt again and pulling him even more against his chest. Fingers run skin-deep across the broad back, the pronounced back telltale, and then the wing junction, loosening the winter fairy even more against his chest.
«We'd better go find them.» Hueningkai added to the picture, awakening only with these words the two hiding behind the stall and the responsibility for what was happening. They didn't have five minutes… they didn't even have a handful of seconds, in reality.
Yeonjun is the first to let go, slipping his hands off the smaller man's warm skin and then levering himself over Soobin's shoulders to lift himself off the ground and over the winter fairy. From that position, Soobin cannot help but notice the erection pressed into the eldest's black shorts before he easily covers it with the loose shirt.
Soobin is not sure he will be able to do the same with his own as he lifts himself off the ground with the help of his hands on the ground, but he tries anyway. Yeonjun scrutinizes him a moment longer, aiming his gaze just where the youngest man tries to adjust his shirt inside his pants, before shyly reaching out his fingers toward Soobin's and clasping them in his own.
The winter fairy let out their hands in a warm entwinement, a quick squeeze before letting go of the eldest and letting him out first. Only when he is left alone and listens to the voices of his friends on the other side of the stall does the realization of what has just happened hit Soobin like a bolt of lightning.
What was that?
Chapter Text
Everyone in the office notices something strange in the air. Wooyoung avoids making his inappropriate jokes or teasing his childhood friend too much, while Bangchan starts to distract from work to exchange equivocal glances between the winter fairy and the summer fairy, despite making no mention of it during their lunch break.
Soobin was not an idiot; although he didn't show it, the youngest of counselors noticed when someone stared at him from across the office. After all, he had spent a lifetime observing details more than opening up to others.
He often met the older man's gaze on purpose and out of spite, just to embarrass him on the spot, but otherwise remained silent. Which was not strange, really. If, on the other hand, Yeonjun notices the same, he gives no one a chance to see it.
The summer fairy works his six-hour workweek and vanishes from the desk like a ghost at the end of his shift, despite the smile and his mischievous voice etched into the walls of the room. He always had an impeccable appearance, untouchable style, and the same infectious laugh.
Only that… he had lost his glow; if before the summer fairy was warm honey on the skin, now it was melted ice cream on the fingers. Everyone noticed it, although Yeonjun was good enough (compared to Soobim) to hide it behind a warm smile and an ethereal face, letting anyone forget any thought other than his heavenly beauty.
If the winter fairy was to be completely honest, it had to be said that the summer fairy had at least tried to resolve the awkward situation created between them. But Soobin recognized that he was a coward and, at any hint of Yeonjun's proximity around or approach toward the younger man, he vanished like a puff of wind.
Despite his attempts to escape, however, Yeonjun would often look at Soobin, during meetings between the councilors or dinners hosted by their friends (despite the fact that Taehyun had not yet found out what the problem was between the two fairies), but Soobin would only end up blushing and stammering some nonsensical response the moment he noticed.
Otherwise, the youngest did not even dare to point his gaze at him, scanning his smiling face out of the corner of his eye, surreptitiously; the memory of that evening still etched in his memory, so persistent that his ears twitched at the only thought.
The winter fairy would never confess this to anyone, but he often felt his wings tremble during the coldest nights at the lack of Yeonjun on them.
It had been a month now since that fleeting touch, but Soobin's fingers often found themselves tingling when he gazed too long at the counselor's canary-yellow wings. He would follow them with his gaze without noticing, especially when they flickered involuntarily as he talked to Wooyoung or anyone else and laughed uncontrollably.
The bite Yeonjun had left on his neck had now gone through all the stages of healing (from blue to purple, and then to green and yellow), leaving him only with pinkish traces that faded with time along with the memory. Often the winter fairy would absentmindedly touch his neck to feel the imprint of his teeth on the flesh, only to remember too late that they had been gone for days.
Soobin then imagined that even the bruise he had left on Yeonjun's thighs, when he had squeezed his flesh with his fingers to the point that his knuckles turned snow white and thoughts slipped from his head, was now gone. Which made it all… unreal, didn't it?
Soobin thinks about it often, on nights that are too dark for a bedroom too large for one fairy. He stares at the ceiling until his eyelids give way from sleep, until he creates the illusion in his mind that the summer fairy is still above him, in that pleasant weight on his legs, kissing him as if only the winter fairy existed in that crowded square.
He wonders if Yeonjun thinks about it too, if the weight in his chest is equal to his own; He wonders if that feeling of lack will ever pass, if that rosy warmth inside his heart will fade with time along with the taste of cherries that his lips had. Soobin hopes it won't, but he doesn't say it out loud… like a wish hushed in the cold chill of his season.
But from what he could see, Yeonjun was fine. As awkward as the situation was in the office and the way the summer fairy had lost some of his cheerfulness since that night, he was still smiling as if nothing was wrong and talking flirtatiously still with the rest of the fairies.
He goes so far as to make Soobin believe that the summer fairy wanted to settle with him out of pity, just to return to peaceful harmony at work and in the group. Not because of that hole in his chest that itches every time their eyes meet, not because of the tingling in his fingers that still demand another touch, not because of that strange feeling in his stomach that he gets when Yeonjun is in the same room.
That Soobin was experiencing all this alone? It was fine for the winter fairy, really, only that more time passed, more that feeling of loneliness and coldness came back alive in his stomach… just like it used to be. Everyone notices him, old Soobin looking like he's back at his desk like in the beginning, but it's as if they're too intimidated to point it out.
"You and Yeonjun haven't spoken since the Sunshine Festival, has something happened?" Taehyun had asked him softly, almost hesitantly wanting to know about their quarrel and why his best friend had reverted to his past behavior, but Soobin had vanished from the conversation with a silly excuse. So, in the end, no one had asked or mentioned the incident again, letting time go on like an inverted hourglass.
It seemed like everyone was moving forward and Soobin was instead going back, to when his name had been pulled from the well and anxiety had begun to eat away at his stomach. He couldn't help but think about it as he watched the other counselors laughing with each other and his friends bonding with each other, leaving him on the threshold… alone.
Too engrossed in his own thoughts, however, in the latter period he often allowed himself to be distracted and arrived at the end of his shift without being able to finish all his tasks. It had become a habit actually, something unusual for the diligent worker that Soobin once was, but again: no one pointed this out to the youngest, leaving him alone in the dark office until late in the evening.
Of course, it was also his fault that he didn't even notice the second light on, the older man's desk lit from across the room....
«Soobin? » the winter fairy jerks, caught off guard by the second voice in the hitherto silent office, looking up to look around. A pair of foxy eyes stare at him from behind his computer monitor, only making the poor Soobin in the corner tremble more.
He should not be here- Why is he here? The winter fairy blinks, interdicted about what to do. Should he perhaps leave? He can always catch up on the backlog of work the next day; after all, Wooyoung always did it and no one ever said anything to him (they would turn a blind eye to him this time, too). Too bad the idea of quitting a half-completed job went to his head.
Going out with an excuse? But to go where? The hallway outside was dark, Soobin knew it well by now, after countless nights spent here on backlogs of work, and the youngest didn't feel like wandering around the building alone in the middle of the night (call him a wimp, but he doesn't even watch horror movies alone...let alone venture into hallways and parliament rooms he didn't even know that well afterwards).
Could he avoid it? Not answering him seems the rudest thing, but also the most logical for his fragile mind. But Soobin wants to talk to Yeonjun, desperately. To hear once again the silly nickname he tenderly bestows on him, the familiar warmth of his hand clutching his shoulder when he laughs too loudly, the pout he makes whenever Soobin tells him no or does not respond how the summer fairy wishes.
And if even Yeonjun does not want him the way he wants him, why should he blame him? Soobin knew from the first moment he laid eyes on Yeonjun that he was out of reach: a rare flower locked in a shrine, a star in a distant universe, a snowflake that as soon as you grasp it, it melts… he was the fool here. «Yes?» the tallest one's voice croaks a little, but clears his throat soon after.
«Are you still mad at me?» this was definitely a news to Soobin. It caught him unprepared, baffled as to how to respond, and he watched Yeonjun from across the room as if he were a new species of animal. Angry? And for what? His voice does not come out, however, and he stares for endless seconds at the older man's ethereal face, waiting. «For what?»
«For throwing myself at you.» So that was it, what had been disturbing the mind of the elder for so long? The youngest one's unspoken consent? The idea of Soobin spreading the word that the summer fairy had thrown himself at him? His impeccable reputation?
A thousand questions overlapped in the winter fairy's mind, without being able to arrive at an answer...
«At that moment you needed me and I didn't know what to do- I wanted to though, I wanted to kiss you, but I can't help but think that I took advantage of you while you were most vulnerable.» Realization pierces his chest, the same one that loses a beat at Yeonjun's words in the silent room.
Did he want to kiss him? Did Yeonjun desire him just as much as he did? Soobin blinked quickly, in a stare at Yeonjun's low face, as if falling with sadness and sorrow.
But it is beautiful even so, reasoned the winter fairy as he peered at the features of the summer fairy from afar, unable to focus on anything else; although many would credit the summer season made of sun and sea, Soobin thought it was actually Yeonjun the real reason why there was so much light in that dark room. How could he not notice? «Yeonjun-»
«Maybe I misread the signals between us, maybe I've been a bad hyung to you, Soobin.» he whispers, peering uneasily into the black orbs of the winter fairy's eyes on the other side of the office, searching for who knows what.
And there it is, the escape route. Yeonjun was giving him a chance to reject him, move on, pretend that none of this had happened and blame it all on him, but at that point Soobin would deflect the truth, which was quite different from this.
Because Soobin wanted him, just as Yeonjun wanted him. He had wanted him since that time a year and a half ago when he had seen him in passing in the central square during the oath-taking ceremony. He wanted him every time they ate instant ramen after work, even when he made disgusting jokes that only he laughed at or when he tried in vain to wink at the younger one but ended up closing both eyes.
He had wanted it for all those seven long months they had worked side by side.
Only he had been too cowardly, too scared to even touch Yeonjun. How could you blame him? Soobin saw it every day, the way all the different kinds of fairies flirtatiously approached the elder. To woo him, to lust after him.
And the counselor indulged each of them along, with his flirtatious nature… not that Soobin blamed him, of course. By now he knew the character of the summer fairy, it only made his weak cold heart stop every time.
Then, the realization that Yeonjun could not lie goes straight to Soobin's heart, which shudders at the realization of the guilt the older man had been brooding inside all along. It was all Soobin's fault; here, if anyone was to be singled out as a bad colleague, it was him. «Yeonjun, stop it.»
«I- I wanted it too, but I believed you didn't want it.» the confession burns his throat, as if his inner fairy had held it until the very end in the pit of his stomach, which burns helplessly.
He averts his gaze from Yeonjun to point it at his desk, so cluttered that it perfectly represents the chaos in his muddled mind, before grabbing the abandoned yellow post-its next to the keyboard and keeping his fidgety fingers busy, crumpling them (despite his leg under the table already shaking, nervous). «Why?» he hears ask.
«Because you are so desirable, and I-» he interrupts himself mid-sentence, hesitant whether to continue or not; Soobin had never been so honest in his life up to this moment, even with himself. «And you?» Yeonjun's voice comes close to him, and when he looks up, the summer fairy is a few steps away from his desk, standing with his hand brushing the wooden desk surface with his fingertips.
He looks at him as he had never done in all those seven months of work, looks at him as if he sees through him, all the way into his gut and beyond, beyond his heart. And Soobin allows it, watches helplessly as he watches him grasp with a firm hand the back of his chair and turn it toward him, facing him now in all his glory. «You really just don't notice, Soobin?»
Now Soobin is confused, despite Yeonjun's eyes still not letting go of him. «About what?» he manages to croak out of his throat, which seems so blocked that it almost chokes him. As if he hadn't spoken in years, as if confessing to the summer fairy was painful; telling uncomfortable truths to a fairy sometimes results in torture, if his usual level of sincerity was also counted... Soobin was doomed.
«About the way other fairies look at you,» Yeonjun replies as he bends slowly toward him, gently and thoughtfully reaching Soobin's hand still on the now ruined post-its. As one does with a frightened wild animal, like a baby crying uncontrollable… and Yeonjun can soothe him damn well as he warmly squeezes his fingers with him. «No one watching me.» Soobin whispers.
«That's not true.» the summer fairy quickly takes him back, as if almost offended that Soobin had been so oblivious all that time, as if desperate to correct the tallest man's sad thought. «Just concentrate for a moment, look around for a moment, and you can notice all the eyes on you, Soobin.»
«Haven't you noticed all the fairies coming to you with a silly excuse? Haven't you noticed the way they bat their eyelashes at you?» as he speaks, Yeonjun leans even further toward Soobin, and the winter fairy grasps the hips of the summer fairy with trembling hands, in a natural instinct when the older one straddles him, in a position familiar to his muscle memory and his lifelong memory imprinted in his dreams. «Or how they watch you from head to toe as if you were the most delicious snack at the banquet, when they think no one is noticing them?»
«But I've seen them all.» he confesses as he gently caresses Soobin's broad shoulders with his fingertips, his collarbones on display from his shirt's first buttons undone, his pronounced Adam's apple moving uncontrollably, his jaw marked and dimples pronounced even in his pout; his eyes follow the movement, the skin his hand traces and marks with the warm touch, while Soobin looks instead at him in his heavenly face: «I never noticed.»
At that point, Yeonjun's eyes return to those of the waiting winter fairy, dragging his fingers with them to his warm cheeks. The dark color of his gaze seems to say so much, to Soobin, but somehow he doesn't want to read anything into them.
He just wants to savor the moment, to bask in its warmth, to enjoy the familiar weight of the elder on him just as he remembered, the feeling of lightness he had so desperately sought in his sad dreams; The knowledge that Yeonjun is here, with him, and wants him just like Soobin.
«Because I was looking at you.» whispers the tallest one before leaning a little further forward, beyond the maximum limit of personal space a person can have, and leaves a quick kiss on Yeonjun's forehead before tilting the boy's head down and bringing their foreheads together.
Soobin could feel now the slight moisture between their skin touching, just enough to feel connected with the oldest one, and Yeonjun closes his eyes, in a complicit smile, letting the winter fairy observe his face from so close.
They lay still like this for whole minutes, their foreheads still pressed against each other and their lips inches apart. Eventually the summer fairy's warm hands left Soobin's cheeks and trailed down his neck and shoulders as if a weight was attached to them, like a magnet, never really leaving his body.
They hardened on the collar of his shirt, like earlier, before sliding further down his arms; Soobin was so cold, but Yeonjun's fingers on him left him with goose bumps.
Soobin does not realize at first that he was the one who moved between the two, but he gently kisses Yeonjun's plump lips like a place that has always belonged to him, like someone who was lost but ended up finding his way home.
The summer fairy is there waiting for him at the front door, responding to that kiss with the same tenderness as the winter fairy. And Soobin finally felt again the soft, warm, gentle movement he had longed for in that long month, involuntarily sighing against his lips.
Yeonjun's thumbs press softly on each side of Soobin's arms, as if to bind their chests together even more, and Soobin goes along with it, pulling away from the back of the chair to push himself only harder against him. At this, the summer fairy squeaks in surprise against his lips, melting shortly thereafter.
It almost seemed as if the only wisp of warmth in this room was right in front of Soobin, over his legs and with trembling hands on him, and the winter fairy wanted to huddle even closer, like a hearth in the snow.
Was this what his parents meant when they talked about opposite bonds? Was this what it felt like to be with someone that doesn't belonged to your own home season? Because it seemed to the winter fairy that he was standing in front of a calm sea and warm sunshine, after endless centuries spent in thick snow and cold frost. A pleasant warmth, unfamiliar, but so desired… oh, he couldn't help himself.
Soonin encircles his colleague with his arms and crosses Yeonjun's back to his shoulder blades with trembling fingers, his palms open so that he can feel the fairy even more against him and reach out with his fingertips to that pale sand; if Soobin could immortalize a moment of his life on his skin, would be this.
«I only want you, Choi Yeonjun.» Soobin manages to gasp breathlessly as they pull away from each other, eyes still closed and noses brushing against each other like an intimate Eskimo kiss. A feeling both foreign and innate at the same time grows in his chest, makes his heart quicken and his breathing heavy; tingles running through his chest and then outward, around them, like lightning in the middle of the room.
«And I just want you, Choi Soobin.» the winter fairy pulls back for a second, to look at the oldest better in his breathless whisper, before Yeonjun grabs his arms tighter and leans forward only to find his newly abandoned lips again.
The winter fairy stumbled in his grasp, his arms slipping and wrapping once more around the counselor's narrow waist, until they were again chest to chest and one being.
The good smell he had sniffed on Yeonjun at the summer party last month reaches his nose again, leaving him inhaling deeply from so close. It feels like being outdoors, next to the iron wires that keep freshly cleaned sheets hanging together with plastic clothespins, still damp but fragrant, and Soobin basks in the feeling of freshness on his skin.
This time, their lips moved simultaneously, searching for something that only together they could find. A little harder than the first time, a little harder than just a gentle touch, and Soobin felt justified as he sank his hands under Yeonjun's shirt in the face of that emotionally rich kiss.
The truth of their feelings for each other makes it all the more real, aphrodisiacal in the empty room, and Yeonjun moans in the back of his throat when Soobin bites his lower lip.
The sounds of their subdued gasps and small whimpers reverberate in the office walls, the slimy sound of their saliva and tongues joined, leaving Soobin gasping only more at the realization that he is the one Yeonjun is kissing so eagerly right now.
It is he whom Choi Yeonjun is devouring so desperately in the middle of the night. Who sucks his tongue like his favorite candy, who caresses his chest with open palms over his shirt to search with trembling fingers for hard-to-unfasten buttons, who moans his name in a low, sinful tone for something more, more.
However, when Yeonjun manages to undo his last shirt button, showing his mischievous hands all the smooth skin first under the delicate fabric, Soobin pulls away from the summer fairy, who pushes forward to search the younger man's lips with closed eyes, making him smile at his desperate face. «Wa- Wait Jun, not here.»
«God, Soobin, don't-» the summer fairy sinks his face into Soobin's neck, sniffing with a gasp of air the scent of winter, despite the skin sweating with excitement like a glowing patina. «My place or yours?» the council member interrupts him, unsuccessfully brushing the older man's hips with eager fingers.
At the question, Yeonjun rises from the hollow between the fairy's shoulder and neck and stares at Soobin as he moves his hips over him, as a movement common to both of them. A moan leaves Soobin's lips as he pushes forward to seek the older man's mouth again, but he pulls away from him in time with an amused and mischievous smirk. «Mh, yours.»
«Winter fairies are always more discreet.» He justifies himself, as if Soobin didn't actually know that Yeonjun wanted to go to the fairy's house to mooch his coffee pods (which Soobin didn't even drink, making it all really ironic), considering that he had already confessed to the counselor how much better it’s tasted than the one he kept in his apartment.
The knowledge that Yeonjun was planning to stay overnight with him warms his heart, which he ends up nodding without making jokes or teasing him. «You are-» Soobin does not know how to finish the sentence, however, because he would like to say so many things to the older man that he ends up saying nothing, just looking at him from underneath.
Yeonjun seems to understand the same, smiling sweetly at the tallest one before leaving a single kiss on him and getting up. The weight and comfortable warmth of his body on Soobin leaves him, and suddenly he feels as if lost without him.
But it doesn't last long, fortunately for him. The winter season is not that far away from the parliament in the car, although Soobin had no idea of the sudden proximity considering his abandoned bike in front of work. Yeonjun, however, seems impatient to be able to afford a moonlit walk, holding the winter fairy's thigh next to him as a reminder of what will happen as soon as they arrive at Soobin's house.
And the council member feels warm, inside the older man's car, waiting. He looks out the window at all those familiar streets to him but without really recognizing them, as if his only thought at the moment goes to Yeonjun's fingers around his leg, the way he caresses him above the fabric pants, the preview of what awaits him when they sneak mischievously into the fairy's inner thigh and brush him there.
Soobin had never done anything like this in his life, and anxiety gnaws at his stomach along with anticipation, expectation of what is to come, longing. Did Yeonjun know, that the winter fairy had no experience in that area? Was he aware of it, of his lack of romantic expertise? Should he have pointed this out to him, or would it spoil the atmosphere so hot?
Observe his side profile of the older man when he parks, his free hand behind his headrest and an open palm on the steering wheel, and Soobin is lost in his anxious thoughts; observe how charming the older man is at the wheel, how confident he is as he watches from the rearview mirror, and Soobin has never felt more excited than this.
«Don't look at me like that, Binnie.» Yeonjun shoots him back as he turns off the car, his eyes going to the winter fairy's face as he unbuckles his seatbelt, caught staring at his colleague behind the wheel. «Or I'll take you here, right now.» then exits the car, the door closing in a faint crash, before Soobin follows, impatient.
Luckily, no seasonal fairies were to be glimpsed around at that time of the evening, leaving the two of them speeding down the driveway; if anyone had seen them, they would surely have noticed the way Soobin's hands trembled as he tried to open the front door or how Yeonjun stood behind him when he attempted to do so, impatiently stroking the tallest man's stomach with open palms, his fingers demanding on the waistband of his pants and his little finger trying to sneak past passersby.
Once he succeeds, however, the summer fairy doesn't even give Soobin time to properly remove his shoes, already on him as he enters the house; he pushes him toward the newly closed door, which jerks at the sudden weight of the crash, and unbuckles with fidgety fingers the winter fairy's long belt and silk pants, which he gasps against his mouth a step away. «Can I suck you off?» Soobin nods.
Then he kneels down in front of him, not even giving the poor fairy time to process what was really going on, before pulling Soobin's length out of the crotch of his open pants and swallowing it in one move, down to his throat in unfamiliar heat.
Yeonjun moans in pleasure around him, driving the hot vibrations to Soobin's cock and then up to his groin as the tip scrapes the back of his throat. The summer fairy's mouth, the unfamiliar sensation that turns on his stomach, the way the saliva creates in the empty doorway a noise that is both slimy and exciting, drives Soobin crazy, and he throws his head back on the wooden surface of the door.
The world blurs, the earth trembles; in his mind, he can perceive only Yeonjun's mutterings of pleasure and the sensation around him, inside him. Soobin's hand ends around his hair, the strands entwining perfectly between his long fingers and he pulls until the room no longer seems to float, until his knees no longer seem to tremble.
But it doesn't work, with Yeonjun's hollowed cheeks sucking him in even more, his fingers moving around the length he can't reach with his mouth, moans of pleasure escaping his uncontrollably engaged lips. The summer fairy's hand clings to his shirt, in a fistful of fabric, before blindly reaching for Soobin's free hand.
The winter fairy help reach to him, entwining their fingers together in such inhuman pleasure that it undoes the house around them, the chill of the season etched into their bones, the room still dark and their clothes still on. «Fuck, Yeonjun.» Soobin could not help but whimper, beg, plead for more, more.
And the summer fairy seems intent on giving him everything he asks for, giving him his whole body, his whole heart. «Soobin.» Yeonjun calls him back, his voice hoarse in the night because of the length of the tallest until a moment before in his throat, and Soobin pants even more just hearing him say his name. «God, you're so hot right now.»
And then Soobin groans noisily again when Yeonjun takes him back into his mouth without warning; a familiar warmth surging through his insides and down where the summer fairy's mouth surrounds him greedily. The tallest man makes the mistake of looking down to where the counselor's knees beat on the floor and the darkness of the night cannot hide Yeonjun's figure over him, and a moan leaves his mouth again, uncontrolled.
His fingers tighten around his hair and between the still intertwined fingers, strong enough to turn his knuckles white, enough for Yeonjun to sob with pleasure at the pain on his scalp and lift his gaze to Soobin, standing still against the door. The sight clouds the winter fairy's muddled brain: Yeonjun's big eyes like he had never seen on him, his face heated even in the moonlight, the beautiful full lips around his hard, aching length.
«Wait, Yeonjun- I-» the orgasm sweeps over him like an angry sea on slippery rocks, so strong that he is almost sure he would collapse to the ground if Yeonjun did not grab him to hold him down and drink of him what the winter fairy is ready to give him. He trembles so much, though, that it is almost painful, so much so that he jerks against the wood of the door and bangs his head back on the hard surface.
He would like to say something, like in those B-list Porns where they quickly recover from orgasm to whisper silly nonsense, but in his mouth, it almost feels like sand has run out and his eyes remain closed in a blinding grip.
He can still feel Yeonjun's mouth on him drinking what's left, his hand hastily replacing it to masturbate him lazily and sloppily, only to prolong those spasms that run through his body uncontrollably at the overstimulation, his eyes burning into his hot, contorted face, to memorize and brand into his memories all his features contorted by pleasure.
Only when Yeonjun's still entwined fingers seem to slowly melt away from Soobin's, does the tallest man open his eyes and search the floor for him, finding him where he had left off just moments before: on his knees, facing him. The summer fairy peers down at him, the red still bristling his cheekbones and plump lips moist with cum and saliva, his hair disheveled by the hand still clutching it in confused locks. «Taste so good.»
Soobin grabs him, pulling him up into his long and still overdressed legs, before kissing him badly, awkward and wet but pleasant, so pleasant. He doesn't care if he can still taste his own bitter taste on Yeonjun's lips, he doesn't even care that saliva drips from his mouth like thick water; he pushes him back through that house he now knows too well even in the dark, even with his eyes closed and with a summer fairy clinging to him in mischievous touches, as he reaches the room not far from the entrance.
When the bed hits Yeonjun's calves behind him, Soobin drives him onto the soft mattress and watches him fall between the heavy blankets, watches him as his hair falls like silk between the bed's too many pillows and his body looks so right in the always sad and cold room that it is finally perfect.
Soobin still pulls off the white shirt on his feet, causing Yeonjun to laugh when in his haste the collar gets stuck on his head and help him from the bed beneath him, undoing the imbroglio with nimble fingers. Fortunately, taking the shirt off the summer fairy is a little sexier, with the older man looking Soobin straight in the eye as he slips the light-colored fabric off his defined shoulders before tossing it off the bed.
However, when Soobin slips on top of Yeonjun on bed, one leg between those of the older one and elbows to hold himself above him, the pants of both of them still on their warm bodies and the soft moonlight shyly illuminating the cold room, the winter fairy kisses the summer fairy as one of the most precious jewel, like a breath of fresh air in an endless field of grass, like a butterfly in his fingers: so delicate but so beautiful.
And Yeonjun seems to do the same, caressing with trembling hands the face of the youngest man like a fragile child, like a hidden treasure finally discovered; he kisses him so soft and gentle, so light and special, that Soobin reads between his lips everything he wants to find there, everything he needs to read there. For the winter fairy is an illiterate but the summer fairy seems ready to teach him what happiness is.
Thumbs caress Soobin's cheekbones softly, long fingers graze the short hair at the nape of his neck, and Soobin feels like a helpless little animal in his hands, ready to snap at the slightest touch too rough. There is no force, no tongue or saliva, no need: just them, two souls bound by hearts swollen with love.
Soobin searches with hesitant fingers for the opening of Yeonjun's dark pants, trying in vain to open the complicated buttons with only one free hand, and the summer fairy snorts a laugh between kisses at his clumsy work before deciding to help him a second time, looking down between their joined bodies to glimpse the crotch of the pants still closed. «How do you want to do it??»
Yeonjun grips his lower lip between his teeth as he pulls off his pants, this time letting Soobin help him when his weight only makes the job harder; the winter fairy sits on his heels between the older man's legs before sliding the smooth fabric off his toned thighs, savoring with the sight the expanse of perfect skin beneath him. «What do you want, intend?»
«Like, um-» Soobin agitatedly passes a hand behind the back of his head, his gaze failing now to meet the summer fairy's eyes but still never leaving his flesh on picture, his half-naked body in plain view. «We can do it like this,» Soobin points to the position they are in «or doggy style, if you prefer. Or- or you can ride me- I'm not sure what-»
Soobin was acting like an embarrassing virgin now. What the fuck is he saying? It wasn't the first time he'd had such a scene in front of him (he'd only seen it on his small computer monitor in the solitude of his room, but that had to count for something, right?), so why did he now look like a teenager on his first meet with an sex therapist?
Yeonjun rises from the bed to lean on his elbows, his toned chest on display with pronounced collarbones and nipples prickled by mischief and heat, but Soobin still lacks the courage to look him in the eye. «How do you want it, babe?»
The winter fairy's ears burn wine-red, spreading down the neck and up on cheeks, not to mention the slight hum of the wings on his back that wince at the nickname so sweet. «I'm fine with whatever you want.»
However, the answer does not seem to satisfy the summer fairy too much, who bends his head to the side to look confusedly at the counselor's face in front of him, although Soobin still does not look up and his hands do not touch him as he would like. After a few seconds, Yeonjun sits up fully, putting himself directly in the line of Soobin's gaze. He cannot escape it now. «That's not what I asked.»
The winter fairy feels trapped, facing the foxy eyes of the shirtless boy on his bed. He swallows and the Adam's apple bobs up and down uncontrollably at his colleague's watchful gaze, reading his every move like a manual he knows by heart. So why not be honest? «I want you to ride me.»
This seemed to be the correct answer for Yeonjun, causing a sweet smile to bloom on his lips before grabbing his hand and pulling him toward him in a quick, wet kiss as a reward for courage. «Sit against the headboard.»
And Soobin does as he says, crawling on the mattress that gently bends to his weight and resting his back on the bed's wooden keyboard. Despite the dim light of the night, he can see very well the way Yeonjun crawls over him, how he positions himself and steps over his legs with his bare thigh, only to familiarly press the knees against his hips.
«I'm going to make you feel so good, Binnie.» whispers the summer fairy into the night, caressing the bare chest of the winter fairy flush, and Soobin moans softly while he kisses him gently, like a promise sealed by warm lips. It had been a snap for the counselor, earlier in the car, to think that his colleague was completely in the dark about his past; in all seasons, the famous Choi Soobin was known precisely for having had no such experiences at all before. That Yeonjun did not know this was only his vain hope.
Soobin pushed against him, deepening the sweet kiss, and the slimy sounds of their saliva and tongues joined soon surrounded the room in a familiar tangle. The winter fairy wanted so badly for Yeonjun to make him feel as good as he had promised, longed for his bare skin entirely on him, couldn't wait to touch his whole naked body on top of him.
And Yeonjun lets him do it, when the winter fairy's big, eager hands sneak underneath his dark boxers and push the fabric down, down until the older man decides to help him and slip off the last obstructing garment from Soobin's sight. To say it is not a heavenly sight would be blasphemy.
«Touch me, Soobin.» and he does. He grabs with trembling hands the lubricant he keeps in his nightstand drawer, the one he uses on nights when he feels extremely lonely and hot, despite the winter season, and dabs his index and middle fingers abundantly with the cold liquid. Yeonjun watches him carefully, watches Soobin's long fingers drip between them, and sighs when he feels more than sees behind him as they both caress and rub his hole in circular, mischievous motions.
Soobin drinks in that vision over his legs, savors how the eyelids of the biggest flicker and his mouth slowly open wide once the index finger enters shyly inside him, he flushes and blushes at the mere sight of his eyes turning and closing as the knuckle of the finger touches the bottom, in a moan so sweet it makes him envious of the sound of the sea, the color of the best sunsets, the warm warmth of the sun on his skin.
The winter fairy's free hand lands on Yeonjun's lower back, pushing him even more against him and making their bare chests match in a warmth unusual in the winter room. Yeonjun lets himself be guided, panting only more at the new position (his back arched slightly and his finger deeper) and moving a little against his index finger, as if to ask for some more. And Soobin indulges him, adding his middle finger to the first as well.
Yeonjun rubs even harder against him, moving his hips in circular motions against the counselor's pants in pleasurable friction on the dark, rough fabric, and Soobin doesn't care if the lube stain never goes away or if he has to throw them away after tonight. The only thing he can sense at the moment is how the voice of the summer fairy is pure sex, in the walls of his bedroom, how the sound of his fingers inside the boy of his dreams makes him want to die of pleasure, how everything feels so right.
The summer fairy sinks against the winter fairy's neck, between his shoulder and collarbone, and nibbles softly on the sensitive, pristine skin, like a sweet seal on pale paper. « I always loved the smell of winter fairies,» he whispers in a moan against his flushed earlobe, making Soobin shiver only more beneath him, «you always smell of Christmas and caramel apples-»
«Don't think about the other winter fairies.» Soobin's voice seems halting, to the winter fairy's own surprise, and his fingers sink even deeper into Yeonjun, who winces above him at the slight unexpected burn, even as he clings with trembling fingers to the counselor as if to ask for more, even more. «Focus on me.»
«How selfish.» manages to say breathlessly Yeonjun, despite the uncontrolled moan that leaves his lips once the ring finger also joins the duo inside him, churning slowly and calculatingly in his hole that is now getting redder and hotter. Soobin cannot see it, but he wants to taste it so badly.
«Call me whatever you like, hyung.» Yeonjun brings his mouth close to Soobin's, lifting the face from his neck only to savor the words a step away from his lips, half-open and pleading, «You are mine now.»
«Please.» and that's enough for Soobin to slowly walk out of Yeonjun, to the regret of the eldest, in an almost harmonious whine to the winter fairy's ears, before grabbing a condom from the nightstand drawer.
Soobin does not want to think at this moment that the full box of condoms he keeps in his drawer is the result of a tasteless prank by Taehyun, in an April Fool's joke that is not funny at all, but he cannot help himself as he grabs it between his fingers, shaking his head as if to shoo it away.
Yeonjun takes no notice though, impatiently stealing it from his hands before opening it with his teeth and kissing the counselor's lips a step from his own. Soobin can feel his trembling fingers on the length, the way he encircles him as the violet-colored latex coats him completely, the feel of the lubricant dripping around him.
«Look at me.» heavy eyelids obscure his vision, but Soobin does as his colleague on top of him tells him, who confidently lifts himself up on his knees and slowly, so slowly that both of them sigh at the same time, embraces the length of the winter fairy inside him. It goes slowly, like torture for both of them but a pleasant anticipation, however, when he finally touches bottom and sits directly back on Soobin, the chests of both counselors surround themselves with arousing warmth.
Soobin has been dreaming of this for weeks, months, years, and God, it doesn't get any better than this. He grasps tremblingly at the smooth thighs of the summer fairy, his palms perfectly covering all that limpid, pristine stretch of skin, and he squeezes so hard that his fingers sink into the soft flesh, so hard that a selfish desire creeps into his head: to brand all that is his skin.
And Yeonjun is his; from the way he calls his name as soon as he rises and sinks back into him, from the way he moans on his lap in something intimate and that only Soobin can feel, from his face marked with red blotches and eyes dilated with arousal. The winter fairy imprints the whole scene in his memory, especially when Yeonjun bends over him and catches him in a panting kiss, a kiss made of urgency and desire, passion and need.
«I feel you so good.» all of this is a hard blow, to Soobin's sanity. Especially when Yeonjun brings his trembling hand closer to his flat stomach, to how he presses fingers against the soft flesh and how the winter fairy can really feel it. The fairy could come here and now if Yeonjun decides to still keep his fingers pressed against his now swollen tip inside him.
The older man's hands then land on the winter fairy's knees, however, and he bends his back back, leaving a breathtaking view for poor Soobin beneath him; better than all the snow during Christmas, better than the sea on a hot day. His rim is pink and swollen, he takes it really well as he watches his thing come out and in from inside him, as lube drips around his length.
Yeonjun moves slowly and steadily, like an anticipation made of passion and desire. He is wet, not only inside, where he clings eagerly to Soobin's length, but also in front, where he is hard and flushed and twitching steadily, free between their bodies swaying slowly. He grabs him, stroking the underside of his head softly, the same dark pink hue as his hole, and Soobin can't help but think about how he's made just for him; wrapped perfectly in Soobin's grasp, where only his flushed pink head peeps out from his long fingers and wide palm.
He strokes him slowly, matching the movement of his hand to the rhythm of the thrusts, and watches closely the way Yeonjun's moans become sighs, like prayers under voice to a God who does not listen. «Don't do it.» the summer fairy finally pleads, weakly grasping his hand at his wrist, eyes a little panicked, «I don't want to come yet.» the voice dangerously close to breaking, and Soobin reluctantly lets him go, rubbing his thumb just one last time over the beautiful pink slit out of rebellion, out of spite.
He leans forward to thrust his tongue directly into Yeonjun's mouth, which has been opened by a silent cry made up of labored breaths and uncontrolled panting, and the older man easily welcomes him into a wet and rather slimy kiss in the room already covered with excited sounds and sweaty skin.
Eventually he lets go in an all too loud pop of Yeonjun's lower lip that he was sucking on, to kiss his jaw, neck, shoulders and chest until he reaches his teeth around one of the nipples, his tongue working greedily on the sensitive, hardened bud. The summer fairy's reaction is immediate; his thighs tremble and knees sway, walls flutter wildly around Soobin's length, a hoarse moan leaves mouth in a faint call.
He can't tell if Yeonjun's hand landing in his hair is trying to push him away or bring him even closer, but he loves how much deeper his is sliding into him. «Soobin-» He looks stunned, broken, his mind slow and confused by the way they are blending so well together.
The winter fairy is certainly no less, as he growls in the back of his throat when Yeonjun swivels the hips in such a delightful move. He ends up with his hand on his back, right on the shoulder blades, just as he had done that evening a month ago, and his fingers graze the delicate wing junction, leaving the summer fairy moaning only louder.
The slimy sound of their lubricant is almost as loud as the sound of their skin slapping together in a noise that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Soobin almost wants to look at the mess between them, to savor the sight of Yeonjun's red and broken body, but he cannot let go of the trembling body on top of him, does not dare to stop kissing him all over his chest, neck, and jaw. He wants to brand him, claim him, mark him in places that only he can see, that only he can discover.
Yeonjun can barely pull himself out now, desperately pressing against his weak spot and continuing to slowly grind over Soobin. Maybe it's because he's tired, maybe it's because he's close to orgasm. But that's all right, leaving them in a steady, energetic fuck to collapse on the floor and not get up for days.
Indeed, he strikes Yeonjun first; his eyes fluttering and his abs contracting, his body clinging in Soobin's grip and brushing his fingers over the winter fairy's wings, his mouth wide open and red with kisses and moist with saliva. His moans call Soobin's name until they grow louder and louder, until voice breaks and he shatters in a loud, shuddering orgasm.
His legs shaking hard, his knees buckling and pressing against the winter fairy's sternum, his fist clenched in Soobin's hair causing him to groan at the pleasurable pain in his scalp, his eyes narrowed as he shot long white streaks through them.
Soobin follows soon after, with Yeonjun's walls clutching him in a warm, pleasurable grip and the heavenly sight of his colleague above him; his face contorted with pleasure, his wings flickering uncontrollably on his arched back. His vision goes black for a moment, buried deep inside Yeonjun, and the summer fairy must feel every pronounced contraction of his length right against his weak spot, making him moan louder at his prolonged orgasm; he barely manages to hold himself up before collapsing on top of him.
They stand still for a while; their labored breaths synchronized, their sweaty skin touching and the sticky mess between them, still united. Eventually, however, when sight returns to Soobin and Yeonjun seems to have stopped shaking like a leaf, their eyes meet.
Yeonjun's glossy, tear-filled eyes look at him with so much adoration that a pleasant feeling sinks into the winter fairy's stomach, welcoming him like a warm welcome-back hug. The younger man wipes away the moisture with his thumbs as a single tear leaves the lovely crease in his eyes, and somehow, they seem more intimate than the way it is still buried deep inside him.
A sweet kiss seals their love, so different from any they have exchanged since they arrived at Soobin's cold house, before rolling sideways on the bed and merging into a tangle of limbs and legs. «We should get cleaned up.» whispers the winter fairy on the lips of the summer fairy, though the thought does not seem to touch the older one's mind, who, at the mere idea of melting away from Soobin, only clings more to the warm body.
«Tomorrow.» mutters Yeonjun, who shakes his head and hides his face in Soobin’s neck, gasping at the smell he had so adored earlier. Soobin knows he will wake up tomorrow sticky with sweat and in a disgusting mess between them, but with each quiet, sleepy breath Yeonjun takes, he finds himself worrying less and less.
Mallow_cha (Celeste_za) on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Apr 2024 01:16AM UTC
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meowchieves on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Apr 2024 06:21PM UTC
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strawberrietae on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Apr 2024 04:28AM UTC
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meowchieves on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Apr 2024 06:24PM UTC
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Mallow_cha (Celeste_za) on Chapter 2 Thu 18 Apr 2024 08:10PM UTC
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meowchieves on Chapter 2 Thu 18 Apr 2024 10:27PM UTC
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Cookiesday on Chapter 3 Fri 26 Apr 2024 11:21AM UTC
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meowchieves on Chapter 3 Sat 27 Apr 2024 12:55AM UTC
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justlikedeedee on Chapter 3 Mon 20 May 2024 01:43AM UTC
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meowchieves on Chapter 3 Mon 20 May 2024 10:21AM UTC
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Mallow_cha (Celeste_za) on Chapter 4 Sat 01 Jun 2024 11:08PM UTC
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meowchieves on Chapter 4 Sat 08 Jun 2024 01:03PM UTC
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