Archive of Our Own

“It’s a curse.”

Donghyuck paused. He was kneeling a distance away in the cave and looked up to stare at Mark whose sharp, bony features were illuminated by the fire between them. The older boy was sat near the mouth of the cave, legs extended and head tilted back to lean against the rock walls, jet-black hair messily framing his face. The intense shadows served to further highlight his eyebags.

Donghyuck felt something stir in his chest. He scowled, yanking the cloths from his rucksack with more force than necessary. “I figured.”

“Mm.”

“Seriously, what dumbass gets himself cursed, in this century -”

“It was an honest mistake.”

Donghyuck blinked, incredulous. “An honest mistake. Of some powerful magic user. And now you’re cursed to be a fu-”

Mark winced. “Donghyuck.”

“-ing snail, of all the blasted creatures in the world,” Donghyuck continued, completely ignoring Mark’s protests. The idiot could get cursed but not cursed at. Figures.

Mark scratched the back of his neck. “It’s...um. I’m here now, at least?”

Donghyuck screamed and seriously considered smacking his forehead on the walls of the cave, repeatedly.

The first night when Mark had first turned well, back, Donghyuck’s eyes had nearly popped out of their eye sockets. One moment Mark had been a gigantic snail reaching to Donghyuck’s waist with those cartoonishly large eyes, the next he was human and sprawled on the ground coughing up a storm, buck naked. Donghyuck had yelled (read: screeched louder than a banshee, measured and scientifically proven by a smug-faced Na Jaemin but kept under wraps so as not to offend the banshee population) and smacked Mark on the head with his travelling bag. He had been knocked out for a good ten minutes and suffered from a splitting headache for the next forty.

Damn Na Jaemin. And damn Jeno too, but goodness knows that rubber snake had been pretty freaking realistic. That and Donghyuck’s completely rational, completely called for fear of snakes. One didn’t emerge from a childhood experience of a large cobra monster breaking into one’s nursery without developing a healthy trauma.

“For science,” Chenle had apologised after they had spent the next two hours tidying the room Donghyuck had, on reflex, sent into a contained earthquake.

Yeah science, Donghyuck had thought as he sent Chenle an almighty stankeye for being the shittiest HR manager in the damn world. The science proving my hypothesis of Na Jaemin being the bitchiest witch I’ve seen in my goddamn life.

All in all, an understandable reaction, honestly.

When Mark had finally come to, rubbing the back of his head, Donghyuck had still been babbling incoherently, having parked his ass squarely in the dirt where he had been standing.

“Ow, what the -”

That had shaken Donghyuck out of his stupor to unwittingly let out a burst of magic (he was good at controlling these things, damn it, it was just all these circumstances), and the leaves shook, the branches shook, the entire trees and their fruits shook alright, shook right down to the ground and squarely on Mark’s head. For the second time in the hour, the boy passed out on the ground.

(Thankfully the apple had landed on a different part of Mark’s head. Donghyuck really couldn’t risk second-impact syndrome. He was an elementalist completely un-specialised in physiology (that would be Renjun) and the nearest healer in the town over was an ex he really, really didn’t want to see again.

“So you’d have just left me to die,” Mark would ask in two days’ time.

“Honestly,” Donghyuck would start, rubbing his chin. “Probably, yeah.”)

Another thirty minutes and a good amount of yelling, the two found themselves in an empty cave with a fire going. Mark’s belongings (which he kept hiding in his shell, of all places) had ended strewn around him when he changed back and he was not (blessedly) dressed. Changing seemed to take up a lot of his energy. So Donghyuck had set up their fire with a flick of his wrist while Mark sat near the entrance for better ventilation, skin pale and breath ragged.

The two didn’t say much after that. Donghyuck hydrated two portions of food packs for them and they took an early night. The next morning when he awoke, a slime trail led out of the cave entrance.

As an elementalist, Donghyuck could appreciate some aspects of the situation.

He could appreciate the colours in front of his eyes, how they ranged from the bright yellows of canary feathers to the deepest ruby reds. Oranges, bright and gleaming. He could appreciate how those brilliant shades overlapped and intertwined to form such a multitude of moving colours it seemed almost material, with more dimensions than beings such as he.

He could appreciate the power, the urge to devour together with an inability to do anything else, feeding on this desire to double on itself more and more. Raw, insatiable power as matter turned to non-matter, leaving dust and soot in its wake.

Now, with all the things there were to appreciate, the main things that escaped Donghyuck’s appreciation were twofold. First, that the fire happened to be taking place in the cozy tavern he’d found for himself, minutes after his roast beef dish had arrived.

This was a common fire that a well-trained fire elementalist could easily contain. Magic was a difficult discipline. Especially when one was taking their first steps into a particular discipline, it would almost exclusively involve casting or creating. To remove and absorb a force required higher skill, which Donghyuck unfortunately didn’t possess.

The second thing that escaped his appreciation was therefore his inability to put out the fire.

Now if it had been a matter of making a fire….hmm. Renjun had always told him his natural pyromaniac tendencies (read: horrendous fire elementalist techniques) would be helpful one day.

Although, as a ground elementalist specifically with a dubious grasp of the other disciplinary subsets, Donghyuck could also appreciate the fact that this fire had, in fact, not been started by himself in some poor attempt to diversify.

Alas.

“Fire,” Donghyuck hollered, grabbing his plate. “Everybody, out!”

Past the growing smoke, he could make out the rough silhouettes of a mass of rushing bodies pushing for the exit. All but one.

Donghyuck stared at the blurry silhouette some distance away. Why wasn’t the creature moving at all? Did they have a deathwish? Still gripping onto his plate, Donghyuck scrambled over to the creature. “Hey! Move faster before the fire catches you!”

A giant snail glared up at him. “I’m trying to, okay?”

Erm. Donghyuck’s eyes roamed the body of the creature. It was leaning forward to streamline itself, arms pumping furiously, but body, huh. It was hardly moving.

“You’re not going to make it at this rate,” Donghyuck pointed out helpfully.

“I know that,” the snail said through gritted teeth. Donghyuck didn’t even know if snails had teeth, but it sure sounded like this one did. A bead of sweat (slime?) rolled down the creature’s neck which Donghyuck’s eyes followed with fascination. Jeno would have a field day with this guy, that animal nerd.

“So save yourself!”

Donghyuck blinked. This guy was moving a metre an hour and was still telling Donghyuck to move? His eyes met the snail’s and his eyebrows furrowed. Shaking himself out of his stupor he turned to look at the fire, then at the dusty ground of the tavern floor. “Okay, you know what, we don’t need charred snail on today’s menu. This is going to feel a bit weird but steer properly, alright?”

“What?”

The young elementalist quickly muttered something under his breath. Beneath the two of them, the ground lifted up like a wave and, obeying the snail’s gaze, rolled them quickly out the door.

“Oh wow,” the snail looked down at the slight incline of dirt that still lay below it even as Donghyuck hopped off, squinting at beef still sat pretty and smoking on the plate in his hands. “How long will this last? ‘Cause I really need to get somewhere, but it’s been a week and I haven’t been able to leave this town.”

Donghyuck thought for a while. “I dunno, maybe 12 hours tops before I have to recast the spell.”

“Do you think it’ll be able to last me till I get to where I’m going and - wow, you still have your lunch, what?” The snail took a while to tear its gaze off Donghyuck's food, but eventually told Donghyuck its desired destination with a hopeful smile.

"I'm a good multi-tasker," Donghyuck replied. “And for the other one, it’s a locomotive spell, it’s not meant to beat the sound barrier.”

The snail’s smile fell.

“But I’m headed there as well. The spell’s stronger nearer me so we might as well travel together, can’t have you being melted down to snail goo on my conscience.” Or robbed by bandits. Or captured and cooked alive by trolls. Or slaughtered and stuffed by one of those more peculiar collectors with a penchant for large molluscs for display around the country.

The snail’s eyelids twitched. “Stuffed?”

And so it began.

The snail’s name was Mark, as it turned out. With male pronouns, he wasn’t an ‘it’, please. Apart from that, he wasn’t so keen on explaining his circumstances to a guy he’d just met.

Donghyuck had shrugged his shoulders and decided to let it be. In a world filled with magical creatures, a giant talking snail wasn’t that odd, just uncommon. He on the other hand was all too happy to whine about what he was doing so far from home.

“He’s just a shitty magic user, honestly. I was this close to a breakthrough in my calculations of magical transmission through different types of soil but no, Jaemin’s stupid glitching teleporter left me stranded on the outskirts of the bloody countryside with no way back because ‘he hadn’t figured out that part yet’.”

After a good twenty minutes of that, though, Donghyuck had hurriedly switched gears to assure Mark that although Jaemin could be a bitch at times he really was one of Donghyuck’s childhood friends and when push came to shove, he’d be there for him. Also it wasn’t like all his inventions failed, just quite a lot of them. Didn’t stop him from trying again, and where would the world be without those sick anti-gravity shoes that allowed people to walk on surfaces of any incline?

Then he’d gone on to talk about Jeno and his care of magical creatures. He had been just three when he’d tamed his first giant snake monster and without him, Donghyuck would’ve been eaten alive in his crib. Even with the biggest and most terrifying of creatures, Jeno would somehow be able to calm them down. It worked for people too, sometimes. Which was why he was the designated go-to counsellor of their group.

If Jeno was who they went to for all their emotional troubles, Renjun was the one they went to when awry magic left them with weirdly twisted limbs and gaping wounds. He’d cut them open with scathing words along the lines of ‘break another limb and i’ll break the other one for you, why do I bother healing this when tomorrow it’ll be a mess again since you nincompoops are so awful at self-care’ but beneath his words there would be genuine worry and beneath his hands their muscles and skin would grow and repair themselves before their very eyes.

Chenle was their self-appointed HR manager who maintained many of their schedules and collaborations with other researchers because no one could resist that boyish smile of his. He was also brilliant at potions - not necessarily safety, mind you, drove Renjun mad with his love of open bunsen burners and long sleeves - but brilliant at potions.

Jisung rounded off their merry group. A transfiguration genius, the boy had spent a full week as a chick before anyone noticed that one of the babies in the chicken hatch displayed a little too many human-like traits such laughing at Chenle’s face whenever it was his turn to clean the chicken poop.

“It...it just looked so comfortable that I wanted to try,” he had whined as Jaemin pulled on his ears for the scare he’d given all of them. “The hen’s feathers?”

“The hen’s feathers,” his mother had repeated. She had then grabbed their feather duster and smacked him with it until he promised to never pull a stunt like that again.

“That sounds nice,” Mark’s voice had been wistful.

“You can meet them one day,” Donghyuck had snorted, kicking a pebble. “They’re a bunch of clowns.”

“No, like. That too but…”

“Yeah?”

“It’s nice to know where you belong with so much...certainty -” There was something about the way the clarity of Mark’s voice had changed, it no longer sounded like he was speaking through a thin curtain of water. He was also suddenly practically coughing his lungs out.

Donghyuck had turned to his left and saw a strange raven-haired boy kneeling on the ground. Instinctively, he had swung his bag and the boy had gone down like a sack of potatoes. There wasn’t anyone around in a kilometer radius to hear Donghyuck’s shriek. The way he’d hit Mark’s head, there was a good chance of mild memory loss, so he was covered on that end.

It would be okay. Probably.

And thankfully, it was.

“We have a problem,” Donghyuck announced.

Mark looked up at Donghyuck from where he sat on the bed. Donghyuck had finally gotten used to Mark’s pattern of changing after two weeks of travelling together and he no longer jumped out of his skin when a human hand would suddenly tap on his shoulder.

During that time, they’d managed to cross the forest path to the next town over. Donghyuck had almost cried because finally, they could sleep on a bed instead of the ground where there was always some stone digging into his back that he would never be able to find, ground magic or no.

“Yeah?”

Donghyuck tossed the money sack onto Mark’s lap. “We’re kind of broke.”

Mark opened up the sack and squinted into its depths. “I’m quite sure I had more money than that though…?”

“We’ve been travelling for a week, not to mention whatever you had spent before I appeared, and being glitched somewhere without warning didn’t give me time to grab more money or actual travel items.” He’d blown most of it on a sleeping bag and supplies that day, which was incidentally the very same day the inn he was staying at had caught fire.

“Hmm,” Mark replied to let Donghyuck know he had been listening. “It’s at least another few weeks of travel so yeah, we definitely need more cash.”

The younger scuffed his toe against the carpet. “You know, gold is a part of the ground -”

“Donghyuck -”

“- but we can’t have the economy collapsing so not an option. Just you know, putting it out there. For discussion’s sake.”

Mark gave him a look, and Donghyuck hated how he already had a parental-disapproval look around him. “We both know you don’t care that much about the economy.”

Donghyuck scowled. He could’ve sworn they’d been together for more than a week, the way Mark seemed to know him inside out. “Fine. There’s no gold or precious metals or stones anywhere around this town, I’ve just checked.”

Mark continued to give him the Look, and Donghyuck’s scowl deepened. “Okay, I checked the moment we entered the town. Happy now?”

“Mm.”

“You know, most elementalists would be insulted if you asked them to be metal detectors.”

“But you’re not most elementalists.”

“That’s right,” Donghyuck replied primly. “I’m not.”

A silence fell between them before Mark spoke up again. “That still doesn’t solve the problem at hand.”

“During the day I can do odd jobs but the wages wouldn’t be that great. Might be able to find somewhere that needs ground magic stuff. You,” Donghyuck gave Mark a pained look. “Is there any job that needs constant production of slime?”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Har har. I’ll have you know that’s not all I can do.” Donghyuck lifted his chin in the universal go on gesture. Mark motioned for the satchel in the corner. “Pass me my bag, would you?”

Donghyuck made a face. “Um, ew? I’m not touching that, I don’t know where it’s been.”

“My shell is very clean, now pass me the bag.”

The younger boy hummed and reluctantly walked over to retrieve it because it was better than Mark falling flat on his face again. The bag, for all it’s been kept in Mark’s shell, was surprisingly un-slimy. Mark took it from the younger with a word of thanks and pulled out a lute. Donghyuck’s eyes bulged from their sockets. “You’ve been hiding a lute? In your shell?”

Mark winced. “Look, I don’t understand scaling magic but that magic user -”

“The one that cursed you, yes.”

“- clearly did.”

“So,” Donghyuck still eyed the lute suspiciously because that thing was quite big, and he was trying to mentally angle it so it would fit in Mark’s shell. It was mind-boggling to say the least. “You’re going to play?”

“Hey, I’m not that bad .” There was a faint dusting of pink on Mark’s cheeks. Now that the lute was in his hands, they instinctively moved into position and started to strum a tune. Donghyuck caught himself humming along before his eyes widened and oh.

“You’re a bard,” Donghyuck blurted out. He had sensed something magic about Mark, but he’d chalked it up to the curse. “Dude I’m like, part siren, we could totally duet.”

“Yeah, I’m not really a singer though,” Mark said the same time Donghyuck demanded “sing for me.”

For the nth time that night Donghyuck found himself blinking at Mark. “What? What kind of bard are you if you can’t sing?”

“Let’s use ‘musician’,” Mark corrected. “‘Bard’ has such a stereotype to it. It makes it seem like I drink a lot or something.”

“And you don’t?”

“Donghyuck!”

“Answer the question, hyung!”

“It’s, it’s not like - I don’t, urgh.” Mark ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up in all sorts of directions. “I can sing but the uh, magic - it doesn’t come out as well through it. Kind of like you and fire I guess?”

Donghyuck snorted. “So how does your magic ‘come out’?”

Mark’s reply was so soft that Donghyuck almost missed it, but he didn’t.

“Rap,” Donghyuck deadpanned. “In this countryside where probably no one has heard of Kendrick Lamar. Are - do many bards rap?”

Mark shrugged. “First of all, everybody and their mother knows Kendrick Lamar. Countryside uh. It doesn’t matter right, because magic?” He said the last part sweeping the palm of his hand through the air. "And I have no idea if many bards rap, but there is Kendrick Lamar, so. Some do?"

Donghyuck opened his mouth. Then he shut it. Mark would fail magic theory but he made a fair point, 8/10, was worth a shot. He could always sing more if they needed. This guy he knew from work, Jungwoo, always did say his siren blood presented quite strongly which, coming from an actual siren, probably meant something. So together with an actual bard, it sounded like a quality money-making venture.

The next night, they left the tavern with their money sack full of coins.

“Dude, you sure you’re not secretly a siren? Cause that voice man,” Mark gave a low whistle.

Donghyuck bumped his shell with his shoulder. “Never thought a snail could rap that fast.” Silence. “Get it, because you’re a snail and snails are slow, and fast is the opposite of slow -”

“I got it, Donghyuck.”

“Heh, good.” Donghyuck grinned. “Nice to know that my voice isn’t schist.”

More silence. Mark slowly trudge on.

“Get it, because schist is a type of rock, and I’m a ground elementalist -”

“Donghyuck?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

Mark was staring up at the building as Donghyuck exited the shop. It took a while for him to register Donghyuck’s presence but when he did, his eyebrow told him he wasn’t very impressed. No surprise there, Donghyuck was currently occupied in a dangerous dance of putting the change back into the money sack that wouldn’t open and juggling all the items in his arms.

“Just, just take the damn things,” he gasped as the ham nearly fell onto the road. The dusty road. The ham.

Mark blinked at him. “I don’t have hands. Or opposable thumbs. Unless -”

“Nope, not my precious ham, don’t even think about it squashed in your shell,” Donghyuck scowled hurriedly. Their rapper-vocalist act had been well-received at the previous few towns they’d been to over the past month. The last two had been in areas where it had been better not to attract any attention, so unless they found a friendlier neighbourhood soon this would be the last ham they would be having for a while.

The money sack seemed to appreciate the urgency of the situation and decided to cooperate, allowing Donghyuck a better grip on the items. “Although, maybe the brussel sprouts that you keep insisting on getting…”

“I keep telling you, the storage space is magic protected. 100% snail goo free.”

Donghyuck just rolled his eyes and held the bag of brussel sprouts near the entrance to Mark’s shell and with a soft whoop, the bag disappeared into its depths. “Handy, this.”

Mark looked at the ham in Donghyuck’s hands, then back pointedly at him. Donghyuck clutched it closer to his chest with a tiny shake of the head. Mark shrugged as best as he could in gastropoda form. Donghyuck could carry the ham if he wanted to. Not his problem.

“So, what were you looking at?” When Mark gave him a blank look, Donghyuck gestured upstairs. “Someone you know?”

“Yeah. It’s, um. Someone I haven’t seen for a while, and I think a few of them don’t stay there anymore? I used to stay here for a bit, I wonder if the rest...ah, the windmill’s still there so maybe…”

Donghyuck glanced at the street around them. There were one or two people milling about, but not many at this time of the day. “You should drop by. Never know when you’ll be back. Unless,” Donghyuck’s eyes shot wide open. “This is an ex?”

The effect was instantaneous. Mark’s green face turned an unbelievable shade of red. “What? Absolutely not, what are you - I didn’t, I don’t -”

Donghyuck raised a knowing brow. Mark stopped sputtering like a drowning fish. “Did you hear that?”

“Look, I know a crush when I see one, and if you don’t want to be seen you know -”

“No, shut up, it’s not like that. Can you hear that?”

Donghyuck blessedly shut up and listened. “Huh. Someone’s humming.”

Mark bit his lip. “Do you think you could boost me up to the second floor?”

It took a little while for Donghyuck to process Mark’s request. When he had, his face lit up. “No way. Mark Lee? Housebreaking?”

“You know, for a registered state elementalist you’re not very good at following the law.”

“Aw shut up,” Donghyuck huffed. As a commissioned researcher he was meant to...push at the boundaries of what could be done. And housebreaking could most certainly be achieved. “Anyway, you take your time yeah? I’ll meet you at the inn down the road. Okay, hold on tight.”

“What?”

Donghyuck smirked and with a stomp of his foot, Mark felt the ground under him rise. A minute later, he found himself staring into the depths of a familiar looking house. He looked down and was hit with a wave of vertigo. Donghyuck, the little shit, just grinned as he walked off.

Inside the house, the humming continued. Mark took a deep breath, heart beating quickly...somewhere. He really didn’t know snail anatomy. “Taemin hyung!”

The humming stopped. There was the sound of pattering footsteps and a familiar head of blonde hair appeared. His jaws dropped to the ground, lips pulling into a beautific grin. “Mark!”

Across the street, Donghyuck watched as Mark made his way to the balcony. That man was a siren if he ever saw one, known it the second he heard him humming, with a face radiant enough to make angels cry. He shook his head and dragged himself away. Who Mark hung out with was none of his business.

Right?

Right.

That night, Mark was already in bipedal form when he entered the room. Donghyuck tried not to think about him changing in front of that siren he saw earlier and failed miserably. Stiffly, he rolled up the map he’d been looking through and turned to face Mark. “How was it?”

Mark padded across the room until he was standing by Donghyuck’s bed, expression unreadable. It kind of looked like he’d swallowed a slug or something. “It was okay.”

Instinctively, Donghyuck shuffled over to the other side. Mark sat down opposite him so they faced each other. “Did you see your friend?”

“Just one. The rest...well, it’s not like they’re there all the time but yeah. No, I mean. They’re probably travelling.”

“So just the siren guy?”

Mark looked up in momentary surprised. “Taemin hyung? Yeah, him.”

“The crush,” Donghyuck nodded appreciatively. “I approve, he’s hot.”

The tips of Mark’s ears turned bright red. His mouth twisted as he stared at the sheets. “I told you it’s not like that.”

“If you say so,” Donghyuck sang, dodging the pillow Mark threw his way. Then the next. But Mark had used that as a diversion, and so succeeded in squashing Donghyuck with the third pillow, tickling him until he gave up.

Donghyuck could finally breathe once Mark withdrew his hands. He opened his eyes to find Mark’s own staring straight back at him, and something in his stomach fluttered uncomfortably. Instinctively, he kicked Mark off with an ‘oof’. Standing awkwardly beside the bed, Donghyuck rubbed the back of his neck, hiding his burning cheeks. “Um. Better get some rest. Tomorrow’s a long walk. Desert and all.”

Mark blinked at him from the bed where he still lay. He was panting lightly, breathless from his attack, and Donghyuck was resolutely not looking at him. “Yeah. Okay.”

The next day, it took them an hour to get to the edge of town. A large desert spread out before them which would be a two day hike at the very least. They’d stocked up on extra water skins at the market. For Mark, Donghyuck had also cast an anti-moisture loss spell, one of the basics of water magic, to prevent him from dehydrating and melting like a snail a child had put salt on. Which would literally be Mark if he walked into the desert without preparations.

“What would you do without me,” Donghyuck sighed. He was over-exaggerating it as usual, so Mark rolled his eyes. As usual.

Donghyuck had gotten some wraps for his arms and legs as well and, having tied those himself, even the annoyingly hard one on his right arm because someone didn’t have opposable thumbs, they were set and ready to go.

Their end point was straight opposite from where they stood. Still not the easiest task, Donghyuck had whined, because sand made everything fuzzy and his sense of direction would take a hit. But if they were to ever separate, they agreed to meet up there. Less time in the desert meant less chance of them being eaten by sand panthers or other undesirable beasts.

"I don't like sand," Donghyuck spat. "It's coarse, and it's rough, and it's irritating, and it -"

"Gets everywhere," Mark and Donghyuck intoned together.

For a beat, the desert air was filled with their snickers. "You know, now that we've exhausted that, there is literally no other means of entertainment for us here," Donghyuck commented casually. Mark grunted in assent. The two trudged on.

When nightfall came, the two made quick work of their meals by the fire. Settled in their sleeping bags, Donghyuck and Mark lay and stared up at the sky.

It was Mark who broke their comfortable silence. “You know, I’m scared I won’t be able to get used to things when we return to the cities.” At Donghyuck’s noise of curiousity Mark clarified, “the sky, that is. There are fewer stars there.” Then a question hit him and he scrunched up his nose. “Hang on, if your direction magic is messed up, can you guide us with the stars?”

Donghyuck snorted. “I wish. That one’s another branch of magic that makes zero sense to me.”

“Huh.”

Donghyuck frowned. There had been something off about Mark since he’d returned yesterday, call it magical intuition or just common sense. It was in the way his laughter fell just short of the mark, the way his eyes drooped a little. It was in the way he, for all that he was a snaill with a shell he could retract into, seemed to burrow just a little deeper.

Experienced or not it was time for him to pull out his inner-Jeno. “Mark hyung, what’s wrong?”

Silence. Donghyuck could just about see his surprised expression. “Hyung, I know we’re only travelling together and stuff, but I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s bothering you. I’m not psychic. Though my mum was,” he added as an afterthought.

That earned him a response. “Your mum was -”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

Donghyuck stretched an arm out and prodded Mark. “So. Spit it out.”

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

“We’ve got time,” Donghyuck hummed.

Mark sighed. He took a little while to gather the words before starting. “You...you know bards are travellers, right? Or well, most of us are. Comes with the territory. Play a few nights in one town and people’ve heard it all then move on to the next. The only time I stayed longer than half a year was with my ex, this wi - um, magic user.” Mark trailed off, as if unsure whether to continue or not.

“I won’t judge, you know,” Donghyuck interrupted softly. “Witch, wizard, whatever.”

“Thank you,” Mark sent a small smile over his shoulder. “I guess I’m also still trying to protect them.”

Donghyuck snorted. “Depending on how this story is going to go - and I’m having a hunch here and it’s usually right - knowing the person’s gender excludes only half the population, they’re not at risk of my fist in their face. Sorry, go on.”

Mark hummed in assent, fingers playing absently with the sheets. “I guess I wasn’t ready to commit. I never knew if I’d leave one day, which I’ve told them about from the very beginning, that me being with them...wasn’t a certain thing. I don’t know why. I - I wanted to, on some level, of course I did, but. I don’t know. They got really jealous whenever I talked to other travellers that would stop by the taverns. Especially in the later months, maybe they thought I’d leave with them or something. So we got into a huge fight and I decided to break it off, and...and -”

Donghyuck’s eyes widened as curse words filled his mind but all that came out was, “the curse.”

“The curse.” Mark confirmed. “They told me if I couldn’t decide if that was my home then I should carry it with me all the time. It...the spell will only break once I’ve found a ‘true home’, whatever that is. Today - that was one of the places I spent longer in and I. It didn’t do anything.

“Which is why we’re headed to your town! There’s a group of friends I used to stay with. Some good hyungs who took me in when I was small, gave me my first guitar and taught me how to play. Even when I became old enough to travel myself I’d stop by every now and then. I think - I hope - that could be it. My home.”

Donghyuck was silent for a while. Something wasn’t adding up here. “The first day, you told me the curse was an honest mistake.”

Mark grimaced. “Yeah. My honest mistake for getting involved in the first place. I should’ve known I wasn’t ready.”

“Mark hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re having a hard time convincing me that’s actually what you think.” Donghyuck shuffled around in his sleeping bag until he was laying on his side, looking at Mark. His voice had gone softer, quieter. “Maybe something in you subconsciously knew this person wasn’t the one. Maybe that was part of what made you hold back. And let me tell you, the fact that they got so jealous they cursed you? Whoever they are, guy, girl, whatever, there’s one word for them and that is bastard.”

Mark opened his mouth as if to argue but Donghyuck shushed him with a finger to the lips. He went cross-eyed staring at the offending finger and despite the context, Donghyuck found it adorable. He felt something in his heart break because how could anyone curse someone like Mark?

“Just ‘cause you guys are dating doesn’t mean you have to marry each other or whatever. Assuming that is dumb. If there’s nothing that draws you back when you leave then that’s not home to you. It’s just not meant to be and that’s that, it’s just the way things are.” Donghyuck’s face softened and he brought his hand away from Mark’s face.

Mark drew a shuddering breath. “Thank you.” His voice was soft, dark eyes meeting Donghyuck’s. “I needed to hear that, I think.”

“We’re going to get you home,” promised Donghyuck. “You can come say hi to the guys, I think they’d like you. Especially Jeno. Animal nerd.”

Mark laughed softly. “Is that the group counsellor? He should start to charge a fixed rate if he has to listen to the equivalent of the past ten minutes all the time.”

Donghyuck made a face. “Heck no, don’t you even dare. He’d actually take you up on that and he’s earning more than all of us, thank you very - did you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“Feel that - shit, what’s the word, what’s the -” Donghyuck squeezed his eyes shut and thought very hard for a moment. Then his eyes flew open and for the first time he’d admit, he really, really wished that Jeno were here at that very moment.

“What?” Mark sat up in his sleeping bag, fear creeping into his voice. “Donghyuck, what is it?”

“Shit, shit - we’ve been camping on bloody giant sand mantas, quick - give me your hand -!” but too late, the ground was already shifting. A gulf opened up between the two, swallowing their fire pit as sand rushed in to the growing trough. Two pairs of eyes blinked up from below the sand and two beige tails rose from the depths of the desert, and both Donghyuck and Mark found themselves bourne off at high speed to the horizon line, crouching low and holding on tight the only thing they could do to stop themselves from falling.

When Mark came to the sun had already risen, the sky a delicate shade of salmon pink.

He groaned. He felt so heavy. Probably a mixture of his very literal shell and what was quickly becoming dehydration. The water flask was in his shell, but without hands it was pretty much impossible.

“Donghyuck?” Softly at first, then louder with mounting fear. “Donghyuck!”

The sand mantas from last night must have gone in different directions, and goodness knows how far they had gone before diving back down into the sand.

Staring at the horizon, he squinted to see if he could make out something, anything. Last night when he’d turned back and they’d finally stopped walking, they could just about make out some elevated shapes in the distance. If only Mark could find them, he could meet Donghyuck at their destination, two converging paths. The map and the compass were both with Donghyuck. Donghyuck.

Mark’s eyes widened with a surge of panic. How long ago had it been when Donghyuck recast the spell? He had a maximum of 12 hours to cover the expense of the desert without direction, and Mark could feel a sob rising in his throat.

No, no. Stop. Panic wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Mark shook his head in a futile attempt to clear his headache. Then: oh.

“I’m sorry, but I have to rely on you again,” Mark whispered as he took tentative steps around him. Then he bit down on his lips to stop them from trembling and set off decisively towards his north-east.

That night, Mark stumbled through the gates of the foreign town. His tongue was plastered to the roof of his mouth despite the copious amounts of water he’d drunk an hour ago when he’d turned. There were angry red patches on his legs and arms where the gel had worn off his body and the sand had landed. With the cover of night his migraine had faded slightly.

His eyelids were lead, but Mark forced them open again. He swayed on his feet where he stood, warm sand filling the gaps between his toes, but the ground under him told him this was where he was meant to be.

Sure enough, a cloaked figure crouched by the gates uncurled from itself and shot to his feet. “Mark hyung?”

“Donghyuck,” Mark breathed with a smile as the figure plowed into him. Unconsciously, he brought his arms to wrap around Donghyuck as well, pulled him close, set his chin to rest gratefully on the younger’s shoulders and breathed in his scent. “Donghyuck.”

“I - I was going to go look for you if you didn’t show by today, honest,” Donghyuck blabbered. It was only then that Mark realised Donghyuck was crying. “I should have seen the signs beforehand but I didn’t, and then when I woke and found you gone - and with this bloody sand I couldn’t see a damned thing and this isn’t even the town we were supposed to meet up at and I thought, I thought if I’d lost you I - I!”

“Shh, I’m here now. Don’t cry,” Mark murmured softly, too tired to do anything other than hold Donghyuck. “Don’t cry.”

“H-How did you even find this place?”

“Oh, that?” Mark was practically slurring now, he was so exhausted. He blinked with those heavy eyelids as Donghyuck pulled away to look at him properly. Absently he registered the feeling of his face being cupped and tilted this way and that, Donghyuck glaring at the red marks. “That’s some powerful magic you’ve got there, the ground moved quickest when I was moving towards you.”

He thought he heard a hitch of breath. Don’t cry, Mark thought absently. In his sleepy haze he tried reaching out a heavy limb in a clumsy attempt to wipe at Donghyuck’s cheeks but a gentle hand caught and stopped his flailing. Mark vaguely registered being led somewhere before he crashing on a soft mattress and letting sleep sweep over him.

It was early evening when Donghyuk and Mark reached the top of the hill that overlooked the main city. Mark took a while to stare at the sight before him because woah.

He hadn’t been to the city for what, five years? Six? But there were so many things that had changed. For starters, they’d polished up the statue in the bottom right corner. What he had remembered as blue and green and overall gross was now gleaming gold, proud and erect for all to see. The parliament hall which had been under construction the last time he’d been here was now restored to its previous glory.

For all that had changed, many things still remained the same. Those winding streets to the West where he’d spent many an afternoon racing after his hyungs. The sound of birdsong calling as they headed back to their nests for the day. The lazy rise of smoke floating out of chimneys mounted on red-tiled roofs.

“Mark hyung,” Donghyuck whined. It was that same tone of voice that Donghyuck would use to convince him they just had to get the seasonal offer on blackberries, or to play this song instead of that because he liked it better. It was also the same tone he’d used to convince Mark he hadn’t been crying four nights before even though his eyes were clearly swollen and red. Mark had readily agreed.

Damn, the sight was really turning him sentimental. Maybe he was getting old.

He was so sentimental he missed whatever Donghyuck had said following the call of his name. It wasn’t until he felt a strong push on his shell that he snapped out of it and found himself looking at an agitated Donghyuck.

“Mark hyung, if you don’t get your - your shiny shell down there we’re not going to have any food left because Jisung and Chenle are fat-asses who eat all the leftovers!”

They’d agreed to stop by Donghyuck’s house first since Mark’s destination was all the way across town. “You didn’t even tell them we were coming, there wouldn’t be enough food anyway!”

“But -!” Donghyuck was hopping from foot to foot, so excited was he to get home. It was in his sights, so near, he couldn’t wait another minute. Then his eyes flashed with challenge and Mark only had time to go well, shit, what does he want now before he smacked Mark’s shell. “Last one there’s a crusty lava barnacle.”

“I -” Mark stood flabbergasted for a second as Donghyuck took off sprinting with a happy yodel. This was not on. He wasn’t a competitive person, he wasn’t, but damn if he was going to let Donghyuck beat him to it. Let’s see him beaten by a snail, Mark had been a track and field star in school, okay. So, with a muttered expletive under his breath, Mark shot off down the slope.

The race ended abruptly when Mark changed suddenly, lost his balance, and tumbled down an alley before face-planting into a house by the corner. Red-faced, the alley had been thankfully empty as he pulled on his clothes. Around the bend, he came face to face with a sheepish Donghyuck who agreed that maybe just this time, it wouldn’t count, though he would’ve totally left Mark in the dust if this hadn’t happened.

Mark had just sighed.

Five minutes later, it was Chenle who opened the door. Or that’s who Mark assumed it was, going by the way the fork he’d been holding in his left hand abruptly turned into a lizard and scurried away. Chenle had stared at Donghyuck and Donghyuck had stared at Chenle. Then Chenle shut his open mouth and let out a shriek so loud all the dolphins in the world probably went deaf.

“DONGHYUCKIE HYUNG IS BACK!” Chenle screamed. There was a pause as Chenle launched himself at Donghyuck who caught him with a surprised ‘oof’. The whole house seemed to burst with life at that, with the sound of chairs scraping and footsteps thudding to the door. In an instant, four bodies collided with Donghyuck and they all landed in a squirming heap on the floor.

“Where’d you go!” Sob-screamed a boy with pink hair. Tear tracks down his face smudged his black mascara, and Mark took an unconscious step back. “I thought I killed you with the glitch, I -!”

“You punk, disappear without a word for months, no carrier pigeon, nothing, and I suppose you want dinner now!” A boy with black hair and a slender face scolded.

Another with the most pronounced eye-smiles Mark had ever seen was also babbling. “Donghyuck, we were so worried about you, all the monkeys wouldn’t stop moping -”

“Ssssss,” went the frankly alarmingly large snake that had managed to wind itself around Donghyuck in what Mark supposed was a hug.

“You’re back, I can’t believe it!” Chenle reached out a hand to smack the snake. “Jisung, you hug him properly!”

With that, the snake morphed into a boy with pink hair and squeezed Donghyuck, eliciting another strained gasp. “You better appreciate this hug, hyung!”

“Yah, get off me! I can’t breathe!”

The squirming and yelling went on for a while before Chenle’s eyes met Mark’s. He blinked at those innocent-looking eyes before he noticed the sudden glint in them. A shiver of dread went down Mark’s spine as Chenle opened his mouth, eyes never leaving his, and screamed. “DONGHYUCKIE HYUNG BROUGHT BACK A BOY!”

The noise that erupted took another fifteen minutes before they all moved to the dining room to settle things more civilly. It took another hour before Mark was shown into the guest room of the house and he had some peace and quiet to himself.

There was a soft knock on the door.

“Come in,” Mark called. The door opened and Donghyuck slipped inside.

“I hope you weren’t overwhelmed, they can be -” Donghyuck winced. “Overwhelming.”

Mark laughed. “I’m alright. They seem nice. They must’ve really missed you, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess.” There was a faint dusting of pink over Donghyuck’s cheeks. “So, uh. There are some spare pyjamas in the closet and bathroom is down the hall to the right. If you need anything, just come find any one of us. Tomorrow we’ll set off after breakfast?”

Oh. Mark had almost forgotten why they were here in the first place. His lips twisted into a frown before he could help himself. “Right. Of course.”

Donghyuck frowned. Arms crossed, he moved to stand by Mark’s bed. “Is something wrong, hyung?”

“I - It’s just -” Mark bit his lip. For a bard he had never been good with words. He thought back to the times he and Donghyuck would sit side by side and just talk, conversation flowing easily. Or the time they’d come across a group of wildlife poachers in the forests, and how Mark had hid in his shell, Donghyuck filling the spiral with sand, then taking a seat on his shell and drinking tea, pretending to be a local village tea-enthusiast when they’d stopped to question him, rambling on and on about how tea tastes better in the forests, the leaves above you, the sound of nature all around, the flow of feng shui despite the evident lack of any water source nearby. The group had been so convinced they stayed for an entire tea ceremony before heading off. One had even renounced his ways of killing wildlife, pledging to search for the most precious of teas. Mark and Donghyuck had laughed about it afterwards till their sides ached. Or even the time they’d stayed at an abandoned farm and spent hours grass-sledding under the moon.

Mark stared up at Donghyuck hopelessly. How could he ever condense what he wanted to say into words?

Donghyuck watched him with a look Mark couldn’t even begin to start to decipher. “Remember, hyung, not psychic.”

There it was again, that lump in his throat. You’re getting too sentimental, Mark-ah.

“I just, I. I-I’ll miss you,” Mark admitted softly.

Donghyuck smiled then, expression as unreadable as before. “Me too. Now rest,” he said simply and, with a soft touch to Mark’s upper arm, left the room. When the door clicked shut, Mark let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.

The next morning, Mark awoke first. After washing up, he found himself moving to the kitchen. There was a bag of flour by the cupboard, eggs, sugar, milk. There was only one breakfast thing he’d been known to be able to make reliably, and the ingredients were all there. It was a natural progression, then, that he grabbed the things he needed and started whipping up the batter.

He was almost done with the pancakes when Donghyuck entered the kitchen. His eyes were still stuck shut with grime. He opened his mouth obnoxiously wide as he yawned and stretched, but Mark couldn’t help but smile at how adorable he looked. “Good morning.”

“G’morning,” Donghyuck slurred, smacking his lips twice. “Whas’for breakfast? Smells good.”

“Pancakes,” Mark laughed, transferring the last pancakes to the plates. He placed the pan and spatula into the sink and carried the plates to the table. “As a thank you. For having me and all.”

The morning sun hit Donghyuck’s eyes and he scrunched up his face. Once again, Mark was struck by just how golden Donghyuck’s natural skin colour was. Clearing his throat, Mark fumbled his way to the cooler to grab maple syrup and butter. When he turned back, he was faced with Donghyuck, eyes now open, who was staring at him like he’d seen a ghost.

Mark blinked up at him. Instinctively, he reached up to rub at his face. “What? Did I get batter on my face?”

“Wha -? N-no, not that,” Donghyuck sputtered. “It’s just. Mark hyung. Look.”

“Look at what?”

“You.”

Mark cleared his throat and tried to smirk, though it probably came off awkward and not at all suave. “Yeah, I know. I’m pretty hot.”

The look Donghyuk gave him told him he was not impressed at all. He marched up to Mark and grabbed him by the arm. Almost shoving his hand into his face, he stressed again. “Look.”

“It’s...my hand?” Mark tilted his head and blinked before it hit him. His hand. His very real, human hand.

“I think your body knows it’s home,” Donghyuck said softly. He dropped Mark’s hand and walked over to his seat at the table, not meeting Mark’s eyes. “Let’s eat and get you back quickly.”

“R-right,” Mark managed. He didn’t know why he was speaking so softly too, but the whole atmosphere was so stuffy he was almost suffocating. He was sure he’d thrown the windows open before cooking, though. “Let’s do that.”

Then, the rest started to drift into the kitchen and the feeling vanished. Jaemin in particular had been delighted with the pancakes, complaining that no one helped him around the house, even those he’d raised like Jisung.

“Jaemin hyung is almost as good as Donghyuckie hyung when it comes to whining,” Chenle confided in Mark, mouth full of pancakes and syrup. “And I’m sure you know how Donghyuckie hyung is.”

Mark thought back to how they always managed to get their wares at a discounted price in markets and laughed. “Oh, I’m fully aware,” he laughed. Across the table Donghyuck smiled into his plate with a look that was almost brittle, and Mark’s laughter tapered off.

After clearing the plates Mark spent ten minutes assuring them all he’d visit before he was allowed to leave. He and Donghyuck walked in almost silence through the town. By lunch, they’d reached the house.

“Well, this is me,” Mark said awkwardly, attempting a smile.

“Mm,” Donghyuck hummed. “Go on, I’ll see you in before you leave.”

Mark caught that same indecipherable look in Donghyuck and nodded. He knocked boldly on the door. A faint ‘coming!’ sounded from inside, and Donghyuck turned to leave.

“Donghyuck, wait!” When Donghyuck turned back and looked at Mark, the words tumbled out of him like they were desperate to be heard. “I’ll come visit, okay? In a few days, after I get settled. I’ll find you there, right?”

Donghyuck gave him a faint smile. “I’ll be there.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

“Mark? Is that you?”

Mark almost jumped out of his skin at the familiar voice. He turned to meet it, taking a deep breath. “Yuta hyung. I - I’m home.”

Taeyong and Sicheng were off visiting, Yuta had said apologetically when Mark had been ushered to the dining room. Jungwoo, Doyoung, Taeil, Johnny, and Jaehyun were all there. They’d all wrapped Mark in a warm hug.

After lunch, Mark recounted the events of the past few months. He told them how he’d been cursed, and how he'd taken it to be his fault, until this boy seemed to give him the permission he needed to forgive himself. He told them about the pub fire and how he’d been so certain he was going to die. He told them about how the boy had saved him then, how they’d travelled far together to bring him back here. He told them about the desert, the mantas. He also told them how he hadn’t even realised he’d been changed back until the boy had waved his hand in his face, but here he was.

It was Yuta who spoke first. “It must have been hard on you, Mark ah. We’re sorry we didn’t do more to protect you, as your hyungs. But,” he reached out to ruffle the younger’s hair. “We’re very proud of how far you’ve come.”

Mark smiled up gratefully at Yuta. “It’s alright, hyung. I’ve got to take responsibility for these things too.”

Jungwoo reached out and shook Mark’s arm. “What’s the name of the boy who helped you? He sounds very important to you, so important you don't seem willing to share a name?”

Mark's ears turned bright pink. “Oh, I didn’t mention? It’s Donghyuck. Lee Donghyuck.” Six pairs of eyes looked at each other, then back at Mark. Mark blinked back at them. “Do you all know him?”

Johnny snorted. “Of course. He’s been working with Doyoung and Jaehyun for the past year in the academy. Until he went missing, that is.”

Huh.

“Mark.” Taeil, who had been discussing something with Jaehyun for a bit, spoke up. “There’s something you should know about the nature of curses.” Mark tensed up as he registered Taeil’s words. He almost didn’t want to hear them, but Taeil wasn’t as respected as he was in the magical community as he was for nothing.

“Now I’m not saying it’s absolutely not broken, or that it’s not been put in dormant state or something. But it’s a flashy one, and well. Am I right to say that the day it happened, it was cast in a very...loud manner?”

Mark thought back to the fireworks in front of his eyes, the oranges and pinks. He nodded.

“Then, and I’m not saying this for sure, but it’s possible.” Taeil smiled kindly at Mark, taking his hands in his. “Trends show that the breaking of such a thing is as flashy as its casting. Energy in, energy out.”

“You might still have something to do,” Jaehyun finished for him, resting a hand on Mark’s shoulder.

“Okay,” Mark breathed, screwing his eyes shut as a wave of nausea washed over him.

“Okay,” he whispered as he lay in bed that night. His bedroom hadn’t been touched, posters still stuck on the walls, vinyls in the cupboard. It used to be home. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

He didn’t sleep well that night and indeed, the next morning he woke up feeling a familiar weight on his back.

“Okay,” Mark repeated to himself. Hesitantly, he slid off the bed. Landing softly on the floor, he noted how the ground had almost rushed up to meet him to cushion his fall. He glided experimentally around his room and the earth followed. He took it as a sign.

Jungwoo was sitting outside with a cup of coffee when Mark emerged from his room. He didn’t look surprised as he took in Mark’s form, merely moved over to the front door to open it for him.

“You know where to go, right?” Jungwoo pressed gently. When Mark nodded (there was only one place he could think of going right now), he made a shooing motion with the hand not clasping the coffee to his chest. “Go on, then. And remember,” he called after Mark’s retreating shell, “you’ve always got a home here, even if it’s not the one you need right now.”

Mark paused and threw a grateful look over his shoulder. “Thank you, hyung.”

With a smile and a last wave, Jungwoo shut the door. Mark returned his gaze to the road with renewed focus. He travelled through the winding roads, ignoring the curious gazes sent his way. He’d only been through this route once yesterday, but it was almost as if he’d memorised the way. Or maybe it was like in the desert. Something was pulling him back.

He got to the house in just under an hour and a half. Panting from exertion, Mark nudged the doorbell. Almost immediately the door flew open. Chenle stood at the door in pyjamas, hair standing on one side. He grinned. “Mark hyung? Back so soon?”

“Chenle, li-listen. Is - is Donghyuck…?”

The effect was instantaneous. Chenle’s eyes went wide and shifty as he looked everywhere and anywhere that wasn’t Mark. “Uh, Donghyuckie hyung, he -”

“Chenle, move it.”

Mark’s eyes snapped to the source of the voice. The boy with the black hair and slender face - Renjun - nudged Chenle gently back into the house. He stepped out the door. In his hands he held a bowl and a mug of Chinese tea. With a tilt of the head he led Mark over to the picnic table in the garden.

Nervously, Mark followed him. “Renjun,” he tried again. “Where’s Donghyuck?”

“He’s off picking some wild mushrooms he said he’d seen on the road yesterday,” Renjun answered. He pushed the bowl of tea over to Mark. “Donghyuck won’t be back so soon, so sit for a while. Unfortunately Jeno isn't up yet and I'm the only other licensed counsellor in the house. You have some questions, don’t you?”

Some didn’t even cut it. Mark eyed the bowl set in front of him and took a hesitant sip. Immediately, he perked up. No wonder Donghyuck was able to perform a tea ceremony on a whim, he probably learned from Renjun. “You knew I was coming?”

Renjun had the grace to look a little embarrassed. “Uh well. I’m not a stalker I promise. I did have to do an elective on curses in school so, yeah. Kind of uh. Expected.”

Mark shook his head. “I don’t understand. I tried the place I stayed a few towns over, I tried the place I grew up in. Why am I not home yet?” There was something he was missing here, and he hated that. Maybe he ex had been right he thought for the barest sliver of a second, before squashing that train. No. Never again.

“Home isn’t always a physical place, hyung. You feel ‘at home’ wandering around right? Or ‘at home’ when you’re playing your guitar and rapping I would think.” Renjun winced and muttered something about not being a stalker again. “Something like that.”

Mark blinked. He’d never thought of the word being used in that way before. “I - I think I know what you’re talking about. But one thing’s been bothering me a bit?” At Renjun’s nod he continued, “you know that night in the desert? I know I had been walking for more than 12 hours, so why did -”

“Why did the magic not wear off?” Renjun produced a teapot and went about refilling Mark’s bowl and his own cup. “First, I don’t think you realise how powerful Donghyuck is. 12 hours is nothing to him. I think he probably said it because, imagine letting a random snail loose. If anything happened it would be on him. He holds the record when it comes to land-sliding, you know,” Renjun remarked. “He could’ve been back ages ago.”

Huh. Fair enough. “But after that?”

“Trust. You probably didn’t give him any indication that you’d, I don’t know, rob a bank or something. You know, Jeno’s been wanting to have a look at your shell, but I wouldn’t let him if I were you.”

“That...I don’t know how to feel about that.”

“Neither do I and I’m not even the snail here.”

“Huh,” Mark paused, struggling to get the conversation back on track, but Renjun beat him to it.

“The earth magic works even now, right? Maybe he wants you to be able to find your way back to him.”

Mark opened his mouth. Then he closed it.

Renjun took a glance at his watch. “He’ll be back soon. You’d better head off now if you want to catch him.”

Donghyuck was rounding the crest of the hill when Mark caught sight of him. Grunting with effort, he increased his speed.

“Donghyuck!” Mark cried out. “Donghyuck!”

As if stung, Donghyuck’s head shot up. When he caught sight of Mark a look of genuine shock passed over his features. “Mark hyung? What happened? I thought the curse -”

Mark came to a grinding halt before Donghyuck. “Did you say that home was something that pulled you in again and again?” he demanded urgently. “It’s where you go back to when you can, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck replied. His eyes were searching Mark’s desperately for a clue as to what was happening, lost and fragile. “I don’t -”

“Because if that’s the case,” Donghyuck shut his mouth and Mark closed his eyes, took a deep breath. “It’s you. You’re home to me.”

“I -” But whatever Donghyuck was about to say was lost in the sudden gust of wind that seemed to erupt from Mark. Wind was blowing in all directions, whipping at the trees and flowers and in the midst of it all, Mark was lifted above the ground. The winds converged on him in a grey ball of energy, and for a moment he felt pressed in all directions. It was all he could do to keep from screaming, but then he opened his eyes and realised: he wasn’t in any pain.

The grey that surrounded him seemed to stretch endlessly in endless motion. Just when he felt that he was about to be consumed by the winds collapsing on itself they changed direction, bursting out with a loud ‘pop!’. As they left him they turned into petals of orange, pink, blue, scattering the forest path and the city below with a shower of flowers.

Mark looked down at his arms - human arms - as he floated back gently to the ground. They were stained with all sorts of colours as well: greens, golds, purples, blues. As his feet touched the ground (strong, solid in every way) his eyes met Donghyuck’s (grounding, reassuring in every way). Laughter bubbled out of him, out of both of them because he was free. He was finally free.

"Don't look so...shell-shocked," Mark said. Donghyuck let out a suspiciously wet noise and threw himself at him, basket of mushrooms tossed to the side. They didn't hit the ground, the earth sank like a bowl to let them rest even as Donghyuck clung on tight to him. The conscientious, multi-tasking little -

"I can't believe you made such a bad pun. Oh my gosh." Donghyuck's voice was stuffy. If Mark turned around he knew that his eyes would also be all puffy, nose rubbed red.

But Mark also knew that ground magic or no, his feet would always carry him quickest if it meant coming back to Donghyuck.