Chapter Text
Oh, I can't
Stop you putting roots in my dreamland
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered
In you
In you
Now I'm covered in you
In you
It took Jisung months to get over Hyunjin’s murder, and even then, he still woke up in cold sweat sometimes. Felix remained steadfast in his support the whole time, holding him tight and keeping him sane. He didn’t think he would ever truly forget about it, or forgive himself, but he was learning how to live with it, and how to ignore the voices in his head whispering horrors about himself. He learned how to focus on Felix’s voice instead, always so patient and so loving.
They had turned the ivy house in their own little home and barely ever left this reality anymore, unless it was to get food or other supplies they couldn’t get there. To Jisung’s surprise, Felix couldn’t grow vegetables in his world, apparently they did not appreciate the overload of magic. It was the same with animals, which explained why Jisung had never seen any there, aside from Minho the cat, or why the flowers were none that he had ever seen before. The only exception seemed to be normal grass, weeds and ivy, which was both fireproof and magic resistant. All of this meant that they had to go back to the forest regularly if they wanted to eat. Meat was out of the question, Felix refused to eat any. At least, they didn’t grow hungry very fast, metabolism working on the usual time from Jisung’s former world. He tried not to think about the mechanics of it all too much, it gave him a headache.
Minho and Jeongin – Jisung had finally gotten their real names now that he and Felix were bonded in all but the official aspect – were regular visitors and he had started to build a solid relationship with Jeongin. His and Minho’s relationship was…still a work in progress. It seemed that no matter what he did, Minho found something to complain about. Felix had said that was just how he was and not to worry about it, but he couldn’t help but overthink it, sometimes. He wanted Felix’s brother to like him. Unfortunately, Minho always looked a few seconds away from murder everytime he so much as touched Felix. And Felix, the little shit that he was, enjoyed provoking him by constantly draping himself all over Jisung whenever his brother visited.
It was another thing that had changed ever since Jisung’s definitive move. Felix’s personality had slowly moved from his shy and reserved persona to a much brighter and quick to mischief one. As if now that all of his worries were gone, he was letting himself go, indulging in whatever whims passed his fancy. He was louder, always quick to laugh or play pranks, while still retaining all of his patience and care when Jisung needed it. Jisung fell for him more every day.
But he still refused to call him by his name. Jisung had asked half a million times by now, but Felix always laughed and ignored him. He wasn’t overly offended since Felix only ever called Minho, ‘hyung’ and Jeongin, ‘Innie’, but still. When he had brought the subject up with Jeongin, who had no qualms using his real name, he had gotten an amused smile, but not much else. Instead, it had almost become a running joke between the four of them as they called him by his former title, always emphasizing it.
One more thing that had changed for the better, was how much more open Felix was with his magic. He never shied away from using in front of Jisung anymore, always talking the time to explain what he was doing or how it worked. Most of it went completely over Jisung’s head, but he was grateful for the attempted explanations, nonetheless. Besides, just watching Felix glow when he performed magic, even when he was just growing random plants or flowers, was always a sight. Felix was always beautiful, but never more than when he was in his own element, focused, eyes shining, and freckles twinkling.
Jisung had never been happier than in the few months he had spent with Felix, not even the occasional wandering thoughts about Seungmin, his brothers or the happenings in his former home world were enough to keep him down long. They had monitored the situation long enough to make sure that their plan was successful, and that people bought into Hyunjin’s supposed flight, but Jisung himself had been mostly kept out of it, for which he was grateful. He didn’t think he would have been able to handle seeing people search after Hyunjin knowing what he had done.
But even his guilt started to lessen over time, and he learned to push it to the back of his mind when it reared its ugly head now and then.
The only thing keeping him from perfect happiness was the fact that he and Felix had yet to be officially bonded. His lack of magic was not the issue here, nor the lack of asking – he had done that barely a month after everything, and Felix had enthusiastically agreed – but rather the fact that he had all the difficulties in the world to convince Minho to let him bring Seungmin over for the official ceremony.
Jisung had never fully confirmed anything the last time they had talked, purposefully remaining vague, knowing that Seungmin would put the pieces together eventually, but that meant no one knew how exactly he would react to the final confirmation that magic was real. Minho feared he would try to expose them if they opened another bridge between worlds, which was ridiculous in Jisung’s opinion, Seungmin would never do that, but he had refused to budge. And Jisung refused to have the ceremony without his friend present.
They remained at a standstill for weeks, until Felix mentioned in front of Minho that he and Jisung were technically having sex outside of an official bond. Jisung had probably never been closer to death than in that moment, with Minho glowering darkly at him. As if that was his fault! Felix had been the one talking, and he was always a very willing participant in their… activities. It had worked though, and Minho had reluctantly agreed, if only to make sure that Jisung didn’t keep ‘defiling’ his younger brother while not officially married to him. Or the magical equivalent of it.
After that, it was just a matter of when and where, but somehow, there was always something standing in Jisung’s way. First, they needed to let enough time pass in his own world as not to worry Seungmin over how ‘soon’ he was brought back. Then Jeongin needed to take an annual trip to visit his own family, which meant that they had to wait until he came back. Then it was Felix who wanted to wait, because, apparently, holding a bonding ceremony in winter was bad luck. Not that Jisung could tell the changing seasons unless they crossed worlds, but Felix could, and it mattered to him, so they waited some more.
By the time stars finally aligned in his favour, spring was well on its way back in his former world, and Minho was clearly losing patience everytime he stumbled upon them in compromising positions. Jisung fully blamed Felix, there was no way he couldn’t sense his brother’s approach, so he should be the one to save them the embarrassment, but either he just had no shame and found the situation funny, or he wanted to make sure Minho didn’t walk back on his promise, Jisung wasn’t sure, but he prayed he would survive his wrath long enough to actually get through the bonding ceremony. He didn’t want to find out how many more lectures it would take before he truly snapped. He was also tired of having to fend of an angry, scratching cat each time it happened. His claws were stupidly sharp.
He was elated when they finally settled on a date, and preparations began in earnest, excitement growing every hour. There really wasn’t much to do for him, Felix was the one busy handling all the magic, but it was still fascinating to see it happening. Felix and Jeongin – who would perform the actual bonding since Minho couldn’t – met almost everyday and worked the intricacy of whatever magic was needed to link him to Felix permanently. They had told him that it needed a little more preparation than usual because he didn’t have any magic of his own, which had worried him a little. He couldn’t do much about that though, so he did what was asked of him and tried not to fret too much about it.
They were creating a receptacle for Felix’s magic and linking it to him. The bond was supposed to be a sharing of magic between two people, but Jisung didn’t have any, nor did he have to ability to receive it, which posed a problem. They were creating a small pocket, that they would fuse to his soul. It would allow him to participate in the sharing. He would never be able to use magic of his own, but he would perceive it much more clearly. At least that was what he had understood. Unfortunately, it took time because it was not Felix’s or Jeongin’s area of expertise, so he had to be a little more patient.
Thankfully, they had already started working on it during the winter, so it was almost finished by the time they had officially settled on a date, only the last details needed to be hunkered down.
And then finally, finally, it was time for the ceremony to actually take place. Jisung had been overly excited for days, and he was barely standing in place now, waiting for Seungmin to appear through the door Felix had opened. His friend looked surprised when he opened the door and found himself in a flower field instead of the castle as usual, but he took it in stride quickly, huge smile blossoming on his face when he spotted Jisung there.
Jisung laughed, and all but jumped into his arms, beyond happy.
“Seungmin! Seungminie! I’m getting married! Felix and I are getting married!”
Seungmin pushed him away so he could see him properly, and Jisung tried not to fidget while he studied him.
“You look happy. Congratulations Jisungie. You deserve it.”
Jisung’s own smile mellowed into a much softer one. “I am happy. So, so happy. I didn’t even know it was possible to be this happy.”
Seungmin looked faintly amused, but mostly there was a distinct hint of relief in his eyes, and Jisung was so glad he had insisted on his presence today. Grabbing his arm, he started walking in the direction of the ivy house, impatient to finally have that bonding ceremony.
“Let’s go, they’re waiting for us. You have to tell me everything! How are Chan hyung and Changbin hyung? And my nephew? Does he speak yet?”
“Slow down Jisung! I can’t talk if we’re running”, Seungmin only sounded slightly exasperated, as if he was torn between scolding Jisung for acting like an overexcitable puppy, and simply letting him be because he had missed him. “Your brothers are fine. They miss you. Sana’s pregnant again so it’s a little easier for Chan, I think. Changbin is…struggling from what I can see. But he’s getting better, so there’s that. And yes, Jinyoung is talking now. Or well, he’s babbling more than anything else, but Chan looks like the proudest dad ever whenever he makes any sound, so I don’t think he cares.”
Jisung’s heart gave a little twinge at the realisation that he was missing so much, and would continue to miss every other thing that happened in his brothers’ life – or Seungmin’s.
“And you? How have you been?” Jisung glanced at his friend as he asked, and he was surprised to find him blushing a little. Seungmin and blushing did not go together. What had he missed now?
“I…I think I met someone? I don’t know, it’s too early to tell, but yeah. That’s the main thing.”
Jisung actually stopped walking to stare at him properly. “Good. That’s very good. I’m so happy for you, Seungminie. I hope it works out.” Grabbing his hand, he started to pull him forward again. “You have to tell me everything. Is it a girl or a guy? Do I know them? Are they noble as well, or not? And are –“
Seungmin cut him off with a laugh, and he closed his mouth sheepishly. “I knew you would do that. You’re cute Jisungie. Anyway, it’s a girl, and no, you don’t know her. I’ll tell you more if it lasts the next time we see each other.”
Jisung grumbled a little, but he relented, knowing how private Seungmin could get about these things. His next question had guilt brutally settling into him again.
“Jisung…I need to ask. About Hyunjin. You were behind his disappearance, weren’t you?”
Jisung actually slowed down. He didn’t want to reach the house feeling like this and thinking about Hyunjin.
“Yeah…we were.”
“…Is he dead?”
Jisung nodded, incapable of speaking his guilt out loud.
“Did you kill him?”
Again, he nodded, but he found his voice this time. “Do you think I’m a terrible person?”
They had stopped walking now, simply standing in the middle of the flowers, Jisung avoiding Seungmin’s knowing eyes on him.
“No. Do you?”
Jisung shrugged, and Seungmin grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to face him. “Jisung listen. You made mistakes and you weren’t perfect, that’s true, but you are not a bad person. If you hadn’t killed him, he would have started a war all on his own. And if you had stayed, he would have killed you. That marriage was doomed from the beginning. Don’t feel too bad about it. That happiness that you found with Felix? Cling to that. I promise you, you deserve it.”
A small smile appeared on Jisung’s lips, and he pulled Seungmin into a hug, relishing into the comfort before pushing away to start dragging to the house once again. Seungmin was right. He would focus on the peace he had found in Felix and forget about the rest, especially today.
Once they arrived at the little house, things moved fast, Felix excitedly pulling him through the motions, and before he knew it, he was standing in the flowers surrounding their house, in front of Jeongin, facing Felix and holding both of his hands, while Jeongin’s own hovered slightly above theirs. Felix’s smile was blinding, and even Minho looked on approvingly from his spot next to Seungmin.
He didn’t really feel anything when Jeongin’s hand suddenly glowed a bright gold that quickly spread to Felix. The strange mist didn’t quite reach him, only intertwining around his and Felix’s joined hands, but when it disappeared, he physically saw the difference. Everything was suddenly…more. The stars above them were brighter, the colours of the flowers were stronger, Felix himself seemed more vibrant than he usually was, though that might have been due to the sheer happiness radiating from him. The only discrepancy was the sky, who had turned a slightly paler shade of purple. It was confusing.
All of the sudden questions that had popped in his mind disappeared when Felix leaned over to kiss him. Stepping closer to him, Jisung wrapped one arm around his waist, the other coming up to Felix’s jaw, carefully holding him close as he kissed back. He distantly registered Minho’s voice in the background, probably complaining, but Jisung couldn’t have cared less at the moment. He held his happy ending in his arms, and he didn’t plan on letting go anytime soon. Minho would just have to deal with it.
All that mattered now was that he was officially Felix’s and Felix was his.
Forevermore.