Work Text:
Viktor could be excused for not having realized there was a newcomer in town, he thought. After all, it had been three months since he’d managed to force himself to go into town – he’d never had a need, and going just to try to socialize and be rejected wasn’t fun. He’d rather stay home with his dog. At least Makkachin wouldn’t shun him.
It wasn’t even unusual for him not to recognize someone at his door. People from nearby villages and towns came to him, because he was the best witch around. “Hello, please come in. How can I help you today?”
The stranger came in, carefully removing his shoes at the door and lining them up properly. “Hi! My name’s Phichit Chulanont. I’m new in town, and while I’ve met everyone else, I haven’t seen you around. I’ve asked, and they say you don’t come into town often, so I decided I’d come out here to meet you.” He held out a box. “I brought cookies and salt. The people in town said you always need salt, and hey, everyone loves cookies, right?”
Viktor took the box, staring at it in confusion. “Thank you, Phichit. So… what brings you out here?”
Phichit smiled, lighting up the room. “I wanted to meet you and introduce myself, and I got told that wouldn’t happen if I waited for you to come into town. They tried to talk me out of coming out here, said you’re a busy person and should be left alone, but I didn’t see what harm coming out to say hi would do!” His smiled dimmed. “Is the idea of someone coming out just for a social call really so unthinkable that you don’t know what to do with one?”
“Yeah, uh… no one comes out here unless they want something. But please, come in, I’m rusty but I’ll try to remember my manners… tea? I think? I’ll go make some tea?”
While Viktor got the tea ready, he listened to Phichit introduce himself to Makkachin. It made him smile. Phichit seemed very happy to talk to the dog, telling her about his hamsters, and Makkachin listened happily. “I see you’ve earned my dog’s approval,” he said while he poured the tea for them.
Phichit got up from his crouch, sitting in a chair like a civilized person. “She’s a sweetheart. What’s her name?”
“Makkachin. I don’t know what it means, but that’s what she told me.”
Phichit’s eyes glittered with curiosity. “What she told you?”
“Yes. She’s very intelligent, and we’re bonded. It’s not like I can have a proper conversation with her or anything, but she could tell me her name and can answer simple questions.” Viktor stroked Makkachin’s fur. “So you’re new to town? What brought you here?”
“My town was dying, I needed somewhere to go, and I know a guy here. Celestino and my dad went to school together. Everyone’s been really nice so far, thanks to him! They’ve really welcomed me.”
“Celestino’s a good man. Everyone around here loves him, so if you’re a friend of his, you’re not a stranger here.” Viktor was more of a stranger in this town than Phichit at this point. The thought upset him.
Phichit picked up on that, and he frowned. “Do the people here really not come visit you just to hang out? And you don’t go into town?”
“Yes.”
“Why? I mean, if that’s how you like it, I’m not going to judge or anything, it’s just that I get the sense you’d like some company that you can talk to.”
Viktor sighed. “I don’t know! I try to go into town, but they won’t talk to me, so I’ve taken the hint and just stay home.”
“Wow. That sounds lonely.” Phichit took a sip of his tea. “I’ll come out as often as I can! Let me know if I’m annoying you or keeping you from work. Maybe I could even learn to help you, if you’d like!”
“I…” Viktor thought it over. Even if it only lasted a month before Phichit got bored and stopped coming, or decided Viktor wasn’t worth the hassle, it would still be better than nothing. “I think I’d like that.”
At the end of the first month, Phichit showed no signs of boredom or wanting to move on. Instead, he’d gotten interested in witchcraft, and Viktor agreed to teach him as much as he could. At the end of the second month, Phichit was spending so much time with Viktor that Viktor was starting to worry. “Aren’t you hurting your own social standing in this town? I don’t want you to end up lonely like me.”
“There’s some people who think I’m weird and don’t want to associate with me, yeah, but who says I want to associate with them if that’s how they’re going to be about this? I’ve got friends in town, I’ve got my hamster, I’ve got Celestino, I’ve got you. That’s all I need.”
“Someday, you might want to marry…”
Phichit set down the mortar and pestle he was using to crush some herbs for a healing spell. “No, I won’t. I wasn’t entirely truthful with you when you asked me why I came here. It’s true that I came here because I needed a new place to go and Celestino was willing to take me in, but there’s more to the story than a dying town. If that were it, I’d have gone with my parents.”
“I was wondering about that.” There were a lot of good reasons why he would go off on his own, at his age, but Viktor hadn’t wanted to pry.
“My dad caught me kissing my best friend. He freaked out and told me to leave. I don’t know that he meant get out of town and go fifty kilometers away, but that’s what I did.”
“Wow. That sucks. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” At least Viktor had that. If he ever found someone who would stay with him instead of just using him for his witchcraft, this town wouldn’t judge him for it being a man.
“Yeah, well, as bad as it was at first, I’m glad it happened. I miss my friends back there and my sisters, but I found some good things out here, too. If I’d stayed, I’d have probably followed my father’s path, working for whoever would hire me that day. Which is fine, it’s a life, but this is better.” Phichit got back to work on his herbs. “I like it out here. Back home, I was almost always surrounded by people, and don’t get me wrong, I love being in a crowd. But it’s peaceful out here, and I’m learning so much more than I ever did in school, and I’m so glad you let me come out here.”
“Of course you can come. Anyone who wants to can come. It’s just that you’re the only one that wants to, for now.”
Phichit dropped the pestle again and turned around to stare at Viktor. “I love this. It’s great. This is what I want to do with my life, and getting to spend time with you is a huge part of that! I’m not going to get bored or whatever it is you’re thinking. I’m coming out here because I like you and I’d rather be out here than anywhere else.”
“You like me…?” People had said that to him before, of course, but not after spending two months making a point of spending time with him. Definitely not after admitting to being run out of one town for being gay.
“Is that a problem? I don’t know if you’re even interested in anyone, or men, or me, but I promise, I’m not going to make things awkward if you aren’t. I like you, but it doesn’t have to be anything more than that.”
“Can it be?" The words slipped out before Viktor was even aware he was thinking it. "I don’t… I’d given up on the possibility of something like this. I’m interested. Won’t it cause problems for you, though?”
Phichit’s entire face glowed with his smile. “Not with Celestino, not with the friends I care whether I keep, and I can’t imagine you’ll have a problem with it.”