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Chapter Text

The woods, at first, had been lonely.

The faint whisper from the trees had been his only source of conversation, skittish animals were the only living creatures for miles around. It was pretty much just him, his magic, and his humble little home- therefore, Chan had been lonely.

Every day had been spent the same- he would read books, make potions, maybe practice some magic outside his cottage. For the most part, he was content. There was always something to learn, some new trick for him to master.

However, there was one thing he found himself longing for, an ache buried deep in his chest that would bother him as he tried to fall asleep- one might think the witch would desire money, or fame, however this was not what Chan wanted most. All he wished for was simply human company. Company that he could read his books to, make potions with, entertain with his magic- Chan really just wanted someone to care for.

Of course, the logical way to achieve this was to visit the neighbouring village. Chan was fortunate enough that his little forest was located less than a half hour walk from a bustling village, filled with life and wonder and everything Chan had hoped for.

His first few visits had gone swimmingly. The villagers greeted him with wide- albeit slightly confused- smiles, and returned his waves with equal enthusiasm. Chan had spoken to the vendors in the market place, to the people on leisurely strolls, even to the cheeky pickpockets that attempted to take his money (unfortunately for them, Chan didn't feel the need to keep any on him). He befriended almost everyone in sight, and soon found himself looking forward to every new day.

It wasn't until Chan started to reveal his true nature when things began to spiral downhill. He only did a little magic, here and there- with a flick of his fingers he could right someone about to fall, a swirl of his hands and he could conjure a little pile of cash for him to purchase a pastry. However, a little magic was all it took for greed to consume the humans hearts and turn them against him.

The final visit was one of the worst days Chan would ever have to face. Instead of being greeted with warm smiles, with words such as 'Hey! Haven't seen you in a while!' he was instead met with torches, ropes, and expressions ridden with want for the powers he possessed, yet fear of the unknown.

They had, of course, been no match for a witch, however Chan knew that their terror was carved into his mind, how they had treated him would haunt him forever and continuously remind him of what could have been, what life he could have had.

After that fateful trip, Chan's days once again began to merge into one, every day a repeat of the last. He couldn't go and talk to the village folk, there wasn't a single part of the forest he hadn't explored, heck, even some of the animals were being repelled by his gloomy nature! Being near immortal was more of a curse to Chan now than it ever had been.

What he hadn't accounted for, however, were the rumours that began to spread about him. Of course, he had expected to be labelled the Big Scary Witch in the Woods, he had expected to become the object of the village children's nightmares, but what he certainly didn't expect was becoming some sort of legend.

The story of the witch in the woods that infiltrated the poor, innocent village, eventually morphed into the legend of the witch in the woods who could grant you good fortune or wealth or whatever else your heart could possibly desire.

Chan had been happy to begin with. He had honestly thought he would have to live the rest of his days in solitude, forever excluded from the human life that resided just outside his wooden fortress, but as more and more people heard of the legends, more and more people showed up, erasing his fear of being forgotten.

The first time somebody came to visit him, to say Chan was excited was an understatement. The trees rarely spoke to him- there was never any gossip that they felt important enough to pass along, aside from perhaps the occasional squirrel fight they had found particularly amusing, so as he heard them sigh 'somebody's entered our forest' 'there's a human amongst us', Chan had been beyond estatic.

He had followed the gentle murmurings through the forest as quickly as he could, almost tripping and getting whipped by stray twigs far too many times to count. He didn't care, he couldn't bare to keep his guest waiting.

Upon arriving, he was met with a boy- he was skinny, couldn't have been more than 16 years old, and Chan could tell he was nervous. His hands shook noticeably, and his eyes darted around the clearing like he thought he might get eaten at any moment.

At Chan's greeting, the boy had jumped, letting out a squeak that made Chan giggle so hard he almost fell off the stump he had perched himself on. Although it was embarrassing, Chan was grateful his clumsiness had caused the teen to ease up a little and stop looking so anxious.

Chan had asked the boy what he was doing there on that fine day, and the boy explained how he had come to ask the witch's favour- he and his family were starving, he simply asked for a sum of money to get them through the harsh winter. Chan had, of course, granted the wish, wanting nothing more than to help the child. All he had asked for in return was that the boy stay and talk to him a while.

The witch had hoped that word would get out about his kindness, and he would hopefully be welcomed back into society once again. Surely, if he had aided a poor family, the humans would feel obliged to allow him to pass through their villages once more, maybe even thank him for his good deeds!

Well, the word about his kindness did get around, but certainly not in the way he had initially hoped.

The rumours surrounding him were once again twisted, however this time for the worse. What was once a tale about a witch that would grant your deepest wishes for the simple payment of conversation became a tale of a witch that would demand your valuable posessions in return for granting your needs and wants.

Soon enough, the only people who even attempted to visit him were wealthy folk, those who were overtaken with greed and selfishness, and would offer family heirlooms and generous cash rewards for their corrupted desires. Chan had tried to deny their offers at first, still requesting only brief company, but he eventually gave that up. One can only be called variations of the insult 'freak' so many times before they stop trying.

Still, Chan was a people pleaser, and he granted all their wishes with the hope that someday it would be worth something, someday he would be welcomed back into society with the warm smiles he missed oh-so-much.

Chan's hope was finally diminished, however, after he was payed a visit by a mere farmer and his wife.

The first thing that was brought to Chan's attention as the couple entered the forest was the tiny bundle clutched in the woman's arms. It piqued Chan's curiosity- was this his payment? Usually people were very upfront and he didn't need to play guessing games over what they brought him. On the other hand, could this be something to do with their wish? They didn't look like the usual rich folk that bothered him, maybe what they wanted was a humble request.

Despite Chan's hopeful expectations, the farmer and his wife were by far the worst people he had met up until that point.

Their wish? For their competing farm to have a terrible harvest.

Their payment? Their own flesh and blood- their firstborn child.

Chan had never felt such rage.

How could they? They were willing to give up an innocent baby, a human being, to beat their competitors? They would give up their own son for the sake of a petty dispute?

These people didn't deserve their child. With the babe cradled safely in his arms, his face darkened. Chan wasn't usually one to let his emotions get the better of him, but this was too much, he was livid at their neglect, their selfishness, and that hatred was practically seeping into the air around him. A magical whirlwind surrounded them, whipping at their clothes and hair, occasionally hurling small stones and thorns and sharp twigs at the couple.

"Fine," Chan snarled- his voice had become at least 3 octaves deeper, and he relished in the terror that was written all over their faces. They deserved it. "You'll have your wish."

And oh, did they get their wish. Their competitors did indeed have a bad harvest, but their own was far worse, and would remain far worse for as long as they lived. Chan also didn't forget to curse their family tree, making sure it would forever remain barren.

The couple, who had yet to find out what he had truly cursed them with, thanked him profusely before running as fast as they could out of his forest. Chan chuckled bitterly, as if they could outrun him if he actually wanted to harm them.

The baby in his arms was screaming after the extreme show of magic that had woken him up, so Chan began to rock him gently, shushing him and trying to make him stop sobbing. He really should have thought this through- childcare was the absolute last thing he would have a book on, and he knew almost nothing as it was. Still, he couldn't have let the child grow up with such neglectful parents. If they viewed him as an object to sell as a baby, it only would have gotten worse for him.

No, Chan vowed there and then that he was going to give this boy the greatest, most loving childhood anyone could ask for. He would treat him how he deserved, he would be the parent that the boy's biological ones could never be.

Changbin, Chan thought as he smiled down at the screeching baby, already growing fond.

From that day on, Chan refused to grant peoples wishes. He turned down request after request, hoping that it would become known that he was to be left alone. To an extent, it worked; nobody asked for their wishes to be fulfilled anymore- or rather, nobody asked for their wishes to be fulfilled in exchange for treasure or gold anymore.

Unfortunately, the word had already spread that his last accepted request had been repayed with their child. Not many people were willing to give up something so big, but the ones that did- well, Chan made sure to curse them so hard they would regret it even in their next lives.

Soon, 1 became 5, and Chan found himself with more gray hairs by the day. It was difficult at times, but Chan knew he would never find himself regretting it. The woods felt a little less lonely now.

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

It had been a few years since the last time the trees spoke out to Chan- well, a few years felt like a month to the near immortal witch, especially now that his days were filled with dealing with his pesky kids. It wasn't as if he had noticed the silence from the forest.

Chan loved his boys to death, however he hadn't half raised a mischievous bunch. He had hoped that maybe Changbin and Hyunjin would be a little less roguish, being the eldest two, yet no such luck; it was quite the opposite, to be honest. With age comes intelligence, and as their ages progressed their schemes became more and more devious. At this point, Changbin and Hyunjin were probably the ringleaders of all their pranks and tomfoolery.

Of course, there was also little Seungmin. Chan wished he would put his clever thinking into education rather than the best way to slide salt into his brothers morning tea, but alas, Chan had had to deal with Hyunjin's dramatic spluttering more times than he could count on both hands.

Jisung and Felix- although the same age as Seungmin- weren't quite as big on the whole planning-and-scheming thing, but they made up for that fully with their enthusiasm to help whoever required them.

It had taken Jisung a while to come out of his shell at first; he had been the last to arrive, already three years old when his parents gave him up. Upon seeing the startlingly obvious neglect and abuse, Chan had made sure to curse them extra hard. Sometimes he even wished he had done more to them.

Jisung spent the first few weeks almost silent, avoiding eyes and conversation, flinching at even the smallest things. It wasn't until Chan did a spell that told them Jisung's birthday did the boy begin to open up- 14th of September, the day before Felix's. Upon hearing this, Felix immediately gave Jisung the biggest hug he could manage, proclaiming them twins and insisting that they absolutely had to be best friends forever. Jisung had sat wide eyed for a few agonising seconds, and Chan had been ready to pry Felix off of a sobbing three year old. Instead, Jisung had burst into the most beautiful, heart-shaped smile, so bright that Chan actually found himself to be the one tearing up.

From that day on, Jisung (who had agreed wholeheartedly to Felix's 'best friends forever' proposal) tried his best to never miss out on the mischief, and Chan would even go as far as to say he had become the rowdiest of them all.

Chan was, more often than not, the one to fall victim to their pranks, though he honestly considered that a blessing. He hadn't at first, of course, but when he realised it was either him to face the misfortune or one of the other boys, he decided that dealing with the joke was better than dealing with an inconsolable child.

So, yes, despite their shenanigans, he loved them all dearly, and couldn't imagine not having them in his life. Although he had struggled at first, and still did, if he's honest, he would do it again ten thousand times over if it meant he still got to kiss their foreheads and tuck them in at night, or read to them near the crackling fireplace as they all squished onto the armchair with him. They were impish little rascals but they were his impish little rascals, and he would fight for them 'till his last breath.

Despite all of this, it still didn't stop dread pooling in his stomach when he heard the tell-tale rustling, the gentle yet ominous whispering emnating from the woods around him. It could only mean one thing- someone had entered the forest, and they were there for him.

Chan quickly threw his book onto the coffee table, rushing through the house to find where his kids were located- it didn't take long, they were extremely noisy at the best of times. Chan's eyebrows pinched as he approached them, hoping that the huddle they had formed wasn't to plan yet another trick.

Fortunately, Chan soon realised it was not for another prank. Unfortunately, it was a much less welcoming sight.

The boys were all huddled around Felix, who was crouched on the floor with his hands over his ears. They moved aside to let Chan through, who knealt down and rubbed Felix's back in what he hoped was a soothing way.

"Lix? What's wrong?"

The boys' head shot up, his brow furrowed and nose scrunched in a way that was probably supposed to show frustration. Chan just found him cute.

"They're so loud Chan, tell them to shut up!"

Chan turned to give a flat look to the rest of his kids, who all pointed accusatory fingers at eachother and shook their heads with wide eyes.

"No! Not them! The other things! They're in my head!"

Suddenly, it dawned on Chan- Felix could hear the trees. Perhaps Felix was more in tune with nature than a human was supposed to be- Chan made sure to mentally note it down, but that was a problem that would have to be solved later.

"Oh, Lixie- I'm going to go and fix it, okay? I need all of you to stay here and take care of Felix, it'll be over soon, yeah?" Chan ran his hand through Felix's hair, hoping he was doing a good job at calming him down.

The boys all nodded, all breathing sighs of relief that they weren't going to get in trouble for being noisy. Chan never got mad at them, but they all hated seeing him disappointed.

'Gosh,' Chan thought, 'I really am a dad.'

After ruffling their hair and bidding them goodbye with a "Don't burn the house down!" Chan threw a cloak around his shoulders and sprinted out of the door. The sooner he reached his visitor, the sooner the trees would stop affecting Felix.

It took a few minutes of running, but fortunately the forest did its best to move around him and not invade his path. As he neared the clearing he was being beckoned to, he began to hear voices and- was that crying?

Slowing his pace down to avoid making too much sound and revealing his presence, Chan made his way to a large, ancient oak, peering around it to assess the situation.

The sight that greeted him wasn't unfamiliar. He got dejavu as he stared at a man with what Chan assumed was his child, although there was one thing that stood out from all his other visits.

The man had seated the young boy on a tree stump and had crouched down in front if him, hands on his cheeks and thumbs caressing the soft skin as he spoke. Chan shifted slightly to get a better view, and what he saw shocked him- fat tears were streaming down the mans face, so many he had to wipe them every few seconds. His breath stuttered as he tried to speak, shoulders shaking violently. He was repeating a mantra of, "It's okay, it'll be okay, I love you so much," and Chan wasn't entirely sure if he was comforting the child, or himself.

Something in Chan told him that he should feel bad, but he couldn't bring himself to hope for the best- whenever he did, the outcome was always devastating.

Finally stepping into the clearing, Chan cleared his throat to announce his arrival.

"Compose yourself," he spoke, voice cold and dripping with venom.

The man, clearly taken by surprise, jumped up and stood as straight as a ruler, as if he was a soldier waiting for orders. He tried to force his sobs down, but he couldn't cease the tears that continued to fall.

"I'm- um, hello, I'm Lee Minho," the man said, tripping over his words, "I have a request."

"I don't care what your name is, what is it you want?"

Chan had to school his expression as the man flinched, trying not to let his brows crease and show compassion- perhaps his voice had come out a little too chilling.

"M-my son, my wish is that you find him somewhere to grow up, where he'll be safe, I- please, he's all I have, I know the tales say you take children as payment but I thought that-"

Chan held up a hand to stop Minho's rambling, silencing the man almost immediately. His face took on a more curious look, and he squinted at Minho before responding.

"If he's all you have, why won't you take care of him yourself?"

Minho looked down at the ground, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. Chan observed the action, noticing how frayed and hole-ridden the man's clothes were. He glanced down at the child who was still seated obediently, picking apart a small patch of moss he had found. The boy's clothes were in much better condition, far cleaner, and any holes were patched up. Chan also noticed how despite the way the boy was worryingly skinny, his skin looked soft and unblemished.

Maybe Chan should give Minho benefit of the doubt.

Chan was startled out of his thoughts when Minho began his explanation.

"My wife died early on in the spring. Neither of us had brilliant jobs, but we were getting by, and our shifts meant there was always one of us to take care of Jeongin. I've- I've been managing on my own, but winter is approaching and I can't afford both food and heat," He took a deep, shuddering breath. Chan could feel his walls crumbling with every word, finally letting go of his stoic composure. Minho reminded him a lot of the first visitor he had ever had, and that was enough for Chan's heart to soften. "I know that I'm going to die, whether the cold gets me first or starvation, it'll happen, but I can't- I can't let Innie face the same fate. Please, I have nothing to offer, but you're my final hope,"

Chan swallowed, finding that a lump had lodged itself in his throat. He understood- if he was in this situation, if it were one of his kids- gosh, Chan didn't even want to think about it.

But he couldn't just leave Minho to die- he was completely willing to house Jeongin, but he wasn't a monster, he wouldn't let Minho be claimed victim to lifes cruel trials.

"Daddy... I'm hungry," a tiny voice spoke up.

"It's okay Innie, we'll get you something soon, yeah?" Minho whispered, attempting a smile. It was clear he didn't quite believe his own words.

However, after Jeongin's interruption, Chan had been hit with an idea; a plan that would benefit the both of them.

He cleared his throat again, gaining back Minho's attention, as well as Jeongin's this time.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Lee Minho. My names Bang Chan, and I want you to follow me."

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

Minho truly did not know what to think as he made his way through the forest, trailing after Chan like a lost puppy. He wished he could be as carefree as Jeongin, who was giggling at every squirrel and skipping along so that the leaves would crunch beneath him. Alas, Minho's mind was plagued with fear and intrusive thoughts that told him following a witch deeper into the woods was the absolute worst thing he could do.

The only thing that kept his feet moving was that the other option was far worse- if he turned around now, he'd be admitting defeat, and Jeongin would never get to grow up and live the life he deserved.

No, Minho was determined to not let him succumb to that fate.

Minho's mind did ease up a little as he caught Chan's occasional glance at his son, a tender smile crinkling his eyes and making him look especially gentle. The witch clearly found Jeongin cute, so Minho couldn't bring himself to expect the absolute worst.

They had been walking for a little over ten minutes when Chan finally came to a standstill. Minho stopped behind him, but Jeongin failed to notice and strolled right into the back of Chan's legs.

Minho winced, terrified for his son, but Chan just laughed and ruffled Jeongin's hair before facing forwards again.

If Minho were to claim his heart hadn't melted a little in that moment, he would certainly be lying.

Chan waved his hand in front of him, causing the air to ripple in a way that Minho definitely didn't think was natural. He mentally slapped himself as he recalled Chan was a supernatural creature that possessed magical powers, of course he could do unnatural things to the world around him.

Whispering a few words in a language Minho didn't understand, Chan stepped forwards, and promptly disappeared.

Oh no.

Minho began to panic, desperately looking around him, searching for where the witch could have gone. Had he lead them there just to leave them stranded? Was he really so cruel as to abandon them in the middle of the dark forest? How could Minho have been so stupid, he had led his own child straight into a-

Chan chose that moment to poke his head back through the veil.

"So, are you coming, or..."

Minho almost cried with relief. Jeongin let out a excited screech and sprinted forwards, seemingly evaporating just as Chan had before. Minho didn't even have time to yell his name.

"Don't worry, it's safe, come on through!" Chan smiled, and Minho heard another muffled giggle that told him Jeongin was perfectly fine. He tentatively shuffled forwards, putting his hand through first, then slowly the rest of his arm. When he was met with nothing but air, he finally made the full step.

What greeted him took his breath away.

He had walked into the most beautiful clearing he had ever seen; the grass and the trees were an enchanting shade of green, vibrant and bursting with life. Jeongin had already busied himself with picking flowers, trying his best to weave them together with his tiny hands, sticking his tongue out to the side a little in concentration.

Minho smiled as he was reminded of summer days where Jeongin's mother had made daisy chains to place on Jeongin's fluffy locks, kissing his forehead with so much adoration. He had looked utterly precious.

Turning his gaze back to the rest of the clearing again, he shifted his attention to the small cottage in the centre. It was a humble little home, white brick walls and a sloped hatched roof, with a small chimney puffing out smoke on top. The outer windows had plant pots attached to them, with various herbs and plants sprouting, and Minho noticed that the door was painted with sunflowers and ladybugs. The person behind the artistic touch had clearly not been the most skilled artist, but it added to the quaint charm nontheless.

Minho was just squinting at the name signed messily at the bottom- perhaps it might say Felix?- when the door slammed open and two tiny boys came running out, squealing and laughing amongst themselves, and covered in... well, a lot if things.

Minho was reminded of Chan's existence when he let out a huge gasp, startling Minho out of his skin. He placed a hand on his heart, and Jeongin snickered at his surprise.

"Have you been baking? I thought I told you to not burn the house down, that means not turning on the oven!" Chan exclaimed, clearly exasperated with the two children.

They both gave him matching devilish grins, neither one doing a brilliant job at hiding their handfuls of flour behind their backs.

"Don't worry Chan! We didn't turn the oven on yet, only made the cookie mix!" Then, before Chan could slip another word in, he changed the subject abruptly, "Do we have a new brother?"

The boy who spoke pointed at Jeongin, who looked at his father with wide eyes. Minho, in turn, looked at Chan with an expression that mirrored his son's.

"Huh?" he said, oh-so-intelligently.

"Don't worry, I'll explain it all in due time," Chan whispered to Minho, then turned back to the boys, who were about to resume their flour fight. "Felix, Jisung, this is Jeongin- I trust you'll keep him company while I have a conversation with Minho here?"

The two boys nodded compliantly, dropping their handfuls of flour and rushing over to their soon-to-be new friend, suddenly very eager to involve Jeongin in whatever mischief they were up to.

Chan waved his hand in the direction of the pair, and immediately the flour and any other ingredient that coated their clothes lifted off them, swirling and disappearing into the sky above. Minho gaped, clearly not used to the casual magic Chan could do.

A hand on his chin softly closed his jaw, and Minho turned to see Chan's amused smile.

"If you follow me then, what kind of tea would you like? We have earl gray, green jasmine- are you coming?"

Minho nodded dumbly and began to wander behind, stepping into the tiny cottage and- oh, maybe the cottage wasn't so tiny.

Minho was probably going to need something to keep his jaw shut for him.

"Yes, I know, it's bigger on the inside," Chan chuckled, clearly expecting this kind of reaction. "It was big enough when it was just me, but I had to charm an expansion so that I could fit everyone else in."

Minho nodded, not really processing the information, but he had already given up on trying. This was far too much to get his head around.

"So, what will it be? English breakfast, green tea, earl gray-"

"Uhm, earl gray is fine, thank you," Minho replied politely. Chan smiled, and Minho noticed the grin showed off his dimples. He found himself wanting to poke them.

"Perfect! That ones my favourite, too!"

Minho didn't have the heart to tell him he had never had tea before, it had been far too expensive for his little family to afford, so he didn't have a favourite.

"Take a seat, anywhere is fine- though, if you sit there, you can see out of the window and keep an eye on Jeongin."

Minho thanked him softly, and tentatively took the seat Chan had pointed out. When he peered outside, he was thrilled to see that Jeongin was sitting on the grass with Jisung and Felix, guiding them on how to weave flowers together in the right way. He looked delighted, and Minho felt tears forming in the corners of his eyes. It had been a long time since he had seen Jeongin smile so brightly.

Chan set a steaming mug down in front of him, before slapping a hand to his own forehead.

"Oh! I forgot to ask if you wanted sugar, gosh, silly me," he said, shuffling back to the kitchen. Minho giggled; Chan was defeating every single expectation Minho had formed in his head in the most spectacular ways.

"What's so funny?" He said, playfully squinting as he returned with his own mug and a bowl of sugar cubes. Minho stirred one into his tea before taking a small sip and- by gosh, this was amazing! He looked at Chan excitedly before drinking more, humming with delight. He couldn't wait to have Jeongin try some.

"Slow down, you might burn yourself," Chan scolded, though he was laughing at Minho's reaction. They drank in comfortable silence for a few minutes before he spoke up again.

"So, I suppose you have a lot of questions, hm?"

Minho nodded, pondering over what he wanted to ask first. He was curious, of course, about the world Chan lived in, but there was one thing he had to find out first and foremost.

"Are- Are you going to help us?" He asked, stuttering to get the words out. He was nervous- Minho didn't know what he would do if Chan said no.

"Of course!" He exclaimed brightly, and Minho quite literally began to well up in his relief.

"Oh dear, I didn't mean to make you cry, oh gosh, would you like some tissues?"

Minho let a laugh escape through his sniffles, chuckling at how flustered Chan had become. It was far too easy to make him panic.

"No, no, I'm sorry, I'm just so, so grateful, I don't know how I could ever repay you!"

"Well, that's where my proposition comes in- I'm willing to offer you a job around here, helping me take care of the kids and such, and in return I can pay you enough to cover all your expenses, as well as a little extra spending money," Chan explained, looking at Minho expectantly.

"You'd really do that? That- That honestly sounds perfect, I would love to accept," Minho responded, amazed at his sudden luck. He had actually expected himself to be a little more careful around the unknown witch, but something about Chan told Minho the legends about him were horribly wrong. "Only, why would you offer this when you could just, I don't know, offer me a bag of money and send me on my way?"

Chan's smile faltered.

"Is- Is that what you want?"

At his crestfallen expression, Minho rushed to defend himself. "No! No, no, I want to take the job, I was simply wondering why you chose to help me this way,"

"Oh, well... Here it's just me and my children, and I love them, but it would certainly be nice to have someone more my age to talk to. Well, I'm a lot older than you, but you get the point. Also, I'm a horrible cook- the kids are young now and don't really notice, but soon they're going to get bored of noodles and sandwiches." All of a sudden, a thought occured to Chan. "Hold on, can you cook?"

Minho looked scandalised.

"Of course I can cook! You mean to tell me you've been feeding your children noodles and sandwiches every day for their whole lives? Where's the nutritional content?" He gasped, and Chan looked mildly offended.

"Hey! I put vegetables and stuff in the noodles, I'm not that bad! I try to cook other things, but they don't usually end up tasting great."

"Sure, sure," Minho sniffed, but he soon laughed when Chan began to pout. "You know, you're really not what I expected," He said thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah? Well, what did you expect?"

"I don't know, from the legends I thought that you maybe like, ate children or something-" Now it was Chan's turn to look scandalised. "Not that I think you eat children now! You're clearly a great father, I simply mean I expected you to be scary and dangerous but you're just like- a normal guy. The legends are wrong about you."

Chan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, and Minho noticed the top of his ears had begun to turn red.

"Well, the legends aren't entirely wrong... Whenever someone offers their child in exchange for something petty such as gold or revenge, I just get so angry. A child is supposed to be loved unconditionally, but these people don't even care-" Chan choked up a little, and Minho felt his heart throb. "I may have gone a little overboard in the whole evil-witch act and definitely terrified some people. I don't regret it, though," He finished, tracing his finger around the rim of his mug dejectedly. Minho covered Chan's free hand with his own in what he hoped was a comforting way.

"They deserved it," he whispered. Minho could understand- especially now he had Jeongin, he would be livid if he witnessed anyone treat their child with anything but upmost care and respect.

"They did," Chan gave Minho a watery yet grateful smile. "Besides, if it weren't for their incompetence, I wouldn't have my boys, and I'm so happy to have them in my life."

Chan chose that precise moment to take another sip of his tea, though immediately after he started spluttering and grimacing. He stood up, looking around him. Minho stared at him wide eyed, wondering what could have possibly brought on such an abrupt reaction.

Chan squinted at nothing for a moment, then whipped up the edge of the table cloth to peer underneath. Minho heard the squealing before he saw who it belonged to- two boys burst out from under the table, laughing uncontrollably as Chan stared them down, hands on his hips.

"Seungmin! When are you going to tire of putting salt in my tea, huh?" He questioned. Minho could tell why Chan's children were so sneaky- Chan didn't even try to hide the fondness that seeped into his tone, and Minho just knew the witch was terrible at saying no to his kids.

"Never!" the shorter boy yelled triumphantly, throwing an arm up as if he were pretending to be a superhero. Minho assumed that must be Seungmin. His suspicions were confirmed when the other boy giggled and added, "Yeah! Minnie will never stop!"

The boys high fived, and Chan raised an eyebrow.

"Hyunjin, surely you would like him to stop doing that to you too?"

Hyunjin's laughter ceased, and he looked between Chan and Seungmin as if he were watching a game of tennis, before nodding solemly at Chan. Minho giggled at the scene, raising his mug to his lips-

Only to find his own tea had also been contaminated too. He coughed and spluttered in a manner very similar to Chan, and the tell-tale cackling from Seungmin let him know who was the culprit.

"Minnie! You can't just do that to people you don't know!" Chan scolded before turning back to Minho. "I'm so sorry, we've never really had guests before..."

"It's quite alright, I'm sure Jeongin would be no better!" Minho replied brightly, popping a sugar cube in his mouth to help rid the overpowering taste of salt.

Perhaps he was going to struggle with saying no to Chan's kids, too.

As if he had been waiting for his name to be called, Jeongin came bolting into the kitchen, closely following behind Jisung and Felix. They all had equally blinding grins, and poorly-made flower crowns clutched in their chubby hands. Jeongin immediately made his way over to Minho, clambering in his lap and holding up his creation.

"I made this for you, daddy!" he said softly, and Minho let out a big gasp.

"For me? Wow, Innie, I love it so much! Thank you," He said, placing it carefully on his head. He pressed a kiss into Jeongin's unruly hair, who in turn snuggled closer to his fathers chest.

Felix and Jisung both shared a look after witnessing the heart-warming scene, before racing towards their own parent.

"Chan! Chan, put my flower crown on!"

"No, no, put mine on! Mine!"

Chan looked mildly surprised at the sudden affection, before he plucked both flower crowns from his boys' expectant hands and placed them both on his head. They beamed at him, and he pinched both of their cheeks.

"Okay, who knows where Binnie is?" Chan asked, glancing between his children.

"Binnie? Gosh, Chan, how many children do you have?" Minho asked, exasperated. He had originally thought Felix and Jisung to be the only two, but they just kept multiplying!

Chan chuckled, and his dimples made an appearance once again. "Binnie's the last one for you to meet- Changbin. Once we get him in here, we can start proper introductions! Boys, how about you make yourselves comfy?"

The kids all made sounds of agreement, dispersing themselves into the empty chairs. Before Hyunjin sat down, he tugged gently on Chan's sleeve. "I think Binnie's practicing his archery again, that's where I last saw him."

"Thank you, Hyunjin," Chan responded, and Hyunjin took his seat. Minho didn't recognise the words Chan uttered next, but he assumed it had something to do with the tiny ball of light that materialised in front of him, before it shot off out the door.

"While we wait for Binnie, I'll go brew some more tea- oh! And the cookies should be ready by now! I put them in the oven!"

The children all cheered, excited to taste their impulsive creation. True to his word, Chan returned with a huge pot of tea and a plate of fresh cookies. They smelt amazing- they were clearly homemade, all different shapes and sizes, but Minho knew homemade cookies were the best kind. These ones had chocolate chips in them too- Minho had only ever heard about cookies with melted, gooey chocolate in books and childrens tales.

He smiled as he realised that this was something Jeongin would get to look forward to from now on. Of course, they hadn't covered any details surrounding Minho's new job; in fact, they'd barely scratched the surface, but Minho was sure Jeongin was going to have a lot of fun in the time they got to spend with the witch and his family.

The unpleasant screech of chair legs brought Minho back to the present, alerting him to the prescence of someone new. This must be Changbin- the boy struggled to climb into his seat at first, but once he made it he began to swing his legs back and forth happily. Minho internally cooed at the action.

"Chan, what have you got on your head?" He questioned, eyes fixated on the headpiece.

"It's called a flower crown!" Jisung exclaimed excitedly.

"A crown?" Changbin gasped, eyes wide and glistening in wonder.

"Would you like one, Binnie?" Chan asked as he poured out a cup of tea, adding a cube of sugar then swiftly moving the sugar bowl away so Changbin couldn't steal anymore.

Minho had a feeling that it still wouldn't stop any of them.

"Yes, please," He replied politely.

Felix slammed his hands down on the table and began to eagerly jump around in his chair.

"Ooh! Binnie, you can wear mine!"

"Felix! Inside voices, remember? And what have I said about how chairs are made for sitting?"

"Sorry Chan!" Felix smiled, plopping down again with a dull thump, though he didn't sound apologetic in the slightest.

Changbin puffed out his chest proudly as the golden flower crown was placed on his head. He blew upwards at the hair that had fallen into his face, which promptly flopped back down into the same position, then he beamed happily at Felix.

"Thanks, Lixie!"

"Now that we're all seated, I think it's time for introductions, hm? Boys, this is Lee Minho, he's going to be spending a lot if time around here from now on so play nicely,"

There was a hidden tone to Chan's voice, almost as if he were daring his children to step out of line around Minho. Maybe Chan was a little less soft on them than Minho originally thought.

"And I'm Jeongin!" the boy announced restlessly, not waiting for Chan to introduce him. "I'm four!"

Minho glanced down at Jeongin, who was holding up a grand total of three fingers. Minho didn't have the heart to tell him he'd counted wrong, so he just decided he would remind Jeongin later.

"I'm Felix! I'm six, and this is Jisung, he's my twin!"

"I'm six too, together we're..." Jisung took a moment, furrowing his brows as he nodded at each of his fingers. "Ten! We're ten!"

Minho chuckled. That was definitely not how it worked, but Chan must have had the same idea as Minho- he was far too busy smiling fondly at the kids to correct their mistake.

Maths was definitely a subject they were going to have to cover in future.

"I'm Seungmin, I'm six too!"

"My names Hyunjin and I'm seven!"

"And I'm Changbin, I'm eight,"

Changbin, being the closest to Minho, held out a tiny hand, which Minho shook gently. Changbin gave him a big grin, and Minho was amused to see he was missing one or two baby teeth.

Jeongin's stomach chose that moment to release a large growl, and he pouted cutely at the reminder of his empty stomach.

"Daddy, I'm still hungry." he huffed, stubbornly crossing his arms. Chan chuckled at the action before looking back up at Minho.

"How would you like to start today, then? We can make a start on dinner."

Minho beamed.

"Sounds good to me!"

Chapter Text

Working at Chan's was quite honestly everything Minho could have possibly hoped for, and more. When he entered the woods all those weeks ago, he had entered with only one thought on his mind; getting Jeongin somewhere safe and warm. He didn't care about what would happen to himself, he wouldn't have cared if he had been left to die- his singular concern was his son and his son alone.

Now, Minho's life had completely shifted. He never had to worry about whether Jeongin was hungry or cold, and he even had time to think about himself every once in a while. Their days were spent with full stomachs and clear minds. Rather than fearing what tomorrow would bring, Minho instead began to embrace the coming days, look forward to them even.

Of course, he enjoyed his work for the obvious reasons- company was something he generally appreciated, and there was certainly plenty of that at Chan's cottage. Jeongin was thriving in the presence of his new friends, blossoming from a shy and withdrawn boy into a confident one, who would never miss out on an opportunity to cause chaos. Minho should probably be a little less happy about that than he actually was, but Jeongin's happiness was his, and he could never say no to his son.

Minho was also completely blown away by the amount he was learning each day- he had never really ventured far out of the village, only accompanying his parents on day trips to the city once or twice, and the village itself had never needed education; there were only a few jobs one could possibly obtain, and none of them involved much quick thinking.

Now that Minho had turned over a new chapter in his life, he began to find that his knowledge of the world around him was rather lacking. Chan's house was full of books; educational, fictional, anything you could possibly fathom, and Minho made sure to soak up as much information as possible in his free time. The children had, on more than one occasion, begged Minho to read for them, and he thoroughly enjoyed the quiet afternoons he would spend telling tales of daring knights and wicked dragons.

Aside from these things, there was one more reason why Minho awoke most days with an elated smile on his face, and the motivation to get going- that reason was the witch himself.

In the short few weeks, Chan had managed to wriggle his way into Minho's heart, and he knew that wasn't changing any time soon. It was impossible to resist the witch's charms, and Minho found himself falling deeper every day.

It was honestly hard not to- Chan was, in Minho's honest opinion, the epitome of a perfect man. Aside from his mediocre-at-best cooking skills, he had everything going for him- he was a wonderful father, he was quite possibly the friendliest person Minho had ever met, he cared for everyone and everything around him, and he had the cutest damn dimples Minho had ever seen. So, really, how could you expect Minho not to fall for him?

To be frank, Minho had had a rather difficult time coming to terms with said feelings at first. He had thought he would never move on from his wife, Jeongin's mother, but as each day passed he found himself thinking less and less of her. He still loved her, of course, but he knew she would be happy for him to move on and live his life to the fullest now that she was gone. Still, the realisation that she was taking up less and less space in his mind had hurt him nontheless.

He had pushed forward, though, and eventually come to accept things how they were now. It was especially easy to not overthink things at times like these- the afternoons Minho would spend in the garden, conversing with Chan and playing around with the kids in the winter sun.

Despite the season, the air was still comfortably warm- Minho assumed it had something to do with Chan's magic, especially since he had had to bundle himself and Jeongin up in layers of warm clothes for the walk there, only to shed them as soon as they passed through the magical veil.

Minho was seated on the grass next to Hyunjin and Seungmin while Changbin was stood a few metres off, practicing his archery. The atmosphere was peaceful, for once, the quiet only interrupted with joyful clapping and singing from the rhyming game the boys were playing, and the muffled thump whenever Changbin would hit the target.

"Wow, Binnie, you're really good at this, aren't you?" Minho stated after Changbin hit the centre for the fifth time in a row.

Changbin lowered his bow excitedly to turn and grin at Minho, showing off lack of front teeth.

"Thank you! Chan taught me how to be good at it! With magic!"

Minho furrowed his brows, taking in the information. "You're a witch too?" he questioned- why didn't he know about this yet?

A chuckle sounded behind Minho, startling him slightly. Seungmin giggled at him as he let out a yelp that was definitely far less manly than he would have liked.

"Changbin's not a witch, no, but anyone can do magic- it's everywhere, you just need to know how," Chan explained simply, walking up and flopping down onto the grass next to Minho before releasing a long, drawn out sigh.

Minho pulled a face- Chan's answer hadn't really answered anything, only resulted in him having more questions.

"I thought only witches could use magic?" He said, scrunching his nose up. Chan smiled at the action, reaching up to poke it, before he pushed himself up into a cross legged position.

Minho hoped desperately that the heat rising on his cheeks wasn't visible, though if it had anything to do with the way Seungmin was smirking at him coyly, his prayers were not answered. Fortunately, Chan was rather dense, and didn't seem to notice.

"Anyone can use magic; it's essentially a source of energy. The only difference between humans and witches is that our magic comes from inside of us, whereas humans have to pull it from their surroundings. Also, humans aren't born with a natural ability like witches- they need to learn to control it."

Minho nodded along, trying his best to keep up.

"So, if I knew how, I could use magic too?" He questioned, brows pinched.

"Yup!" Chan responded enthusiastically.

Minho was, to be quite honest, baffled. He had been raised to believe that magic was the only evil in the world, that it was to be feared and would only be used to cause harm. Of course, he knew that to be false now, but if humans could use magic too then why did the very notion of it invoke terror and uproar?

Upon voicing this to Chan, the witch sighed, seemingly wilting. He pulled his knees up to his chest, cushioning his cheek on one hand and using the other to trace patterns into the grass.

"Well, humans and witches used to live together in harmony- believe it or not, witches were once respected members of society. Unfortunately, though, the humans became jealous. Witches were far more powerful, and the humans felt threatened, I suppose. Witches became outcasts, and eventually the humans turned to violence in order to chase them away. Humans swore off any magic after that, and the art was lost to them. Witches have lived in hiding since then, rarely showing their true selves- I made that mistake once, and well," he laughed bitterly, "You've heard the rumours- you know where that got me."

Minho was speechless. He was already aware that everything he thought he knew about witches was false, but actually hearing about it, about all the corruption and horror- Minho truly did not know how to respond.

So, he simply didn't. Minho shuffled closer to Chan, gently placing an arm around the witch's shoulder and pulling him into his side. Chan smiled in gratitude, leaning into Minho and resting his head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry for sounding so harsh about it," he began, looking down to the ground dejectedly. "I know they're your people, but I just- I never got a chance, you know? All I've ever known is their rejection, it hurts sometimes."

Minho began to run a hand through Chan's hair, hoping that the gesture was soothing. He assumed it was, if the way the way the witch simply closed his eyes instead of refusing the contact was anything to go by, so Minho kept doing it.

"You don't have to apologise, you have every right to be upset. Besides, you've been given a chance now, haven't you? You have your family- isn't that right boys?"

The children, who had all resumed their activities by now, momentarily paused what they were doing to confirm Minho's question with an enthusiastic 'yes!'

"Are you and Jeongin a part of my family, too?" Chan asked quietly, almost as if he was afraid of the answer. Minho felt a tug at his heart.

"Of course!" he responded, squeezing the hand he had around Chan's shoulder a little tighter. "Someone has to be a parent around here, after all!"

"Hey!" Chan exclaimed, turning to give Minho an offended look. It wasn't that effective, though, because he was smiling too much to pretend he was truly insulted by the statement.

"Don't worry, you can be the other parent." Minho said, poking Chan's nose much like he had previously done to Minho. "By the way, have you got any books on witches, or the history of them? I would quite like to learn more about everything."

Chan blinked owlishly at him, taking a moment before responding.

"I- you'd do that?"

Minho nodded.

"I'd like to know more about everything and, well, know more about you, I suppose."

"Yes, I do have a few books you can read then..." Chan trailed off, his eyes glistening a little- Minho was worried Chan was about to burst into tears. "Thank you, Minho, it really means a lot."

Minho simply smiled, nudging Chan with his elbow before replying.

"There's no need to thank me; that's just what family does."

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

"Minho," Felix whined, dragging out the vowel at the end of his name to make sure all attention was on him, "I'm hungry."

Minho was struggling, to say the least.

Today was a particularly hot day- the kind of heat that would make you drowsy beyond belief, that would cause you to want nothing more than to lie on the floor and wallow in your own sweat and misery.

Well, in Minho's case at least. He wished that the same would apply to the children, but of course, he had no such luck. The boys somehow had even more energy than usual, and they were doing a good job at making sure Minho knew it. As if the heat wasn't already enough reason for him to want to keel over, the kids had been running around all day, leaving Minho to chase after them and try his best to prevent any impending disasters.

On top of this, he didn't even have Chan to aid him- the witch had left Minho in charge so he could complete a spell that would trace back Felix's ancestry. Why he hadn't done it later at night when the boys were all asleep, Minho didn't know. Well, Chan had tried to tell him- something about the sun being in the middle of the sky, but it had all been 'blah, blah, blah' to Minho, as Jisung would have so articulately put it.

So, as you can see, Minho was completely ready to collapse into his bed and sleep for a whole year, and it was only midday- but, the boys were hungry, and Minho had to do something about it.

"Minho," Changbin said in a similar fashion to Felix, "Can we go outside?"

Minho sighed. They were hungry and they wanted to go outside. He inwardly groaned as he realised he was going to have to disappoint one of the boys, they couldn't exactly do both. He was in the middle of bracing himself for a sobbing child when a thought occured to him-

Why couldn't they do both?

"Kids, how about we have a picnic?"

The boys all simultaneously stopped what they were doing, whipping around to stare at Minho with mouths wide open. It was quite comical- Hyunjin and Jisung had been in the middle of a squabble over the blue crayon, and were now frozen with Jisung hanging precariously off Hyunjin's arm. Poor Jisung was so tiny next to Hyunjin, who was already tall for his age, he really stood no chance.

Changbin had been lying on the floor reading his favourite book, and was now craning his head so far back to see Minho is was almost scary.

"Like... From the fairytales?" He asked, eyes shining with excitement.

"Yes, like the fairytales!" Minho said, clasping his hands together with joy to really sell his idea. "We can have fancy sandwiches, and fruit and-"

"And strawberries!" Jisung yelled, finally letting go of Hyunjin and forgetting about the crayon in his eagerness.

"Inside voices, Jisung," Minho tried, but Jisung was already bounding around the room, not listening to another word.

"But I don't want fancy sandwiches," Jeongin complained, sticking his bottom lip out as he tugged on Minho's shirt sleeve. "I just want cheese sandwiches."

"Then you can have cheese sandwiches, you can all have whatever you want, okay?" Minho said, smiling fondly as he ruffled his son's hair.

"Yay!" Felix cried, clapping his hands together fervently- Minho's heart melted a little as he realised Felix had gained that habit from Chan.

"Perfect!" Minho said, matching Felix's enthusiasm, "I'm going to go and see if Chan's ready to join us- Changbin, you're in charge, you'll get an extra strawberry if you make sure nothing bad happens."

Changbin puffed out his chest, nodding at Minho gravely as if he had just accepted a very dangerous mission- well, knowing the children, it wasn't too far off. Minho chuckled inwardly, amused he could get them to do anything with the promise of food.

Fortunately, the room Chan was working in wasn't too far away from where the children were, so if anything went horribly wrong they would both hear it. Minho knocked softly, then poked his head round the door at the lack of answer. Chan was facing away from the door, hunched over the table in a way that made Minho concerned for his back.

"Are you almost finished?" He asked, slipping into the room. Chan startled, knocking over a few plant pots as he scrambled to turn around.

Minho giggled at Chan as he moved past him to right the pots. "Careful, you're almost as bad as the kids,"

"You wound me, Minho," Chan said after an over exaggerated gasp, placing a hand to his chest. "And yes, I finished a few minutes ago- I was just going over what I found."

"All good, I hope?"

Chan chuckled, glancing back to the mess on his desk. Well, Minho would call it a mess, Chan would probably call it work of upmost importance. Minho really needed to learn more about all this witch-stuff.

"It turns out Lix is from a line of light witches- he's going to be really powerful, when he grows into his magic," Chan told Minho, a proud smile on his face.

"Light witches? You mean there are types of witches?"

Yeah, Minho really needed to learn more about all this witch-stuff

"Sometimes I forget we're not from the same world," Chan snorted, crossing his arms and leaning back on his desk. "Every witch has a specialty, a place in which their magic is strongest- a catalyst, let's say. Mine is nature, which is why I live here, and Felix's is light. No wonder the trees affected him so bad, he was bathed in the stuff."

"The- The trees?"

Chan laughed at Minho's bewildered question, throwing his head back and almost toppling over. Minho caught his arm, laughing along despite his confusion.

"I"ll explain some other day,"

Minho nodded, then remembered what he came here for in the first place. "So, will you be joining us for lunch? We're going to have a picnic!"

Chan looked at Minho excitedly. "Of course! Oh, the kids will love that!" he exclaimed.

"They were already quite excited when I left to find you," Minho replied, giggling at Chan's childlike enthusiasm. "I left Changbin in charge, but we probably shouldn't take too long considering he's a part of the problem half the time."

"You're so good with them, Minho, I really don't know what I would do without you,"

"It's not that big of a deal- I mean, you quite literally saved mine and Jeongin's life, this is hardly repayment," Minho responded, blushing due to the sudden kind words.

"It's payment enough. You've honestly made my life so much easier, not to mention you've made us all happier. It's nice having you here." Chan smiled.

Minho was in no way equipped to deal with all the compliments he was recieving, and he feared he was making it painfully obvious as he felt the heat in his cheeks grow warmer by the second.

"I- thank you, Chan," He replied in barely a whisper, only audible due to the delicate silence that filled the room.

The conversation between them ceased, leaving only the sound of their mingling breaths to break the atmosphere. Now that there was no chatter to distract him, Minho began to notice how close he and Chan were. A heavy weight settled on his chest as he looked at Chan- he would only have to move forwards a little and their lips would be touching. Chan's eyes flickered downwards, they both began to lean towards eachother-

A scream echoed through the house, followed by a crash and something clattering to the floor. Both Chan and Minho looked at eachother with mirrored expressions of alarm before sprinting towards the source of the sound- the kitchen.

They arrived to quite a sight. The boys had evidently decided that they didn't want to wait for Chan or Minho to help them make their sandwiches any longer, and had ventured to the kitchen in order to do it themselves. Unfortunately, the cupboard the bread was kept in was rather high, and judging by the way the bottom of said cupboard was now on the floor, Minho assumed they had attempted to clamber up there themselves.

Jisung and Felix were sitting crossed legged near the scene of the crime, hands folded neatly in their laps and angelic smiles on their faces. Of course those two were the culprits.

"Jisung, Felix, you couldn't have waited?" Minho scolded with a stern look towards the two, hands on his hips. Their angelic expressions could never fool him.

"I'm hungry, though!" Felix whined, dropping his facade and throwing his arms up in his tantrum. Jisung turned to stare at him, betrayal written over his features.

"You weren't supposed to tell them it was us!" He shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Felix.

Instead of responding, Felix resorted to crossing his arms with a huff and sticking his tongue out at Jisung, who looked just about ready to cry.

Sensing that the situation was about to blow way out of control, Chan stepped in.

"Boys! Apologise to eachother or I'll eat all of your strawberries," he warned. The threat was empty, but neither of them seemed to realise this as they stared at Chan in pure horror.

"I'm sorry, Sungie!" Felix murmered, shuffling over to Jisung on his knees and throwing his tiny arms around Jisung's shoulders. Jisung sniffled, but returned the hug nontheless.

"I'm sorry too," he responded, and Minho couldn't help but coo at the scene.

"I'll get this fixed up, then," Chan muttered to himself, toeing at the shelf that was currently buried beneath the contents of the cupboard. Minho was about to offer his help when something- or rather, someone latched onto his leg.

Minho looked down to see Changbin gazing up at him with large, watery eyes, his bottom lip quivering slightly as he pouted.

"Does this mean I won't get an extra strawberry?" He asked timidly, bringing a tiny fist up to wipe at his eyes. Minho had to fight against the urge to laugh as he crouched in front of Changbin, cupping the boy's face and using his thumbs to get rid of any tears that fell.

"Of course you will, Binnie, you did a good job- nobody got hurt, did they?"

Changbin shook his head vigorously, brightening comically fast at the promise that he would still recieve his treat. Minho chuckled, pulling Changbin closer to give him a hug.

"Thank you, Minho!" He chirped before wriggling out of Minho's arms and moving to exit back into the play room. However, before he got very far, a thought seemed to occur to him.

"Minho," He said sweetly, clasping his hands behind his back and blinking up innocently at him, "can you help me cut my sandwiches into dinosaurs please?"

Minho giggled, feeling his chest tighten with how cute the boy was.

"Of course I can!"

Minho knew he and Chan would have to talk about what almost happened at some point, but that point was not today- hungry children are not to be kept waiting.

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

The village was far busier than Minho remembered. Maybe it had something to do with the time of day, or perhaps it had always been like this and Minho had just spent so much time away that he was forgetting; Either way, he hadn't anticipated the sheer amount of people that would be swarming the marketplace, the bustle of the street rival to that of the city.

The market place, at one point, had been a source of joy to Minho. When he was young and still clinging onto his childlike innocence, it had practically been a treasure trove- wherever you looked, your eyes would be greeted with stalls decked out in vibrant colours, overflowing with all sorts of weird and wonderful trinkets. He had never been able to buy anything too expensive, but nothing had brought him more excitement than the prospect of experiencing new things, of being able to return home with a new addition to his almost barren bookshelf or an ornament to hang above his bed.

Now, though, the market place made Minho want to turn on his heel and sprint out of there as fast as he could. The once beautifully vibrant colours were now harsh on the eyes, sickeningly bright, the crowds of people roaming the streets a cruel reminder of the amount of people that turned their backs on him and his son. Additionally, Minho couldn't get Chan out of his mind- these were the people that made him an outcast, that mercilessly manipulated the tales about him, these people were the source of Chan's misery and Minho wouldn't forget that for a second.

Minho clasped Jeongin's hand a little tighter than he usually would as he tugged him along. He would have preferred to not bring Jeongin, however he needed someone to help carry the groceries and everyone else was out of the question. To be quite honest, Minho would have preferred to not make the trip at all, but they needed food and it was better than Chan going and risking his life as he did so often before Minho showed up.

Minho simply sped up his pace, hoping to get in and out of there as quickly as possible- however, he didn't miss the wonder in Jeongin's eyes as he stared at all the bustle around him, and a part of Minho succumbed as he knew exactly what Jeongin wanted to do. Caving to his son's unspoken wishes, Minho slipped a few coins into his small hand.

"Go and find something you would like, but meet me back at that stall as soon as you can, okay?" Minho told him, gesturing to the stall he was planning on visiting last. Jeongin nodded vigorously and took off, an estactic grin stretched across his face. Minho wondered how he could even smile that wide without his cheeks hurting.

It didn't take him too long to get what he needed- Chan had conjured a sum of money that was far too great for a simple groceries run, but Minho was grateful as it meant he didn't have to think too much about what he was purchasing- he knew he could cover it so he didn't have to worry.

In hindsight, he probably should have at least tried to cover up the wealth that had been bestowed to him- considering everyone in the village knew eachother, his sudden prosperity was bound to raise suspicion. Minho had never known a time where his family hadn't been struggling to make ends meet, and it had been quite clear to anybody that knew him that after his wife passed, the two of them weren't likely to make it through the year. Against all odds, though, Minho was back in the market well after the year had passed, and he was spending his money as if it wouldn't make a single dent in his savings. Well, it wouldn't, but they didn't know that, so of course he was turning heads.

Fortunately, aside from the occasional questioning look, Minho managed to make his way around most of the stalls without anyone attempting to hold a proper conversation with him. He did recieve an enthusiastic 'nice to see you again!' from a plump woman selling root vegetables, to which he replied a simple 'you too!' accompanied with a smile that used to make the older village ladies swoon before he was on his way once again. His luck was short lived, though, as the encounter he had been dreading finally happened when he arrived at the final stall on his list, where he was to meet Jeongin.

Minho had been halfway through gathering everything he needed when the man behind the counter began to scrutinise him closely. Minho glanced up, uncomfortable from the unwanted attention.

"By gosh, it is you!" the man chuckled, throwing his arms in the air. Minho vaguely recognised him as an old friend of his father's, one he hadn't talked to since his parents passed years ago. "It's good to see you again! So, you finally visited that witch then, huh?"

Minho couldn't see himself in that moment, but he was sure all colour had drained from his face. He let out a strangled 'huh?' as he stared at the man in horror.

"Well, I ain't seeing that boy o' yours anywhere, and money like tha' don't grow on trees!" He chuckled heartily, though Minho didn't mirror his humour.

"Excuse me?" He said, rather affronted by the accusation. He had been about to open his mouth and cuss the man out when Jeongin chose that moment to emerge from the sea of people.

"Daddy! Daddy, look, I got threads so we can all make friendship bracelets!"

Minho's mood lifted as he felt Jeongin crash into his leg, holding up the variation of coloured embroidery threads he had bought. Minho was sure that they must have cost far more than the money he had initially given to Jeongin, however he wouldn't be surprised if the boy's smile had charmed the village ladies into giving him a discount.

'worked every time,' Minho smiled to himself as he recalled his own days of running around the village without a care in the world.

"Wow, Innie, I'm sure they'll love it!" Minho responded, causing Jeongin to start jumping next to him in his excitement.

When Minho looked back to the merchant, he was met with yet another suspicious stare. Minho glared at the man, hoping that he was conveying his feelings about the previous conversation as best as he could. All his potential choices of wording were far too unsavory to use in front of his son.

"As you can see, I did not do what you were so rudely suggesting, Sir," Minho said, his words cutting and cold. He supposed he was being a little unfair- he had gone to said witch afterall, however it hadn't been for selfish reasons. The implication that he would exchange his son, the person he loved most in the world, for money made him sick to his stomach. "I simply found a good job, and that's all you need to know. I don't take kindly to people who pry."

Minho finished packing the items he required and waited for the merchant to calculate the price. Jeongin had quietened at Minho's side, sensing that the atmosphere had taken a sour turn. After passing over the coins for the fee he owed, Minho handed Jeongin one of the lighter bags and gathered the rest in his arms.

"Have a good day, Sir," Minho said politely, though it was clear he didn't mean the words. Needless to say, he left the village with more than one skeptical pair of eyes burning into his back.

Minho remained quiet for most of the walk back to Chan's cottage, letting Jeongin ramble about all of the marvellous sights he had seen that day and only chiming in with the occasional question or noise of agreement. He was grateful for the relentless chatter as it saved him from repeating the encounter over and over in his head, however it didn't do much to erase the bitter feeling that had settled on his chest.

Upon arriving, Jeongin ran off to share his purchase with his friends, leaving Minho to stew in his thoughts as he stored the groceries away in their respectful places. Due to his busy mind, he failed to notice the prescence of someone new in the room.

"Do you need any help?"

Minho, who had been precariously balanced upon the counter to reach the top cupboard, very nearly toppled to his demise as he startled, releasing a loud shriek that could rival even Jisung.

Chan laughed as he helped Minho down safely, bringing him into a hug and placing a soothing hand on the back of Minho's head. He sighed in content, practically melting into Chan.

"What happened? Your auras all messed up," Chan asked. Minho did not know what that meant- he made a mental note to ask about auras when he was in a better frame of mind.

"I think the villagers are suspicious of me- I turned my life around too quickly, I fear they're going to be keeping an eye on me now," He replied, sighing heavily into Chan's shoulder. "And someone thought I gave Jeongin up to you for money- just, the way he said it so casually, it really got to me,"

"I'm sorry," Chan began, raking a hand through Minho's hair much like how Minho did when their positions had been reversed. "I'm sure it'll be okay- you leave early and return at sunset, even if they were awake during those hours they would never follow you through the forest,"

"I hope you're right," Minho responded, pulling away from the embrace and returning to the rest of his shopping. "I really hope so."

Chapter Text

"You can do it, Felix!"

"Yeah! Lixie! You can do it!"

Magic is fickle, to say the least.

Growing up is difficult, but growing up a witch is a whole new story. For hundreds of years, new witches have struggled to harness their power and control it as they wish. Magic seemingly has a mind of it's own, and if you try and get it to do something it doesn't want to, well- there can be explosive consequences. This, combined with inexperience of the world and quite often mood swings, means that young witches have a tough time learning to keep their power in check.

At least, thats what Minho learned from Chan's books. He had yet to experience a witch going through puberty, and counted his blessings that he still had a good few years before he would have to deal with Felix's temperamental mood swings. Still, Chan had decided it was time for Felix to start learning how to channel his magic. He had opted to start off small- making a flower bloom shouldn't be too taxing on Felix's still tiny body, and with any luck they'd be able to get him to take a nap afterwards; one less child to worry about.

And that brings us to today- Felix sitting cross legged with a wilting flower in his lap, the sun beating down on his hunched back in order to maximise his energy. Chan was seated next to him, whispering words of encouragement and guiding Felix through the process. Everyone else was stood quite a ways back- Chan wasn't expecting anything to go awry, but you can never be too careful. The boys had refused to watch from inside, insisting that they had to be there for moral support, so Minho was doing his best to keep all five of them away from the potential danger zone.

"Be quiet!" Felix shouted back, turning to pout at his brothers. Minho could tell that Felix was beginning to get fed up- they had only been there for ten minutes at the most, but ten minutes was a long time for a six year old to sit still. Felix huffed, dropping his head dramatically so that his cheeks were cushioned on his hands, elbows resting on his knees. With the way he glared at the flower, Minho wouldn't be too surprised if the flower died instead of reviving like intended.

"Ok, maybe we should try a different approach," Chan suggested, a clear attempt to hold Felix's attention for a little longer. "Felix, I want you to focus on the sun- how does it feel on your skin?"

Felix's expression contorted, his nose scrunching up in concentration.

"It feels like... fuzzy, and buzzing,"

"Oh! Like a bumblebee!" Hyunjin shouted excitedly, flapping his arms wildly as he jumped up and down.

"No," Felix said bluntly, not looking up from the flower.

"Oh." Hyunjin replied, coming to a standstill.

"Okay!" Chan said, changing the subject before anyone got upset. "Now, do you feel like that anywhere else? It should feel like a little pool of the same buzzing feeling,"

"Yes, in my tummy,"

"Good job, Lixie! Focus really hard on that feeling, can you do that?"

Felix only nodded in response, closing his eyes and poking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. Minho wondered how anyone could be that adorable without even trying.

"Okay, now grab ahold of that energy and pull it into your hands,"

Felix didn't react. The seconds dragged on like hours as they all stood in anticipation, waiting for something to happen. Felix's eyebrows became gradually more and more furrowed as he tried to channel his energy. As time ticked by without any results, Minho began to fear that nothing was going to happen and Felix would be left disappointed.

All of a sudden, though, Minho's fears evaporated- Felix's eyes fluttered open, revealing the most brilliant shade of gold he had ever seen. The glow was comparable to nothing Minho had encountered before, perhaps only closest to honey or the soft glow of fireflies on a dark night, or even the intense vibrancy of a flame. However, these all paled in comparison to the way Felix's eyes were alight.

"There's so much of it," Felix said softly, wonder seeping into his tone. They all watched with bated breath as Felix took in his surroundings; Minho hadn't read anything about this type of experience, but he assumed Felix must be seeing the world through rose tinted vision. Well, gold, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

Felix giggled, shattering the fragile silence and shaking everyone out of their reverie. Minho heard sighs of awe from the boys next to him.

"It tickles!" Felix squealed, squirming around on the grass.

"You're doing amazing, Felix," Chan said proudly, breaking out of his own daze. "Now all you need to do is send it into the flower with the intent to make it blossom!"

"Okay!" Felix chirped eagerly, repositioning his hands over the flower- however, before he moved any further, he looked up at Chan with a worried expression.

Uh oh.

"Chan, I think there's too much magic,"

"It may feel like a lot because you're in the sun, but I'm sure its the perfect amount. You just have to let go,"

"Okay..." Felix said, slightly less enthusiastic this time. "I'm letting go now."

Felix took a shaky breath, raised his hands to form a dome over the flower-

And then abruptly disappeared.

Well, he didn't disappear completely, but he did disappear from vision. One second there was Felix, and the next there was practically a jungle of overgrowth, all sorts of wild flowers and weeds protruding from the once primly cut grass- and finally, like the cherry on a cake, the flower Felix had been trying to grow stood proud and tall, jutting out from the centre of it all.

"Holy-"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence, Jisung,"

Minho would ask him where he learned that phrase later.

"Chan?" A tentative voice called from inside the spontaneous garden. "Can you help me, please?"

Chan, who had been gaping like a fish at the events that had just played out before him, jumped into action, waving his arms about frantically as he muttered spells to aid Felix. The plants vanished with a complimentary puff of pollen, revealing a very disgruntled Felix sitting exactly as he was before the whole fiasco started.

"Where do I put the rest of it?" He questioned, looking at Chan expectantly.

Minho didn't know much about magic, but even he was aware that growing a whole garden was enough for any fully fledged witch to want to take a nap- for Felix, a six year old, to still have energy left over? That was unheard of. Chan was also very aware of this fact, as it seemed, as he couldn't mask the disbelief and befuddlement in his voice.

"The- The rest of it?" He asked, alarmed.

"Yes-" Felix said, eyes drooping slightly. "It still-" He paused, wrinkling his nose a little. "Tickles."

Felix sneezed, and a number of things happened. Firstly, a burst of energy billowed out from around him, kicking up the pollen again and sending a shock through everyone standing within radius of it. Secondly, Felix's hair turned a startlingly bright shade of blonde, a stark contrast to the onyx black it had been before- and finally, Felix did a big yawn, then promptly flopped onto the grass, passing out instantaneously. Chan rushed over to make sure he was okay, checking his pulse and making sure he was still breathing. Upon confirmation that he was okay and there wasn't too much reason to worry, Chan hoisted Felix into his arms and carried him into the house.

Minho made sure the wave of energy hadn't left any lasting effects on the rest of the children before he allowed them to follow after Chan, worriedly questioning him about what happened as they tripped over eachother.

Aside from assuring the boys that Felix was going to be fine, Chan stayed relatively silent until he had Felix firmly tucked into bed, clutching at his favourite teddy as if it could run off if he didn't strangle it in his slumber.

"So..." He began, gulping heavily as he looked back to Minho. "At least we got him to take a nap?"

Unbelievable.

Minho scoffed. "That's all you have to say? No explanation, no- what happened? Is he going to be okay?"

"Minho- Minho calm down, he's gonna be fine- This kind of thing isn't unheard of, and I really don't know anything about light witches so this could even be normal. Just breathe, okay? He's just sleeping."

Minho took a few deep breaths, trying to steady his heart rate. He knew that he should try and keep a brave face for the boys, but it was difficult. Felix felt like his own son now, and should anything happen Minho would never forgive himself, whether he could have helped it or not.

Fortunately, Minho didn't have to try and hold himself together for much longer. There was a groan from Felix's bed, and then Felix was being smothered by none other than Jisung.

"Lixie! You're okay!"

"Sungie!" Felix replied weakly, replacing his grip on his teddy with his best friend. Minho prayed for Jisung's lungs as he watched the poor boy get the air squeezed out of him.

"Oh, thank Terra," Chan said, collapsing into his chair with a huff. Minho was too relieved to even begin questioning who Terra was and why they had them to thank.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, running a hand through Felix's hair.

"Sleepy," Felix responded, accompanied by a big yawn. He seemed about to fall asleep again when something occurred to him. "Minho?"

"Yes?" Minho replied expectantly, leaning closer.

"Why did you tell Jisung not to say holy smokes?"

Oh dear.

"Well- you see-"

His stalling was cut off by Chan's laughter. Minho turned to glare at him, smacking his shoulder out of disdain.

"You could at least help a little!" He hissed.

"It's just not a good thing to say," Chan said through giggles. It wasn't very convincing, but fortunately the boys were still young and gullible.

"But you said we could use it!" Jisung accused, pointing a finger at Chan.

Minho finally joined in the laughter, pushing Jisung's arm down.

"You should listen to your father!"

"Fine! Me and Lixie are going to sleep, and you can't stay here!" He replied indignantly, pouting like an angry kitten.

"Okay, okay, we're leaving," Chan said, both hands up in surrender. "I'm glad you're okay though, Lixie,"

Felix only hummed in reply, already succumbing to the comfortable hands of sleep. Minho ushered the rest of the children out if the room, all happy to resume normal activities now they knew their brother was okay. He shut the door softly behind him, before turning and facing Chan once again.

"So!" Chan began, giving Minho that smile that told him he was about to say something Minho absolutely did not want to hear. "I wonder what kind of trouble they're going to get up to now Felix has magic on his hands!"

Minho shuddered.

He hoped it would be a while before he found out.

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

It would be so easy for Minho to despise Spring. Considering all the loss and suffering the season has brought him in past years, one would expect the three short months to dwell amongst the more bitter thoughts in Minho's mind. It would be so easy for him to consider the blooming flowers a mockery of the other lives that were taken from him- why do they get to thrive while his family were mercilessly stripped of their souls? He could even allow the rapidly ebbing winter to remind him of all the time that had passed, leaving those he holds so close to his heart even further in the past.

Despite how easy it would be for Minho to associate the season with all his life's sorrows, he prefers to hold it in a different regard. The freshly blooming flowers instead remind him that new beginnings come no matter how cold the world gets, the changing of season is just yet another year he's managed to keep going strong, to be there for his loved ones that are still physically with him. Minho likes Spring, loves it even; It gives him hope, reminds him to view his memories with fondness, be grateful that it happened instead of upset that its over.

If theres one thing about spring Minho does hate, though, it's spring showers.

Minho has never liked the rain. Sure, it could be fun to splash around in from time to time, but doing so will almost always result in a nasty case of the sniffles, maybe even render you confined to your bed for a few days. Having a child around made the rain even worse- with the rain comes boredom, and having a bored child doesn't often end with anything good. It was practically a recipe for disaster, and Minho had learned that the hard way.

Fortunately, Chan's magic meant that unless he willed for something else, his little bubble of life would remain in a perpetual state of warmth, barely bending to the world surrounding them.

Unfortunately, the warm weather was, as stated, in a bubble. It didn't stretch very far, it certainly didn't reach anywhere near the outskirts of the forest, so stepping from a blanket of warmth into the frigid cold was always an unwelcome shock to the system. This was made even worse by how one couldn't even see what was happening beyond the veil- the rest of the forest looked as if it were under the same illusion of sunshine, and Minho never knew what conditions he was walking into. Surprisingly, though, this had never caused him much trouble- not until today, at least.

Nothing particularly spectacular had happened that day. Other than the standard amount of chaos and destruction, there was no new story to add to the already vast collection, everything went as it usually did. The trouble actually arrived after Minho and Jeongin had said their goodbyes, bid them goodnight and set off.

The two were used to the blast of cold, the occasional light snow or gentle precipitation not being foreign to them. Minho thought he probably should have anticipated that something like this would have happened eventually, and judging by the dark clouds he had noted rolling in earlier that day, he should have taken extra precautions. Despite the thick coats and boots Minho had made sure to wrap them in, they were hardly protected from the weather they stepped into.

It was rather disorienting, to be honest. The first thing Minho registered after he felt the telltale rush of magic bending around them was a thunderous boom, then blinding light filling the sky. It took a little longer for the cold to set in, but once he felt it there was no way he could ignore it. It was as if he were being pelted with frozen bullets, tiny icicles piercing every sliver of skin left unprotected. The rain, rather than falling, was racing towards the ground- so much of it that Minho could only make out a few metres in front of him. He could just about hear a squeal through the deafening roar of the rain, and he spun around as he felt Jeongin's hand leave his own just in time to see his son disappearing through the veil.

It took Minho an extra second to get his bearings about him and realise that Jeongin definitely had the right idea in returning to the warmth. He stepped back, taking a deep breath as hot air encased him once again, still not enough to fight the chill that had reached his bones. He made eye contact with Chan as he looked up and- wait, was Chan laughing?

'That bastard,' Minho thought as he scowled, wiping water out of his eyes. Chan was doubled over in mirth, clutching at his stomach as giggles spilled from his lips. If Minho weren't shivering quite so violently, he probably would have found the scene endearing.

"What's so funny?" Minho questioned, crossing his arms petulantly.

"Y- You look like a drowned cat," Chan replied, stuttering through his laughter.

"That," Minho paused, narrowing his eyes at Chan, "is quite rude, thank you very much,"

Most people would have been intimidated by Minho- his high cheekbones and stony glare would usually be enough to turn a grown man's knees to jelly, but Chan just straightened up and patted Minho's head.

"Let's get you both some towels, I can't have you walking home in this. We can wait it out besides the fire."

"But it'll be dark soon, I can't take Jeongin into the forest while it's dark, what if- what if we get eaten!" Minho complained, throwing his hands in the air to emphasise how much he did not want to get eaten today.

"By bears!" Jeongin tagged on joyfully.

"Yes! What if we get eaten by bears!" Minho finished, nodding wildly at Chan and clutching at his shirt.

"I suppose you're right- well, we have no choice but to have a sleepover then!" Chan grinned while trying to loosen Minho's white-knuckle grip on his carefully pressed shirt.

"Sleepover!" Jeongin cried, already sprinting back into the cottage, excited to tell his friends he was staying all night.

"Are you sure that's okay?" Minho questioned, "I wouldn't want to intrude or anything- and where is there to even sleep?"

"Well, there's plenty of space in the kids rooms for Jeongin to stay- I imagine they'll want to build a blanket fort somewhere. Then, you could sleep..." Chan rubbed his neck sheepishly as he trailed off, and Minho noticed the tips of his ears turning crimson.

"The living room?" He questioned.

"It might be slightly uncomfortable, you could always sleep in my bed if it's too lumpy or anything," Chan said, and Minho suddenly understood why his ears had turned red.

"I guess we'll see," Minho grinned teasingly. "Now, I would really like one of those towels if you don't mind."

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

"What is this?"

"A blanket fort. Duh,"

It wasn't a blanket fort. Blanket forts were... well, forts. They had structure, usually walls. This was just a pile of blankets and duvets with 6 boys buried in various spots throughout it.

Minho made sure to voice this.

"Hey!" Jeongin pouted. Minho thought he was likely crossing his arms, but only his head was visible amongst the sea of blankets. "We did make it have walls, but Hyunjin knocked them down."

"It's not my fault you made the fort for short people like you! You- you short person!" Hyunjin replied defensively, sticking his tongue out in Jeongin's direction.

"Good one, Hyunjin," Changbin said, muffled from the nest of pillows he had created for himself. Minho was almost envious.

"Okay, well, why did you build it in here?"

"Because it has the most space!" Felix replied enthusiastically, fighting his blankets momentarily so he could get his arms out and gesture around.

"You couldn't have used one of your rooms?"

"No." Was the blunt response.

Okay, well, that was that then. Minho knew there was no use arguing with six sleepy children who had already made up their stubborn little minds. He had honestly been planning on taking the living room- Minho wasn't quite prepared to spend the night next to the man he was falling in love with, but since said living room was clearly occupied he was going to have to brace himself. Fast.

"Are you all ready for your bedtime story then?" Chan said, clapping his hands together as he entered the room. The boys all cheered, although far weaker than Minho was used to. "What do you want us to read?"

It seems the boys were prepared for this question. Minho watched as they struggled out of their blankets to reveal the books they had smuggled in with them- Changbin's book had a cartoonishly drawn archer on the front, Felix's had a large goose with a golden egg, Hyunjin's was one Minho recognised as Snow White. They all immediately began squabbling amongst themselves, each trying to really sell the idea of their chosen story.

"Seungmin?" Minho spoke over the volume the rest of the children were making. "Why don't you have a book?"

Seungmin, who had previously been scowling as he was sat directly in the crossfire of an ongoing argument between Changbin and Jisung, brightened up immediately upon being asked.

"I want you to make up a story!" He declared. Minho was close to declining before he saw the eager faces of the other children, all having abandoned their own books in favour of a new tale.

"Why not read one of your favourite books instead?" He questioned.

"Because Chan always reads them, and when we ask him to make up a story it's always too boring!"

"Hey!"

"Okay then...," Minho said, ignoring Chan's protests. "You all have to help me, though!" he finished, looking at them all with a serious expression. He then glanced pointedly at Chan. "That means you, too, don't leave me alone to entertain your children,"

Chan raised his hands in surrender, smiling fondly back at Minho. "Okay, okay,"

"Where to begin... One day-"

"No! It has to be once upon a time!"

Minho sighed.

"Once upon a time, there was... a prince and his best friend, a fairy."

"Oh! I want to be the fairy, Minho, can I please be the fairy, pretty pretty please!" Felix begged from his mountain of blankets.

"Of course-"

"The I'm the prince!" Jisung announced, puffing out his chest victoriously.

"No!" Hyunjin cried, glowering at Jisung. "I want to be the prince!"

"There can be two princes- neighbouring kingdoms-" Minho tried, but the children were all far too encased in their own world to hear him.

"Obviously Minho has to be the prince!" Seungmin shouted, finally gaining the attention back from his brothers.

"But I want to be the prince-"

"But Minho rescued Chan! So he is the prince."

Minho rescued Chan? Minho really had no idea what Seungmin meant by that, but it was clear that he was not gaining an explanation from the children anytime soon. Instead, he turned to face Chan, exasperation written all over his features.

"When I said they could help I didn't mean like this," He chuckled.

"I have a feeling we're going to be here a lot longer than planned," Chan agreed, mirroring Minho's expression. "Okay boys! How about Minho and I be kings, Jisung and Hyunjin can be princes, and Felix is the fairy, okay?"

"I want to be a princess dragon! And I want to have cool fire arrows!"

"There are no princess dragons, silly-"

Minho shushed Jeongin in the middle of his sentence, desperately trying to avoid a tantrum. "You can all be whatever characters you want- this is our story so there are no limits. Now are you going to actually let us tell the story?"

"But dragons can't shoot arrows, they're too big!"

"Okay, if we can't decide who's who, how about we read a different book?"

"No!" The majority of them called, at the same time as Hyunjin shouted, "Snow White!"

Minho sighed again.

Yeah... They were going to be here a while.

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

Wrestling yourself away from six children who all want you to stay at a normal time of day is difficult, of course, but Minho decided that he would count his lucky stars that that's all he has to deal with most days. A new kind of gratefulness was instilled in Minho after he spent well over an hour trying to bring their story to a close and drag himself away from the six sleepy children, who just seemed to get more and more relentless as the minutes ticked by. Needless to say, Minho was going to try his best to avoid making their own stories in future.

Fortunately, he and Chan did (eventually) manage to evade anymore storytelling and leave the boys to get their well needed rest. Unfortunately, with this came Minho's next problem- sleeping next to Chan.

It wasn't that Minho was uncomfortable sleeping by Chan; in fact, it was quite the opposite. Minho had been dreaming about being wrapped in Chan's arms for months, of being able to wake up and kiss his nose then go and make breakfast for both them and the children. Minho wanted nothing more than the simple domesticity of being able to sleep next to a loved one. The only problem was that Chan was currently not his loved one. Sure, he had fallen for him, but there was no official title, and they had yet to talk about what exactly they were.

Minho didn't know why it had taken them such a long time to get around to it- perhaps it was the fear that one of them was reading into things too much, or maybe fear of the consequences should things not work out. For whatever reason, they had not partaken in this very important conversation as of yet, and both of them knew that in order to sleep besides eachother comfortably they were going to have to address the very large, very obnoxious elephant in the room.

They both got ready for bed silently. Chan allowed Minho to borrow a set of his pyjamas, though Minho had already decided they were so comfortable he was going to be keeping them, permission granted or not. Not that Chan could ever say no to him. They brushed their teeth besides eachother, only breaking the quiet to laugh when toothpaste dripped down Chan's chin in a rather unflattering manner. Minho found himself trying to spend as long as possible in the bathroom, but he knew he was merely delaying the inevitable.

Finally, Minho really couldn't waste away the minutes any longer. He stepped into Chan's room, rubbing his arms awkwardly.

"So..." He began, "I rescued you, huh?"

Chan chucked, looking down at his hands folded in his lap.

"I may have told the children that you're like my knight in shining armour," he laughed, still avoiding Minho's eyes. "I'm used to being quite lonely, you know, but these last few months have been the happiest of my entire life,"

"I'm glad we make you happy," Minho said softly. Chan finally looked at him, a small smile on his face.

"You've made me happy, Minho. I love the boys, but you're the last puzzle piece in my little family."

Minho giggled, finally letting some of the tension out of his shoulders.

"You're so cheesy," he complained, though he was still smiling.

They fell silent again, neither of them quite knowing what to say next.

"You can at least get under the covers, you know," Chan whispered, as if the delicate atmosphere would shatter should he speak any louder. Minho chose not to respond, instead padding forwards and sliding under the blankets besides Chan. He cleared his throat.

"We need to talk about stuff,"

There it was. The unspoken agreement was finally laid out for the world to see, solidifying the fact that there was no avoiding this anymore.

"Yeah," Chan replied, voice slightly scratchy. "We do,"

"We almost kissed," Minho continued.

"We did." Chan agreed again, looking down to his hands folded in front if him. "You're not reading into things too far, if that's what you're wondering. I- I wanted to. Kiss you, I mean."

Minho looked up at Chan. Those were words he had been desperate to hear for weeks- he had imagined how this conversation would go time and time again, practiced his words in the mirror a thousand different ways, pictured how Chan would look in the moment over and over. However, now that he was actually here, he realised his imagination had certainly not done the scene justice.

Chan was ethereal. The soft light from the candle besides him illuminated the bridge of his nose, the way his eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks. His golden curls were tangled and mussed up, but Minho found him beautiful- there was something endearing about seeing Chan as just Chan, not a witch in the woods, not a father, just Chan in his little room in his little cottage, surrounded by things that all make him him. After his confession, Minho looked at Chan, really looked at him, and in that moment he realised his feelings went far deeper than he had thought.

"Me too. I-" he paused to take a deep breath. "I think I'm in love with you, to be honest,"

Minho felt as if a weight had lifted off his chest. He had been expecting to be sick with nerves, for his heart thundering against his ribcage as the butterflies ran rampant in his stomach, but all he felt was a soothing relief. It was as if he could finally breathe easy again- sharing the contents of his heart had only brought him a comforting serenity.

"I'm in love with you too," Chan responded, smiling as he took hold of Minho's hands, holding his gaze. "I wanted to wait for you- I had an inkling you felt the same, but I knew you still needed time. I just want to make sure you're okay with all this, I know it's only been a year since your wife passed and I don't want you to rush into something you'll regret."

Minho smiled gratefully, brushing his thumbs over Chan's and intertwining their fingers. "I'm going to be truthful with you; I do still love her, and I think I always will, but I've come to accept that she's gone now, for good. I know she would want me to move on and be happy. We married young, and then we had Jeongin and had to work, so there was never much time for eachother. I want to make sure I have all the time in the world for you. I do love her, and that will never change, but I think that I will grow to love you more,"

By the time he had finished, tears had welled up in Chan's eyes. Minho raised a hand to wipe them away as they fell, giggling softly at him.

"I love you. So much," He repeated.

"I love you too," Chan replied through sniffles. "Can I kiss you? There are no interruptions this time."

Minho barely had time to nod before Chan's lips were moving against his. He wasn't usually one to cry when he was happy, but the emotion was overwhelming and he couldn't help his eyes misting up a little. His heart was practically singing from joy, threatening to fly out of his chest and burst like fireworks in a sparkling sky.

They both smiled into the kiss, clacking their teeth together awkwardly and causing them to pull away giggling.

"I can do that all the time now," Chan said breathlessly, placing a kiss on the tip of Minho's nose.

"Please do," Minho replied. His cheeks were beginning to hurt from all the smiling, he was doing, so he buried his face into Chan's shoulder. They toppled back onto the mattress, and Chan wrapped his arms around Minho's shoulders.

"I've wanted this for a really long time," Minho said, muffled from his position. He felt Chan's arm tighten around him protectively.

"I have too," he replied softly.

Minho was still struggling to wrap his mind around the fact that Chan was finally all his. They lay in silence for a while, simply basking in eachothers prescence. The atmosphere was peaceful, and Minho wouldn't have it any other way- all he could feel was the steady rise and fall of Chan's chest, the only sound was the gentle thump of his heart and light pattering of rain against the window.

Wait a second- Minho did a double take, listening extra carefully to the world around him. Surely enough, he wasn't mistaken; it really was raining.

"Chan? What happened to the weather bubble thing you usually have up? It's raining," He asked, staring at the intricate patterns created by the water on the window.

"Weather bubble thing?" Chan chucked. "That's very eloquent of you."

Minho hit a hand against his chest, though it didn't have nearly enough force behind it to hurt. "Shut up! I don't know what it's called," he whined.

"It's just a regulatory spell I put up during the day so the boys can play outside when they want, but it saps my magic so I don't leave it up overnight. Besides, the plants and grass need some watering every now and again."

"Magic is so helpful," Minho mumbled, still watching the rain. It was getting heavier now, pelting against the windows instead of a gentle patter. Minho thought he saw a flash of light too, but the haziness playing at the corners of his vision from his exhaustion may have been playing tricks on him.

"It is, but you have to be careful with it. You always need to have an alternative because sometimes magic may fail you in times of need," Chan warned.

"Says you," Minho snorted, "With the amount of money you pull out of thin air you're going to single handedly destroy the economy."

Minho knew he had caught Chan out when the witch began to stutter. "I- well, it's just a little every now and again, it's not like I'll do that much damage," he defended.

"Sure, but if every witch thought that way, the economy wouldn't stand a chance," Minho smirked.

"You sound like my mother," Chan grumbled in reply. Minho slapped his chest again.

"Don't say that! I'm your boyfriend now, you can't compare me to family members,"

"Boyfriend..." Chan repeated.

Minho felt his heart stutter momentarily- had he assumed things too fast? What if Chan wasn't ready for that, what if Minho just ruined everything-

"I like the sound of that. My boyfriend." He finished. Minho felt a little stupid for overthinking things so quicky, but all doubts were completely erased as Chan placed a tender kiss to the crown of his head.

"Gosh, you really are unbelievably cheesy," Minho giggled.

The moment was interrupted when someone knocked against the bedroom door.

"Chan?" A small voice called, slightly muted from the layer of wood standing between them.

Chan and Minho gave eachother looks of equal confusion. Being closest to the door, Minho climbed out of bed to let the unexpected visitor in.

"What's wrong, Binnie?" He asked upon seeing the owner of the voice.

"There's thunder..." He trailed off sheepishly, playing with the hem of his pyjama shirt.

Lo and behold, the sky chose that moment to let out a great clap of thunder, so loud that Minho could have sworn he saw some of the photo frames lining the walls rattle.

"Are you scared?" Minho asked as he began to pat down Changbin's wild bed-hair.

"I'm not scared!" He shouted, suddenly very keen to defend himself. "I- I just thought that you and Chan might be, so I'm here to protect you!" He declared with a defiant nod.

"Well, in that case, you better climb in, hadn't you?" Chan said, smiling fondly at his son. Changbin didn't hesitate for a second to leap towards the bed, getting tangled in the blankets as he tried to get as close to Chan as possible.

Minho laughed as Changbin went, finding his poor excuse utterly adorable.

"Do you think we should be expecting anymore visitors soon?" Minho questioned knowingly.

"I would leave the door open, just in case." Chan grinned in return.

As it turns out, leaving the door open had been for the best. Chan's bed slowly reached far past it's capacity as the children filed in, all insisting they weren't afraid yet trembling under the covers. Only Jeongin seemed genuine in his claims, more fascinated with the lightning than anything else- he had simply come up because he didn't want to be alone in the living room.

Chan sighed loudly, somewhat because he was happy but mostly because he was struggling to breathe with all the children currently cuddled on top of him.

"What's got you so wistful?" Minho asked, craning his neck awkwardly to look at Chan from his position.

"Just happy to be here, with my family," Chan said. Minho rolled his eyes and thought about how rich he'd be if he got a penny everytime Chan said something cringeworthy. Although, he had to admit that he was a bit of a hypocrite as he mirrored Chan's smile.

"I'm happy to have you all here too," he replied. Chan leaned over to kiss him, accidentally kneeing a few of his children in the process.

"Ew." Seungmin said, wrinkling his nose. "Gross."

"So," Minho said teasingly, ignoring Seungmin and looking to Chan. "What's that you were saying about no interruptions this time?"

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

"I have a bad feeling," Chan announced to nobody in particular, pausing in the middle of his task.

"Oh?" Minho said as he wiped some stray grains of rice off of Jeongin's chin. "Do you know why?"

"No," Chan replied, his lips pulled taut and eyebrows furrowed. He tapped his foot for a few beats before turning to face Minho.

"Can you stay tonight?"

Minho smirked, slumping back in his seat and crossing his arms. "Is this just an elaborate excuse to get us to stay longer?" He teased.

"No, I really think you should stay here tonight," Chan pleaded, worry seeping into his tone.

Minho's grin fell and he sighed, standing up to make his way around the table to where Chan was standing. He cupped Chan's cheeks in his hands, running his thumbs over his face to smooth out any wrinkles from his frown.

"You know I would love to stay here, my love, but we really can't- we've stayed here for two nights and thats already enough for people to get suspicious, if we stay here any longer I fear they'll put a bounty on your head and send out a man hunt,"

"But- what if something happens, and I'm not there to protect you? Besides, I've lived through hunting parties before, I can do it again!" Chan countered, though he knew it was a losing battle.

"That was before you had five little people to look out for though, Channie. Also, I don't want to put you through that again. Please, it'll be better for us both if we go back, just for tonight, and then Jeongin and I will be back in the morning and you'll feel silly that you ever worried in the first place, okay?"

Chan ran a tense hand through his hair, something he tended to do whenever he was about to relent to one of the boys wishes but was not happy about it.

"I suppose you're right," He huffed. "But only on the condition I can walk you both home and you wait for me to pick you up tomorrow! Just to be safe,"

"Just to be safe," Minho agreed, kissing the tip of Chan's nose gently. "Thank you for caring,"

"Of course," Chan smiled back, though there was an uneasy glint in his eyes. It scared Minho, but he wouldn't let Chan know that or else he would never let them out of his sight.

Minho would later learn that you should always trust a witch's instinct.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully. They finished lunch, which is what they were doing when Chan brought up his concerns, and Chan completed... Whatever it was that he was doing. Minho assumed he must have been practicing some sort of spell, but all he knew for sure was that it involved a lot of herbs and teacups.

Minho often wondered if he would ever come to fully understand the world of witches, but he usually answered his own question with a hard no. Even Chan had a hard time grasping some concepts, so Minho really had no hope. He was still trying his best, though, and had even wrangled Chan into promising to teach him how to use the limited magic he can access.

To be honest, Minho only really wanted to learn so he could make himself cups of tea without leaving his seat, but don't tell Chan that.

Fortunately, the children were very lethargic and relaxed that day, all worn out from the long nights they'd had after staying up far too late to talk to Jeongin. Minho and Chan had debated going and telling them to sleep, but they eventually decided it would be far nicer to let them talk all night and hopefully have them all take a nap the next day for an hour or two of rare peace and quiet.

For once, no pranks or sneaky tricks were executed- not even Hyunjin's morning tea fell victim to contamination from Seungmin's deft hands. Minho tried to view this as a good thing, he really did, but he couldn't help considering that it may be due to the looming feeling that something was going to take place very soon. Perhaps the children felt it too, and weren't in the mood for pranks.

The walk home was peaceful. As a child, Minho had hated walks, always dreading those days where his parents would drag him away from his books or wooden toys so he could stumble along behind them, bored out of his mind. Now that he was older, he found himself beginning to understand why his parents enjoyed walks so much- a feeling of content settled in his chest as he acknowledged his surroundings, truly appreciating the sweet birdsong and the gentle breeze caressing his hair for the first time. When he was with people he loved, nature's beauty seemed to increase tenfold, making every colour more vibrant, every flower bloom brighter and bolder than before.

Minho would have liked their journey to last forever, but as all good things must come to an end so did their walk home. The serenity of the forest was soon disturbed by the boisterous laughter of village men making their way to the pub, the floral-pine scent replaced with smoke and the occasional whiff of freshly cooked meals.

"This is where I leave you, then," Chan said as they reached the border, glancing around anxiously as if he was just waiting for them to get pounced on by a vicious beast.

"Get back safely, Channie," Minho replied, loosening his grip on Chan's hand to let his own fall by his side.

"I'll be here first thing tomorrow?"

"Can't wait," Minho confirmed, smiling in return.

"Okay," Chan said, his nerves visibly lessening a little. Minho could tell he was still jittery, but at least he wasn't stressing as badly as before. "Be good, Innie,"

Jeongin gasped in a manner far too similar to Hyunjin, turning his nose up at Chan.

"I am always good," He stated very matter-of-factly. Minho wasn't sure who he was trying to fool.

"Yeah, and I'm Santa Claus," Chan chuckled.

This time when Jeongin gasped, he was genuine. Having only recently turned five, he was still rather gullible and not brilliant at detecting sarcasm, as proven by the way he stared at Chan with stars in his eyes.

"Really? Can I have a little brother for Christmas? I don't want to be the youngest anymore!"

Chan made an effort to form words but all that came out was a strangled gurgling sound. He looked at Minho for help, who only laughed and clamped a hand on Jeongin's shoulder.

"Only if you're a good boy!" He said sunnily, to which Jeongin began to aggressively clap his hands with glee.

When Minho turned his gaze back to Chan, he noticed that the witch was a little distant, his eyes glazed over as he stared off into the nothingness before him. Minho could imagine that his thought process was something along the lines of 'Terra, not another one, please, not again.' Minho had to say he agreed, six were quite enough.

Minho placed a hand on Chan's cheek to bring him back to the world of the living, giggling as Chan blinked at him with a very folorn expression.

"We'll get going then, you probably shouldn't leave the kids unsupervised much longer," He said, then glanced around. They weren't quite out of the trees yet, and it was rather dark out so it was unlikely anybody had noticed them. Minho couldn't see any curious eyes trained on them either, so he decided that the risk was worth it. He pulled Chan towards him, giving him one last chaste kiss before they had to go.

"I love you," Minho smiled, letting go of Chan.

"I love you, too," Chan replied, mirroring his smile. "See you soon,"

"Tomorrow," Minho nodded, and with that he and Jeongin left the safety of the trees and made their way towards their little cottage. Chan watched until they were completely out of sight, still unable to shake his nerves. Every part of him protested as he turned his back on the village, but he knew he had to return to his children.

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

Something was really wrong.

Chan had had bad feelings before. He had learned to take them with a pinch of salt- on one too many occasions Chan had spent the entire day fretting over the uncomfortable churning in his gut, only to find out that all he was sensing was a minor inconvenience, something easily fixed. The last time he had a bad feeling, Changbin had broken his arm. Fortunately, the bone hadn't shifted out of place, so all it took was a regenerative potion Chan kept a constant stock of and an overnight balm to keep the pain to a minimum. By morning, Changbin was right as rain, back to firing his arrows at all the poor, unsuspecting trees lining their little corner of the forest.

Chan had, eventually, gained the ability to tell whether what he was sensing would be a rather severe issue or something he didn't need to put much thought into. The feeling on the day Changbin broke his arm had been quite a persistent nagging, cementing itself in the forefront of his mind.

He had never experienced anything like this, though.

Chan felt like he was aware of every single nerve in his body. His fingers trembled violently as he gripped his steaming mug, ignoring the way it seared his hand painfully. It was a good distraction. He felt too ill to drink it. The usually pleasant butterflies in his stomach were agonising, keeping him constantly on the edge of his seat, ready for something, anything to go wrong. He had tried to go to bed an hour ago, forcing his eyes to stay closed as a feeble attempt to surrender to the realm of sleep, but after forty five minutes of anxiety-riddled thoughts running through his mind like wildfire he had given up.

A storm was coming, and he didn't think it was the weather kind.

Chan found himself wishing yet again that he had tried harder to get Minho to stay. He couldn't tell you how many times he had berated himself for giving in so easily, repeating the same mantra to himself of 'you should have tried harder, you should have done more."

However, it was too late now. Minho was tucked up in his own bed just like how Chan's children were in theirs, just like Jeongin was in his and just like how Chan should be. He yawned loudly, making his way over to the window in order to pour the now cold herbal tea over his potted plants. It was about time he tried yet again to force his body to sleep.

That's when he heard the scream.

It took him a second to match the voice to a person- the yell was accompanied with whispers, hundreds of whispers that dominated over Chan's every thought. It was disorienting, it took him a second to adjust and come back to his senses. When he did, there was only one thought that remained-

Felix.

Chan was pretty strict about the no running in the house rule. As much as he tended to give in to whatever his boys asked of him, he knew if he let them play tag in the halls something terrible was bound to happen. On this occasion, the rule went completely out of the window. Chan tore through his cottage, almost stepping on a toy train as he went that would have definitely caused a fall so bad he would have been rendered useless for a few days. Yeah, that rule was a good idea on his part.

Now was not the time for patting himself on the back, though, as he almost knocked Felix's door off it's hinges upon entering. Felix was curled into the fetal position, rocking back and fourth as tears practically poured down his cheeks, hands gripping over his ears so tightly Chan feared he would hurt himself.

"Felix?" Chan said, trying to pry Felix's little hands away from his head. Felix looked at him with bloodshot eyes, whether it was from just waking up or his tears, Chan couldn't tell.

"Minho's in trouble," Felix whispered, a fresh wave of tears spilling down his face. "The trees know! They can see! They're going to hurt him!"

His voice steadily raised in volume, eventually becoming indecipherable as he panicked. Chan didn't need to understand him though- he already knew enough. All of the colour drained from his face as the words set in, sending the already-relentless butterflies into a flurry of terror.

"Oh Terra- I- Felix, stay here, keep safe, I have to go and help Minho, yeah? There's no need to worry, we will all be back here soon. I'll make sure he's okay," Chan said, though his attempt at staying strong for Felix was thwarted by the tremour in his voice and the way he clearly didn't believe his own words. Nonetheless, Felix nodded, his cries dying down a little.

"Quick," Was all he managed to say through his sniffles before Chan was sprinting out of the door.

It was as if time came to a halt as Chan charged through the woods, ignoring the painful thrashes of stray twigs and thistles invading his path. He couldn't register anything other than the pounding of his feet and the panic rushing through his veins. He had made the usually fifteen minute journey in about five, yet it still felt like the time had passed in both the blink of an eye and also several years. His lungs burned, aching for a break, for the sweet relief of oxygen, but Chan couldn't comply to his body's wishes. He had to press on, had to reach Minho before something truly terrible happened.

As he neared the border where the trees met the village, he started to notice something. The sky was murky, the night stars concealed by a billowing cloud, devoid of any colour. It looked suffocating, consuming any sliver of light it came across, shrouding the village under a canopy of darkness.

Fire.

Chan almost felt the contents of his stomach raise to his throat along with his heart as he realised the ominous thick smoke was rising directly from the house he had watched Minho and Jeongin enter into only a few hours prior.

His legs screamed at him as he finally burst from the trees and came to a stop in front of the burning building, the only thing keeping him upright being the adrenaline coursing through him. He arrived just in time to watch part of the roof cave in, succumbing to the vicious heat of the flames that were devastating to anything they touched. Chan may have screamed, but he wasn't all too sure as the only thought that truly stuck in his mind was the whereabouts of Minho and Jeongin.

He began clawing at the charred wood, ignoring the blisters that almost immediately bubbled up over his palms. Somewhere along the way he realised he was definitely screaming, yelling for Minho or Jeongin as he tore apart the remnants of their little cottage, to no avail. He felt as if he were underwater, all sounds turning muffled before they reached his ears, detached from everything around him. The helplessness began to settle in as his movements became more frantic, trying to keep going despite the smoke invading his lungs and attempting to suffocate him from the inside out.

"Chan!"

He paused, discarding a crumbling plank of wood at his feet as he listened closely to the night.

"Chan! Help!"

Despite the muddy quality to any sound that reached his ears, Chan heard that yell clear as day.

Jeongin wasn't dead, not yet, and he was in trouble. Chan didn't hesitate to abandon what he was doing upon hearing Jeongin's cries for help, sending a quick prayer to Mother Nature that Minho would be alive and in the same place as him before he stumbled towards the source of the voice.

Tendrils of black danced at the corners of his vision as he pushed on, struggling to make his body cooperate with his mind. The smoke had quicky hindered his abilities, clouding his thoughts and limiting the oxygen being supplied to the rest of his body. Still, he couldn't give up, not now. He fought with his conciousness, coughing and spluttering to rid his lungs of the toxic substance.

Chan soon found his head clear enough to acknowledge telltale cries and shouts, alerting him to the presence of a large crowd of people gathered where he was headed. That was bad- really bad.

Upon first entry into what he remembered to be the village square, nobody seemed to pay any attention to him. Chan took a sharp intake of breath as he glanced around, realising just how much had changed since he last had the privilege of simply taking everything in. Rushed market visits with large, dark cloaks didn't really allow him much time to just lift his head and take a peek around, but now he was seeing the village in it's full glory he realised how much had truly changed.

The village's 'full glory' wasn't much, if he was honest. Chan's cottage was probably prettier than every building lining the square combined, yet the contrast from what he remembered was still enough to shock him. Most of the houses had gained an extra floor, and it appeared as though the central houses must be for the richer folk as the materials were far sturdier than those Chan had previously passed. At some point they must have erected a statue, in honour of who, Chan couldn't tell. He would have attempted to read the rusted plaque had his focus not be drawn to something far more important.

His eyes followed the crowd until they finally settled on what he was looking for- or rather, who. Beyond the howling people, expressions of anger and betrayal written plainly over their features, beyond the village men wearing clothes that suggested they were of a far higher status than anyone else there, beyond the monotonous faces of town guards (two of which were holding back a shrieking Jeongin, to which Chan sent a silent thanks to Mother Nature that he was okay), was Minho, his eyes wide with terror as they found Chan's own.

Anger bubbled dangerously in the pit of Chan's stomach as he saw the predicament Minho had been placed in. His arms and legs were bound by thick ropes, no doubt rubbing his wrists painfully raw and cutting off his circulation to his hands and feet. He was tied to a large stake, and if Chan craned his neck he could see piles of firewood stacked up beneath him.

Chan recognised the setup. He had seen it once before, decades ago when their roles were reversed, when the villagers had tried to capture him instead.

When the villagers tried to kill him.

He had made it in time, Chan realised belatedly with an exhale of relief. The village mayor was still talking, declaring Minho's sentence to his fellow villagers.

"-Hereby pronouncing Lee Minho guilty on accounts of sodomy and conspiring with witches, crimes both punishable by death-"

Chan smiled sadly, keeping his eyes locked with Minho, who shook his head in warning.

"I love you," Chan mouthed.

Minho continued to shake his head, expression becoming more panicked by the second as he began to fight the ropes harder than he had before, though his attempts were fruitless. He knew Chan, he knew what he was about to do. Chan moved fowards, making his prescence known as he positioned himself in the centre of the square. Perhaps, in any other situation, he would have laughed at the speed with which the crowd silenced themselves.

"Release him," Chan spoke, his voice far louder than was natural for any human. "His actions were not his."

"What-" Minho cried frustratedly, blood beginning to run down his hands from his effort to break free, "are you doing?"

Chan didn't let his smile drop, even when tears started to freely fall down his cheeks. He hoped that Minho could read his eyes, could understand how much Chan loved him through merely his gaze. It would be the last time he was able to tell him.

"I spelled him- a human could never fall in love with a witch like me, of course, so I made him love me. He's the victim here, let him go. Take me instead,"

He made sure to pour every ounce of magic he could into his words, compelling the villagers to follow his orders.

"No!" Minho screeched, though he was already being untied. "Don't do this Chan, they need you- This is all me, I swear- Hey!- Put me down, you bastard!"

"Gently!" Chan barked as the guards threw Minho from the stake, though he made no effort to go and help him up as he felt a strong grip on either arm. "You'll be good for them, my love,"

"No- you can't- What about-"

"Release the boy, too," Chan interrupted, speaking over Minho who let out another growl of frustration. Jeongin wasted no time in getting over to his father, releasing a loud sob when he was finally in his arms.

Chan allowed himself to be led to where Minho had been standing mere moments ago, trying his best to block out the heart wrenching wails from his family.

"You can't do this!" Minho shouted, his voice coming out scratchy. Chan longed to go over there and wipe his tears, but he had to do this. It was the only way to keep everyone safe- this had gone on long enough.

"Apprehend him!" the village leader bellowed when Minho shot forwards, a feeble attempt to take down the man currently holding the torch that was to bring an end to Chan's life. He thrashed wildly in the arms of the guards, and Chan felt his heart shatter even more.

"I love you, Minho, Jeongin, please never forget that. I will always love you," Chan told them, his voice thick with emotion. "Tell the others that I love them, that I'm sorry- I-"

The man who held the torch was right in front of him now. He wore a dark expression, hooded eyes boring into Chan's with pure hatred. However, Chan didn't miss his white knuckles, the way his hands quivered with fear as he grasped the wooden handle, the only thing standing between him and the... monster before him.

In that split second, moments before death, a realisation dawned upon Chan. He really was a monster. These people- these hundreds of people- they were all afraid of him. They all stared at him with the same loathing in their eyes, yet the same glimmer of fear that told Chan they were petrified of him. He felt unwarranted tears slide down his face as he looked at Minho and Jeongin one last time, trying to burn their faces into his memory. They were innocent. They were human, and they were innocent, and they deserved to live long lives with a happily ever after. Chan didn't deserve them. He was a beast, and he deserved this fate.

And so, he accepted it. He accepted it when he saw there was no chance of Minho reaching him in time, he accepted it when the man threw the torch at the pile of wood beneath him, he accepted it and closed his eyes and turned his head to the sky, thanking Mother Nature for blessing him in his final years.

"Stop!"

That sounded like Felix. Chan smiled as he thought about his boys one last time, wishing for them to grow up strong and get that happy ending their fairytales told them of. He hoped they wouldn't be too sad, he hoped they would look upon his memory and smile.

Chan was brought back to the present when he heard a thump directly in front of him. He couldn't help but think that this was... strange. There was an absence of any other sound, and Chan noticed that the crackling of fire meeting wood never came- come to think of it, where was the heat? Surely by now he should be screaming with agony, writhing to escape the ropes that bound him to his final resting place. Was he already dead? Had he already passed on, been spared the suffering and torment that was inevitable from being burned alive?

In that next moment, Chan's own words began to play in his head- 'That sounded like Felix.'

Perhaps the voice hadn't been some pre-death hallucination? Perhaps Felix was here, and perhaps he had somehow managed to stop the inevitable? There was only one way for Chan to confirm his suspicions.

He cracked open an eye, then the next. The first thing he saw was that the fire was alight, but it wasn't spreading. It was frozen, suspended in it's very own pocket of time that prevented it from travelling any further on its path of destruction.

Tilting his gaze upwards a little, the next thing he noticed was the man who threw the torch, the man who looked at him with such abhorrence; the man who was now lying face down on the ground with an arrow buried deep in his back.

Chan knew those arrows- he recognised them from the afternoons he had spent whittling away in the garden, carving sharp points into the tips and intricate patterns into the sides because he would only gift the best of the best to his son.

His son, Changbin, who was standing a few metres back, gripping the hand of Felix.

"Let him go!" Felix cried, though it was unlike anything Chan had ever heard before. Felix's voice was unnaturally deep for a five year old- hell, it would have been unusual for a grown man to have a voice that pitch. Instead of one voice speaking, Chan could have sworn he heard more, each one layering together to make him sound borderline demonic.

Everyone watched in silence as the guards marched over to Chan, allowing the ropes to fall at his feet. The way they moved seemed natural, but something in their eyes told Chan they weren't the ones in control of their actions.

"The child is a witch too! What are you doing, you fools, seize them!"

"No!" Felix wailed again, his expression contorting. "Leave us alone!"

Immediately after his words, a shriek came from somewhere in the crowd. People parted around her like the red sea , everyone trying to get a glimpse at what had caused her terror. Blood was dripping out of her nose uncontrollably, blemishing her pale hands and staining her pure white dress a startling crimson. She stared at her hands in muted horror for a few long seconds before her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the ground limply. Another shriek sounded from a spot a little further away, then another, and another, all the while Felix's cries grew greater and greater.

Chan knew that magic caused by emotion was dangerous, but he had never seen it manifest in the form of such dark magic before. This was powerful, this was astounding and terrifying all at once and Chan knew he had to stop it. The magic was pulsating off of Felix, waves of pure energy that only knew how to wreak havoc upon anything that stood in it's way.

A few people made a move towards Chan, maybe hoping if they captured him again the madness would stop.

"Don't touch my dad!" Felix screamed. The winds around him were picking up, pelting tiny stones and grit at anyone who was unfortunate enough to be within a few metres of him. Chan knew he was having a magical meltdown- he had faced plenty himself, but the difference was that he always remained in control. Felix was too young to have a good understanding of his magic, his mind too underdeveloped for him to be able to influence and command his magic to follow his wishes.

Chan had no choice but to put himself directly in the crossfire.

He leapt off of the platform, landing rather ungracefully before staggering towards Felix. It was difficult- Chan had yet to recover from all of the strain put on his body, and the amount of energy emnating off of Felix was suffocating. He had to shield his eyes as he pressed on, the winds far too harsh for him to see a thing without getting any sharp objects in his eyes anyway.

"Felix!" He shouted, hoping that his voice wouldn't be carried away in the storm. "Felix, please, it's me!"

"Chan! Come quick!"

He made a quick turn and stumbled towards Changbin's voice, thankful he was still okay. He must have been spared from the wrath of Felix's magic, perhaps because he was standing in the eye of it all, right next to Felix. Chan hoped Minho and Jeongin were managing to cope, but he had to take on one problem at a time.

Chan could feel the gales lesson a little as he got closer, and was able to open his eyes again. Changbin was staring at Chan in panic, his eyes wide and tear filled as he trembled next to Felix, who had curled himself up on the ground.

"You have to help him," Changbin told Chan, his voice wobbling. "He woke me up 'cause the trees were worried, so we came to find you but he won't stop crying,"

Chan took a hold of his tiny palm, running his thumb over the back of his hand in a way he hoped was comforting. Changbin squeezed back, as if Chan would disappear should he not cling on to him as hard as he could.

"Felix? Can you hear me?" He said, crouching down to Felix's level.

"Chan?" Felix replied, looking up cautiously. "You're here,"

"Yeah, I am, Lixie," Chan smiled back. He didn't dare touch Felix, not yet, not while he was still emitting so much magic. "I need you to make this stop now,"

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say. Felix's face contorted back into one of fear and he started sobbing again, wailing around his words so they came out warped.

"But they'll take you away again!"

"No, Felix, it's okay- you saved me. I'm right here, see? They can't get me."

Chan held out a hand towards Felix, silently offering for him to take it. He knew it was risky, but he had to do something.

Felix shot a look of hesitancy towards Chan's outstretched hand. It was clear he was confused, struggling comprehend what was happening. Slowly, tentatively, Felix reached forwards, grasping Chan's hand in his own.

Immediately, Chan was overwhelmed with the amount of magic flowing through him- though, instead of causing him unbearable pain like he had initially expected, the magic seemed to embrace him, accept him and fill him with a soothing warmth. He felt a tug on his other hand, and cursed himself as he realised he hadn't let go of Changbin before touching Felix. Fortunately, Changbin just giggled, gazing at his arms in wonder despite there being nothing to see.

"It tickles!" He exclaimed, squirming slightly as he laughed. Changbin was right, it did tickle.

"See?" Chan said, his eyes forming small crescents as he smiled at Felix. "I'm right here, with you."

Felix nodded, his tears beginning to cease. "You're here," He repeated softly.

"Do you think you can stop your magic now, Lixie?" Chan asked, attempting to phrase the question more gently than before as to avoid making it worse.

"I don't know how," Felix admitted, holding Chan's hand tighter.

"That's okay- this is all happening because you're upset, yes?" Chan questioned, trying to prompt Felix into figuring out how to control his magic a little more.

"Scared," He confessed quietly.

"Well there's no reason to be scared anymore, is there? I'm right here, with you," Chan squeezed Felix's hand as if to prove a point.

"No reason- you're here," He repeated again, eyelids drooping slightly. He furrowed his eyebrows, sticking his tongue out to the side a little as he always did when he concentrated. The winds around them began to lose speed, settling to a slightly less violent bluster.

"That's it, Lixie, you're doing such a great job. We're all safe, see? You can let go."

Finally, Felix's magical outburst came to an end. Felix himself was obviously exhausted from the energy he had exerted, and promptly slumped forwards into Chan's arms, fast asleep. A stunned silence followed, interrupted only by the sound of debris crashing to the ground.

Chan stood up, and was immediately almost knocked straight back to the floor as Minho ran into him full force, crying into his shoulder.

"You bastard!" he sobbed, hitting Chan's chest.

"Minho, we need to go,"

"You were going to leave me alone-"

"Minho!" Chan hissed again, noticing the village men that were slowly closing in on them. He knew that there couldn't be a next time, they wouldn't get so lucky should they both be captured again.

Fortunately, Minho shortly pulled himself together, though still sniffling a little as he took note of their company.

"Ok," He whispered, voice quivering. "Wait for the signal, and then we run- I've got Jeongin."

Chan gave Minho a miniscule nod, trying not to let their plan become obvious to those around them.

"5 o'clock- there's an opening," He whispered back.

Chan picked up on a gentle murmur being passed on through the villagers. He knew they were short on time. He held eye contact with Minho, hoping that it was convincing enough to suggest they hadn't realised they were surrounded. They needed the element of surprise.

A short tap to the wrist, and they were off- Minho scooping Jeongin into his arms at a speed Chan didn't know was possible, himself pulling Changbin along and clutching at Felix who remained peacefully asleep, arms wrapped around his shoulders. Fortunately, nobody was prepared for them to take the opening, which meant they were able to slip through without issue. Chan knew that they were hot on their tail, but once they reached the forest things would get easier.

Changbin was doing a good job at keeping up- Chan had worried he would struggle to run at their pace, but with the extra aid from Chan's hold on his hand he was managing to run fast enough to evade the men behind him. Chan thanked Terra that all his children were very energetic, Changbin would likely be having a much more difficult time if it weren't for the countless hours he had spent playing tag with his brothers.

Chan's legs were beginning to burn with exertion. If he had thought he was tired before, he was well and truly exhausted now, running solely on adrenaline. His head hurt and his lungs heaved in agony, threatening to give out any second, but they were almost at the forest now, they were so close.

He felt a pang in his chest as they passed the remains of Minho's house. The flames had long since ceased, but the embers still smouldered on, the thick stench of burnt wood permeating the air. Chan couldn't see Minho's face at that time, but he imagened it was akin to heartbreak. He knew Minho much preferred their little cottage in the woods, but he surely hadn't been prepared to lose all his life's belongings in one wretched night.

Still, they couldn't stop now. Once they reached the treeline, Chan knew they would be safer- not in the clear, but safer. The trees were Chan's friends; no matter how little he communicated with them, they knew he tended to them, took care of them and helped them when they requested, so they would do the same for him.

He only needed to get there first.

He could tell Changbin was beginning to tire out after running through half the village. It wasn't big by any means, but it was still quite the distance for an eight year old. Jeongin was clutching tightly to Minho's neck, almost strangling the poor man as he stared back at their pursuers, who were yelling all sorts of vulgar things at them. Chan hoped the boys wouldn't remember any of the words, but he knew that was unlikely as they both had the memory of a sponge and soaked up bad language as if it was their oxygen. Chan had artfully avoided having them find out about phrases such as 'holy shit' and 'son of a bitch', even going as far as telling them that 'falafel' was the infamous f word when used in the wrong context, but he feared his luck would come to an end and soon Changbin will have taught all his brothers how to insult their fathers with their newfound colourful vocabulary.

Fortunately for Chan and Minho, the trees were now fast approaching, so they wouldn't have to worry about any more slurs being hurled their way that could potentially taint their children. Chan saw them sway as he approached, their whispers informing him that they were ready to aid him. They formed an opening, a pathway directly in front of them, just waiting for them to enter so they could snap back into place and thwart any further attempts of their capture. They were so close- Chan felt his heart palpitate as they got closer, he could already smell the pine, the sweet floral scent invading his senses, tantalising, enticing him in with the sweet promise of victory-

They made it.

Chan whooped as they passed the first few trees, all of them staying true to their words and enveloping him and his family within their protection. He heard yells of confusion and outrage from the village men, along with some painful sounding cracks that suggested some of them had run face first into the trees that disrupted their chosen path.

Chan now had enough time to slow down and hoist Changbin up, using his free arm to carry him. Sprinting with two children in his arms was infinitely more difficult than he had expected, especially as Changbin's bow was digging uncomfortably into his forearm, but he only had to manage for a short distance now. Felix began to stir as they flew through the woods, perhaps because amongst the trees was where the whispers were loudest.

Finally, the foliage began to get more familiar. Chan knew they were fast approaching safety, his bubble of protection waiting merely a few hundred metres away. The last stretch of their journey was more euphoric than frightful- Chan knew with the distance they had put between themselves and the men that there was no hope of the villagers catching up, and he even found it in him to laugh a little whenever he heard crashes and grunts that signified the trees had sabotaged them once again.

Eventually, the sound of footsteps thundering against the ground faded until all there was to hear was Chan and Minho, incredibly out of breath but alive and together. Chan had never been so grateful to feel the comforting rush of the universe folding around them, sealing them into the place they called home. Chan didn't hesitate for one moment before he all but dropped his children to the floor and began racing around the clearing, chanting a series of phrases every time he reached a corner.

"What are you doing?" Minho questioned, doubled over as he tried to encourage oxygen back into his lungs. He coughed aggressively, then fell to the floor and sprawled out on the grass, laughing slightly in relief.

"I'm strengthening the protection spells," Chan replied, doing a slightly better job at getting his breath back. Once he finished, he slumped down next to Minho, staring up at the night sky.

Jeongin and Changbin attached themselves to their fathers sides, both still trembling from the events of that night. Chan was surprised they hadn't fallen asleep yet, though with the way Changbin became less wriggly by the second Chan assumed that was about to change.

Everything hurt, he decided. Now the adrenaline was fading, he began to feel every limb, every part of his body that had been battered and bruised and beaten began to flare up in dull aches and throbs. His chest was on fire, along with his legs and his arms, and he knew he should move soon unless he wanted to sleep outside and add a crick in his back to his ever growing list of injuries.

"You idiot," Minho laughed humourlessly, but his laughter soon progessed into sobs. "You idiot!" He repeated, rolling over to hit his hand against Chan's chest, over and over. It hurt this time, but Chan knew he probably deserved it.

"You were going to die- you were going to die and leave me alone to look after six kids on my own! F-"

Minho paused, tilting his head backwards to check something. Jeongin blinked up at him innocently with big, watery eyes. Minho let his head fall to the ground again.

"Falafel you, Chan. I can't believe you."

"I'm sorry," Chan started, capturing Minho's hand and interlacing their fingers. "I just- You deserve to live more than I do... I've been around for decades, I've lived already, you deserve to have a life of your own too."

"Deserve?" Minho questioned, "I don't deserve anything more than you, Chan. You took in these neglected kids in out of the kindness of your heart, you clothe them, bathe them, offer them a roof over their heads and you- you try to feed them, you love them- if anyone deserves anything it's you. Besides, that's not why I'm angry,"

"It's not?" Chan asked incredulously.

"No, you- you spoon! I can't offer these kids the protection they need, not like you can- what if men like that come for us, and you're gone and I can't save them because I can't use magic- plus, I can't raise a witch on my own, Chan, I don't know what to expect! I can't pay for food because you conjure up all the money, I can't heal them when they're hurt, I can't start fires out of nothing to keep them warm- I'm useless on my own, Chan! If something like this happens again- If it comes down to it, you have to live!"

He hissed that last part at Chan, trying not to let his words reach Jeongin. A few stray tears leaked out of his eyes, but he wiped them away forcefully, adamant on staying angry.

Chan could practically hear the gears in his own head turning; Minho was right. Chan took in his children, not because he had to, but because he couldn't bare to leave them with such uncaring and selfish people. He chose to love them and protect them, he chose to keep them warm and fed, and he was the only person who could truly ensure they have good lives. With lots of help from Minho, obviously.

Maybe he really wasn't a monster. So what if the villagers feared him- they don't know him, their opinions of him are based off of twisted rumours and tales. If Minho believes he's a good person, if his children believe he's a good person, what more could he need?

"I'm so sorry," Chan told Minho, a choked whisper. "I'm so, so sorry,"

"Oh, my love," Minho whispered, allowing himself to let go of his anger upon hearing Chan's heart wrenching apology. "It's alright- we're both here, we're safe, Channie, we're home,"

"I love you," Chan said, caressing a hand over Minho's face. Minho gave him a tearful smile in return.

"I love you, too," He said, before leaning down to kiss him. It was kind of gross, if they were both honest- their tears kept getting in the way and they both smelt heavily of smoke, but it was worth it to be in eachother's arms again, at home.

They broke apart, resting their foreheads together as they just lay in silence, enjoying the tranquility now that they were finally safe.

"We should take them up to bed," Minho said after a while, eliciting a petulant groan from Chan.

"But I'm comfy,"

"Fine, stay here, see if I care," Minho huffed, standing on wobbly legs and dusting himself off. "But you won't be comfy when you wake up all stiff tomorrow from sleeping on the floor all night,"

Chan shot Minho a weak glare, but he stood up nontheless. More bones cracked than he would have liked to admit, and Minho giggled at him.

"Looks like your joints will thank me later too, old man," he teased. Chan rolled his eyes, though there was no bite to it, then picked up a lightly snoring Changbin.

"Gosh, he's so cute," Chan sniffed, kissing Changbin's nose softly, who let out a particularly loud snort in return. "I remember the first time I held him like this,"

"You're such a dad," Minho laughed, though he was looking at Jeongin with the same expression.

Chan struggled to pick up Felix, arms protesting against the extra weight, though he eventually managed. It was a miracle he didn't wake either of them up with the speed he got them tucked into bed, his desperation to climb into his own giving him an extra boost of energy.

When he got to his bedroom, Minho was already laying like a starfish on his bed, taking up far more room than was necessary. Chan, rather than suggesting that Minho move over, threw himself on top of his boyfriend, and Minho let out a wheeze of surprise.

"You're so heavy, what the fuck was that for?"

"Language," Chan chuckled instead of answering.

"Give up, I wouldn't be surprised if Changbin and Jeongin have already shared everything they heard even though they're fast asleep. Those kids are so sneaky,"

Chan sighed, knowing Minho was probably right. "All the more need to practice by correcting yours, then," He said smugly.

"Fuck off," Minho responded, voice slurred as he was already drifting off. Chan was more than ready to do the same.

"Goodnight, my love," He whispered.

"Goodnight," Minho whispered back. They both fell asleep with smiles on their faces, despite all that had transpired.

° • * . ☆ .° . ° •*

It was only a few days later when something occured to Chan. Minho and Jeongin had quickly moved in, though not much had changed as they had practically been living there for the past few months anyway. They also had nothing to physically move into Chan's cottage, considering everything they owned was either destroyed in the fire or left in the village. Thus, all it took was the simple question, 'You're staying here, right?' followed by the simple answer of, 'obviously,' to make things official.

Chan had apologised profusely for the events of that night, despite none of it being his fault. Minho had told him this countless times, yet Chan still felt guilty that he hadn't done more. Minho supposed he would just have to keep repeating it until Chan believed it.

Additionally, the couple had been right- they hadn't even made it to the breakfast table the following morning before they heard a gleeful 'Fuck!' coming from the living room, followed by their other children parroting the word in equally joyous tones. They had looked at eachother and sighed heavily, not even bothering to lecture them that early.

Besides the obvious problem with expletives, everything was going without a hitch, but there was still one tiny thing playing on Chan's mind.

"You know... I didn't mean anything I said to the village leader that night, right?"

Minho glanced up at Chan, eyebrows pinched, before he went back to the stew he was preparing.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I said that I spelled you to love me and stuff, you know that was a lie, don't you?"

"Oh," Minho said, then waved a hand in Chan's direction. "Don't worry about that, I know what it's like to be spelled, I know this is all me,"

Chan very nearly dropped his mug.

"You- you've been spelled before? By who?" He exclaimed, staring at Minho in alarm. Minho paused, staring back.

"Oh... well, the other day, Felix asked for a cookie while I was cooking dinner, and I just gave it to him. I never do that. It felt like I was sort of... detached from my body, so I would know if you had spelled me," He said, as if being spelled by a six year old was an every day occurrence. Chan gaped at him.

"He compelled you into giving him a cookie?" he repeated, massaging his temples in distress.

"Um, yeah. I kept meaning to have words with him about it, but every time I tried I would look at him and think, who am I to stop this little ball of sunshine from reaching his full criminal mastermind potential, and then I just gave up."

Chan gave him an incredulous look.

"You're- okay. You're encouraging our son to become a criminal mastermind."

Minho popped a carrot slice in his mouth, crunching obnoxiously through the thick silence. "Not encouraging, more like... simply allowing things to play out. And, hey, at least if he's getting stuff for free he's not going to start a countrywide inflation problem and destroy the economy like somebody I know," he accused.

"Touché," Chan whispered, exasperated and not really knowing how else to respond. "Touché."

As you can see, Chan's life was now a series of chaos and mishaps, and he spent a large amount of time wondering just how his children ended up in such a questionable predicament, or why he woke up to his kitchen completely rearranged every morning, or even how his bowl of breakfast porridge managed to fly out of his reach every time he was about to grab it (he later realised it had been the work of Felix, and he then wondered how he had managed to go so long without putting two and two together).

Fortunately, he had his wonderful boyfriend to help him through the daily mayhem, even if said boyfriend often a part of the problem. He still enjoyed curling up besides the fire and reading to his family, and furthermore he enjoyed being able to curl up besides Minho and drift off to dreamland every night.

The woods, at first, had been lonely.

Now, though, the woods were bursting with life, filled to the brim with blooming flowers, lush greenery and animals that just loved to say hello to him every morning. The trees spoke to him more often, though he never found himself craving more social interaction, and it was no longer just him, his magic, and his humble little home- it was him, his magic, his humble little home and his lovely six boys and his lovely boyfriend, his family, the reason his heart was still beating.

The woods, at first, had been lonely, but Chan was no longer alone. And so, he was finally happy.