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“I want to meet your coven,” Johnny says over a cup of coffee. They're on a makeshift date at their favorite café, they had the best little pastries in town, perfect to satisfy their sweet tooths. After a little over two years of dating, these little dates were something that they had come to cherish. With graduation coming up Johnny was busy wrapping up his thesis and figuring out what grad school he wanted to attend while balancing an internship on top of that. And Ten was busy with coven stuff and finding a job post-grad, unfortunately being a witch couldn't help him afford the luxuries he loved.
Ten laughs, one of those ugly hearty laughs that catches the attention of the few lone souls still at the coffee shop this late. Johnny's face remains unchanging and Ten's face drops. “Oh no. You're serious. Absolutely not.” Ten shakes his head adamantly.
“What? Why?” Johnny pouts before adding, “I've met Mark, Haechan, and Renjun already. They like me right?” Normally the pout would break him, but this, this wasn't something he would yield on. Sure, Johnny readily accepted who Ten was at the time but his coven was a completely different story.
“They do like you.” Ten agrees before he sighs. They liked him a lot. Johnny practically took Mark under his wing when Mark suddenly decided to pledge his second year. Johnny easily took the disses that Haechan and Renjun threw at him which automatically put the older man in their good graces. “They just don't know that you know.”
“And that would change things?”
“Maybe? I don't know.” This statement was slightly less truthful. They were part of a newer generation of witches and they probably wouldn't care but that wasn't something that Ten particularly wanted to test out. “You don’t get it.”
It was dismissive, Ten knew that. And he always knew that Johnny hated it when he got like that. Johnny was all about being direct which wasn’t something that Ten could always be.
“Because you don't tell me anything about it like ever.” Johnny had thought that after Ten's confession that Ten would let him into that aspect of his life more but Ten was still quite secretive about it. Johnny wasn’t once to force Ten to divulge details of his life. He’s learned by now that that forces Ten into a defensive state but part of him wishes that it’d be easier to get his boyfriend to detail his life. “I tell you everything about myself. Divulge my soul. You've even met my parents!”
“And I thank you for letting me meet them.” It was so easy to see how Johnny grew into such a big softy when you met his parents. They made Ten feel at home in a matter of minutes despite how anxious Ten had been the week prior to the meeting. “But my family comes with powers and history too long to explain and meddling ancestors.”
“Explain it to me. You don't think I'd be willing to listen?”
“Of course not, Johnny. This isn't exactly the best place for his conversation.”
“Fine.” Johnny pouts again, “But don’t think that you can run away from this conversation.”
“When I walk you home like this, is this your home?” They're walking hand in hand, shoulders brushing up against one another. Johnny doesn't have the perks of warming spells like Ten does.
“Yes? No?”
“What does that mean?”
“The door you bring me to is my door but it doesn't lead to within the house that you see.”
“What does that mean?”
“The door is hexed. When we enter, it transports us to the actual coven house somewhere off in the woods.”
“Why do you do that?”
“It gives us room to practice. You don't really want a new witch accidentally setting an apartment building on fire.” He hadn't always lived in this house, his parents moved him here when he was thirteen. They had their own obligations abroad and dropping him off at the coven was the closest semblance of stability that they could offer him. “We own the actual apartment too. We just need to take down the hex in order to go in it.”
“That's interesting.”
“You know you don't need to lie right?” Ten purposefully bumps his shoulder into Johnny's arm, sliding his hand down his boyfriend's arm to intertwine their fingers. “This shit is supermundane to me.”
“I find almost all aspects of your life to be interesting.”
“Almost all?”
“Admittedly when you talk about some of your classes my eyes glaze over.”
“Oh babe, I'd be lying to you if I said that I didn't notice. I appreciate you trying though.”
Just two more hours left of his shift before he can go home, he needs to remind himself as he cleans off the table. Then he'll get to go home and relax. Maybe Ten would be there waiting for him, that would be the absolute cherry on top.
“Is that him?” Johnny guesses that that was supposed to be a whisper, but it comes out at just above an indoor voice.
There's a scuffle that Johnny can only assume is hitting? “Why are you always so loud?” When Johnny finally looks up, two boys jump back startled. They paw at each other trying to figure out what to do now that they've been caught in whatever they're doing.
“Can I help you two?” Johnny raises an eyebrow sizing up the two kids in front of him. They didn’t seem like they could cause much harm but they were strange, to say the least.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Fuck.” From the looks of it, they were nothing more than kids, grossly tall kids, only mere inches shorter than him. But they were certainly stupid if they couldn't even get their stories straight.
“Well, the line starts over that way if you want to order something.” He doesn't get paid nearly enough to deal with this bullshit. Truthfully he didn’t even need to be here at all. He started working here his senior year of high school and went down to working random shifts whenever he could for extra cash on top of his internship. He finishes cleaning the table, taking the dirty mugs back behind the counter. Oh. They were following him. They shuffle into place side by side at the counter.
“Do I know you guys?”
“You shouldn't?”
“Well, if you're going to stand there you're going to have to order something or my boss will kill me.”
The pair exchange glances before the taller one speaks, “We’ll take uh, two small hot chocolates.”
“Can we get a danish too?”
“Sure you can get whatever you want, you’re paying.”
“What?!”
“One, you’re older. Two, you’re rich. Three, I have your debit card.”
“Excuse me?!” But the boy makes no attempt to stop the other from ordering more than they agreed on. Zhong Chenle , the name read on the card. Johnny didn’t know any Zhongs. And he certainly didn’t know these two. But there isn’t much that he can do about it at least not while at work.
“He’s really tall. You think he has a size kink?” They whisper way too loudly to even be considered whispering. Just because his back is turned to them didn’t suddenly make him deaf.
“Jisung!”
“What? I’m talking about his height, not his dick!”
“You’re too loud!”
“Rich coming from a dolphin.”
Johnny sets the cups down on the counter with a sigh. “Do you guys know me?”
“No.” One of them answers.
“Your name tag says you’re Johnny.” Right. Name tags were a thing that’s a part of his uniform.
“Right. Well, enjoy your drinks.”
That wasn't the last time the pair conveniently showed up during one of his shifts. Sometimes they brought other people. One guy that Johnny has deemed “Softy” because of how well he batted his eyelashes. And another that he called Big Eyes because his eyes are a gigantic puddle to get lost in. But that was before he overheard them call him Taeyong. Today all four of them were together, chatting in a way that made Johnny suspicious.
Instead of focusing on it he chooses to lazily wipe down the counter and watch the entrance. Ten texted him earlier that he'd drop by during Johnny's shift. Truthfully, the thought was the only thing getting him through this morning. He picked up an opening shift to help out a coworker which required him to roll out of bed before the sun could poke its head over the horizon. At least he didn't have any classes for the day and could just go home and pass out at the immediate sight of his bed. Plus, his boyfriend was going to visit him. What more could a man want?
“Fuck." The word lifts his attention out of organizing behind the counter. The duo is scrambling while the older pair urged them to remain calm.
His eyes flick to the newly familiar head of blonde hair passing by the window speaking merrily to the inseparable pair that is Mark and Haechan. He isn't quite sure when the duo went from just friends to something more but with the way they held hands all the time it was inadmissible.
"What's with the look dumb ass?" Ten greets.
"Every time I see you I just remember how much I’m in love you."
Haechan dry heaves, turning to Mark with a look of despair, "We're not like that right?"
"Oh please, you're exactly like us, dude."
"Gross."
"Have I told you that I really like your hair like this?" He's only momentarily seen Ten blond in the brief twelve hour period of time after Ten went through five rounds of bleaching to get to an icy blonde so that he could dye his hair a silvery grey color. This time Ten plans to keep his hair this color for at least a few months.
“Yeah, you tell me when we lie in bed. Or when you pull on my hair while I’m sucking you off. All the time.”
“Think of the children!” Haechan screeches.
“There are no children here.” Ten counters.
“I’m talking about Mark. His saintly ears can’t take it.”
“Hey!”
“I love you very much, but you are such a prude when it comes to talking about sexual stuff.” Haechan forces out in a single breath, punctuating with a kiss to Mark’s cheek.
“Can I get you guys anything?” The question is directed towards Mark and Haechan. Johnny knew what drinks Ten would want based on the time of day. This morning, Ten grabbed some mocha cold brew from Johnny’s fridge. For someone who never cooked, Ten knew how to take up half the fridge. Ten needed the jolt from the caffeine to get through the morning after staying up late to finish a project. In the afternoon, Ten liked a nice fruit tea. At one am when he was most desperate, he liked a smooth tequila sunrise heavy on the tequila. “I’ll bring your drinks right out. Have a seat.”
Johnny heads to the back shrugging off his apron, “I’m gonna take a quick break, okay?” He says to Yuta, his coworker.
“Let me guess, Ten’s here?” Johnny vigorously nods, making Yuta roll his eyes. “If it gets busy again I will not hesitate to drag your ass back in here.”
“Got it!"
When he returns to the front, he finds Ten talking to the quatro at the tables. Jisung looks ashamed and Chenle is avoiding Ten's face. If he could see the look on Taeyong and Jungwoo's faces, he imagines that they would mirror the younger two. Mark and Haechan are standing behind Ten with their arms crossed. If Johnny were none the wiser this would look like some gang situation
"Uh, what is going on here?" Ten faces him with an uncomfortable smile on his face.
"Meet my family, babe." He smiles in a way that tells Johnny that he’s anything but happy about the situation at hand.
"Your family?" Ten's family. The coven. Oh my God, they're part of Ten's coven. "Oh um, I'm Johnny. I’m a senior media finance major with a minor in media marketing. I have an internship at Media X and do this as a side gig for a friend. I love Ten very much and I will take care of him as long as he allows me to."
"Simmer down buddy." Ten lightly pats Johnny's chest before swiping his drink off of the tray.
“Is that why you’ve been coming for the past month?”
“A month?!” Ten shrieks. “You told me that this was your first time here.” Jisung groans melting into his seat.
“If it’s any consolation, Taeyong and I have only been in on this for like a week.”
“That is literally not any better Jungwoo. How did you two gremlins find him?” Ten glares at Jisung and Chenle.
“We’re smart!”
“Yeah with three brain cells between the two of you we have some geniuses here.”
“Okay, but which one of us has two and which one has one? Jisung definitely has only one."
"Considering I found him I think that I'm the smarter of the two of us." Jisung regrets the words the second they leave his mouth, wincing.
"So it's you whom I have to kill in his sleep?"
"See!" Chenle cheers in triumph. "You definitely have the one brain cell."
“I am so sorry about them.” Ten comes back to Johnny’s apartment later in the day with an apology already spilling from his tongue and a box tied with a pretty bow in hand. “I got you the chocolate mousse cake that you love as an apology.”
“I don’t need an apology but I will gladly accept this cake.”
“They literally stalked you for weeks.”
“I appreciate that they were so curious about what was making you happy that they put the effort to do that.”
“Good to know that me expressing happiness is such an anomaly that it causes people concern.”
“I live to see you happy. And besides, I really wanted to meet them.”
“About that, I don’t want you to think that I didn’t want you to meet them because of you. They’re a lot. My life is a lot. And bringing you into that will be a lot.”
Johnny snakes his arms around Ten’s waist, pulling him in close. Ten’s arms wrap around the taller man’s neck. “I’m so happy that you’re so concerned about me.” Johnny leans down to capture the younger man’s lips in a kiss. Slow and languid.
Ten hums, “I can’t stay long.”
“Hm, doesn’t mean we can’t do anything quickly. I could suck you off.”
“I would love that but really, I can’t stay long. Jisung has an animation test later, and he’s absolutely terrible at it so we like to watch.”
“An animation test?”
“Yeah, make inanimate things come to life. We have a bunch of those tests every year to make sure you’re on track.”
“Wow, this topic is such a boner killer.”
“Jisung really likes you, you know?”
“And there it goes completely.” Johnny presses his lips into a line.
"Good." Ten smiles, pressing a kiss to the corner of Johnny's mouth.
"But he likes me?"
"That's what he says at least. Who can trust him when he has less than two brain cells?"
"So, what did you think of Johnny?" Ten approaches Taeyong in the kitchen after Jisung's test. Jisung did surprisingly well for how much he bombed his last one.
Taeyong hums taking a sip out of his mug, "He's nice. I'm happy that he makes you happy."
"He does. So much. We've been dating for like two years?"
"You kept this a secret for two years?!"
"Can you blame me?" Taeyong did his own fair share of hiding things, although he was never really good at it. Or at least he was terrible at hiding it from Ten. He was able to hide the fact that he was dating someone in a coven of a neighboring town for exactly six days before Ten found out. And he was able to keep it hidden until they broke up. Having been raised as the two prodigies of the coven, they knew so much more about each other than they should.
"I suppose not." Taeyong shrugs, "What did the ancestors think of that?"
"They shut me out for like two days before bombarding my head with so much shit that I had to shut them out. They just stopped talking about it the next time I talked to them."
"I can't say that I'm surprised. They want everyone to be with another witch or they freak out. I've got to say though, I never imagined that you'd be with a fae folk."
"Wait, what?" Ten’s heart stops beating in his chest.
"Don't tell me you didn't know."
"Why do you think he's a fae?"
"One of the times that I went to the shop it was pretty empty and Johnny fumbled with his tray and just as everything was about to crash to the ground it stopped. And then I saw him radiate light from his hand to bring a plant back to life. Seems like a faery to me."
"What the fuck?" No wonder the ancestors were freaking out when they started dating. Being with a faery would "dilute the bloodline." Of course, Johnny didn't freak out when Ten told him about being a witch, the supernatural wasn't uncommon to him.
"I'm sorry, I thought you knew."
"No, it's fine." All it took was Taeyong seeing him a few times for him to tell that Johnny was a faery. But after two years of dating, Ten hadn't even had an inkling of suspicion. God, he felt so stupid.
"He really loves you, you know?"
"If I told him that we were witches would you be mad?"
"Why would I be mad? Why would it matter what I think?"
"Because believe it or not I actually look up to you." Taeyong was collected in a way that Ten could never be. Slow to anger and understanding to a fault. In whatever he lacked he strove to be better through countless hours of practice. Ten didn’t understand it when they were growing up but looking at Taeyong now all of that made him the fittest to lead a group.
"Well, as long as he's treating you right and makes you happy I don't particularly care. Although, I'm not sure your parents will share the same sentiment."
"My parents can bite me."
"It won't matter once as you're head of the coven, right?"
"You know that I don't want that."
"Mhm, well whatever happens, I've got your back " Taeyong smiles, giving Ten a firm pat on the back.
"I didn't expect you to come back." Johnny opens the door shirtless with grey sweatpants hanging low on his hips, his typical sleepwear. The older man has been frequenting the gym when he can with Jaehyun and it’s paying off in more ways than one. Now wasn’t the time to let himself be distracted by abs, he wasn’t that weak.
“You open the door for all visitors like that?”
“Only for the pretty ones.” Johnny flashes a lazy smile. It's not too late yet, barely ten o'clock but Johnny has to be up early tomorrow for a sponsored breakfast at his internship.
“I’m flattered.” Johnny leads Ten to his bedroom hand in hand. There's some music leaching out of from Jaehyun's room which is shocking because he's been spending less and less time at the apartment. There's a dim green hue in Johnny's room, the perfect mood for sleep. Johnny spent three weeks looking for a specific light bulb because he needed the right “ambiance.” Ten thought that it was absolutely ridiculous to spend thirty dollars on a light bulb but he had to admit that making love with a pink hue in the background did do something wonderful to the senses.
Ten settles into bed after changing in some of the clothes he keeps at Johnny's place. The bed is warm Johnny having been in it no longer than five minutes ago. Ten climbs into bed facing away from the older man for Johnny to comfortably wrap his arms around the smaller man, pressing his chest to Ten's back. “How did Jisung’s test thing go?” Johnny's breath tickles the nape of his neck.
“Surprisingly well actually. But it didn’t get interesting until afterward.”
“Really? What happened?”
“Well, I got to talking to Taeyong and he said something that really caught me off guard.”
“And what’s that?”
“Well, he said that you seemed really nice and he also mentioned that you were a fae.”
“Oh.” Johnny's arms loosen around Ten's waist.
“Oh?” Ten repeats, turning around to face the older man to get a read of his face. Johnny isn't looking at him though, favoring to stare at some distant spot on the ceiling. "That's really all you've got to say? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know how to?" It was strange to see Johnny skirting around a subject. What Ten always appreciated about the other man was that he was always direct with what he thought. A good balance to Ten's own coy tendencies. But this, this wasn't the Johnny he was accustomed to. The nervous chewing of his bottom lip. Gaze avoidance.
"Maybe at the same time I told you I was a witch? That's why you didn't freak out when you saw me."
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you earlier, Ten. I guess that I was afraid. I don't know."
"Of what? That I'd leave you?"
"Maybe? Witches and fae don't really have the most amicable relationship." It was a long-standing feud too old for Ten to even care but it was indeed present.
"And you thought that that would matter to me?"
"As the person slated to take over one of the largest covens in the area and the child of the Highest Witches in the South east, isn't it obvious I'd be scared."
"You know that I don't want that." Personally, Ten thought that Taeyong wanted it more. No, he deserved it more. Ten never envisioned himself to be the high witch of the coven although the has been fed into his ear since he was a child.
"But that doesn't change the facts, Ten."
"I suppose it doesn't. But it also doesn't change how much I love you."
"It was stupid for me to keep it from you but you can't blame me for being worried."
"How could I not have known? Your parents didn't emanate anything."
"My parents aren't fae. It runs on my mom’s side but it skipped over her and went to me."
“How does that work out?”
“They’re considered fairy folk because they have the capability of producing fairy offspring but not fae because they don’t possess the powers themselves. It’s not nearly as complicated for fae as it is for witches.”
“This is kind of fucked isn’t it?” Ten forces a laugh, Johnny hums in agreement.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” Ten doesn’t like the tone of Johnny’s voice.
“You’re not gonna ask me to marry right? Because this is would very poor timing.” Ten tries to lift the atmosphere with a joke.
“Marriage? No.” Johnny says too quickly before stumbling, “Not that I wouldn’t want to marry you. You are absolutely fantastic, I would love to marry you someday. But no that’s not what I’m asking.”
“I got it.”
“Theoretically though, would you want to marry me?”
“What happened to your question? But to answer your question, maybe later.” Marriage. He’s never put much thought into it but being married to Johnny didn’t sound too bad.
“Yes, my question, after we graduate do you want to move in together? Jaehyun is trying to move in his boyfriend after our lease is up and I figured I'd propose the idea to you since you spend a lot of time here anyway."
"That's basically a proposal!" Ten screeches.
"Too soon?"
"No, I'm really happy that you asked." He’d love nothing more than to move in with Johnny and be happily domestic in a place of their own. Ten snuggles into Johnny’s side, his head resting on the other man’s chest.
“That doesn’t sound like an acceptance. Not that you have to accept, of course, you have your own autonomy. Because you’re a complete individual who can make decisions on his own but I’d be really happy if we could live together. And the idea of coming home to you makes me really happy. You make me really happy. Yeah.”
“You really don’t need to ramble on.” Johnny came across as calm, cool and collected in most situations. He could usually brush off an awkward or tense situation with a joke. On the rare occasion where his nerves got the better of him, he would get flustered, trip over his words and talk a mile a minute. It wasn’t something that Ten expected out of the older man after their first encounter.
At the end of their first date, Ten had gotten up on his tiptoes to plant a kiss on Johnny’s lips that sent the taller man into an unexpected frenzy. His face glowing red even in the dingy lighting of the street lamp, followed by him profusely apologizing for getting as embarrassed as he did. Ten had taken Johnny’s hand in his to calm the man down, dissolving into a gummy smile. The rest Ten supposes is history.
Ten grabs his boyfriend’s hand this time again, placing a kiss on the back of his hand, “I would love to move in with you, but I need to talk to Taeyong about it first. It doesn’t really happen in our coven unless you get married and if you get married it’s typically to another witch so even if you did get married you’d still be tied.”
“Would you have to give up your witchy life to be with me?”
“I don’t know?” Part of him did know that there would be resistance from his parents if he even considered leaving the coven. Most of him didn’t care if they were to object. He was always on the rebellious side as a kid, never caring about his lessons although he had an innate ability. It was almost expected for him to bend the rules as far as he possibly could. What he couldn’t anticipate was how the ancestors would react. Sure they overreacted when they first started dating, but they did that every time they were concerned and wanted Ten to connect with them. “You know when I first came out my parents wanted me and Taeyong to get together? You know to be a dynamic duo like they were.”
“And did anything come out of that?”
“We dated for like six months when we were sixteen. We were better off as friends though. Too much competition for us to be romantically involved you know?”
“I don’t. Not really. There’s nothing like that for fae.”
“What is it like for fae?”
“Well, each region has its own royalty. Not that they have much power, they’re mostly figureheads that we can turn to if there is a conflict between regions to mediate. We don’t have many rules but we can’t like use our powers for evil or something.”
“Oooh royalty? Maybe I should’ve found him instead.”
“I mean he’s right down the hall, by all means, be my guest.”
It takes a few moments for Johnny’s words to process through his mind, “Jaehyun is fae royalty?!”
“Don’t tell him that I told you. He really doesn’t like talking about it.”
“No wonder he’s so fucking pretty. The dude practically sparkles, it’s fucking annoying. Have you seen the guys dimples?”
“I would be jealous if it weren’t for the fact that you’re literally lying in my arms right now in my bed. Besides I’m awfully too tired to hypothetically try to fight my best friend.” Johnny pulls Ten closer into his, his arm lazily resting on Ten’s hip, playing with the hem of the man’s shirt.
“Right, you have to be up early.”
“Mhm.”
“I’ll let you sleep then. We can talk about this later.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“You know that I love you right? No matter what my parents or my ancestors have to say about us being together.”
Johnny places a kiss behind Ten’s ear, “I love you too.”
And with that love, they could withstand anything.
Right?