Chapter Text
It was cold when Yunho woke up.
He huffed. Wooyoung really needed to get the hang of how doors worked. Even Yunho knew you were supposed to close them once you were through, and he hadn't had the need for doors for almost ten years. He shuffled closer to Seonghwa, pressing his nose to the older's throat and tightening his arms around him to avoid the cool draft. He planned on completely ignoring whatever Wooyoung was up to for the time being.
The door fell shut and the air stilled.
Seonghwa didn't seem to notice, so Yunho took the opportunity to just stare for a bit. Even when Yunho loved the blushy mess Seonghwa became when he stared at the older, he also loved to see him relaxed like he was now. This was maybe his favourite part of his new human life. Just lying here, wrapped up in Seonghwa's arms, with the skylight above him.
Seonghwa had made the carpenter install a skylight, when no attempts at fixing the roof had worked.
That was something Yunho loved too.
For so long, he had only coexisted with the people, them never being aware that he was even alive, but now he existed with them. They greeted him when they saw him. They talked to him when they caught him wandering around the grazing fields among the cows.
He welcomed how crowded Seonghwa's cottage had become over summer.
Wooyoung and San had decided to stay for a while, since Seonghwa had started to teach them some spells to avoid another Yunho-situation. Of course, Yunho had forgiven San, because San had never meant for this to happen, and back then, Yunho had also thought the prank was the most hilarious thing they had ever done. Yunho also liked to watch the way both of them gained some weight during the summer, as he still remembered how skinny San had been last summer.
Seonghwa's younger brother Yeosang came up to Yangdong for the first time in his life. He was soft and quiet and Yunho liked him from the second he entered the cottage with a scowl and said “Everything smells like grass”. Seonghwa had said something along the line of “I think I'm dreaming”, because according to him, Yeosang despised the outdoors and preferred staying indoors all day. It didn't keep Yeosang from following Jongho and his goats almost everywhere, though.
Jongho was nice to Yunho even when Yunho basically horded everyone's attention for a bit (especially Seonghwa's). He didn't like it when Yunho touched him, though, and Yunho was a bit hurt by that, until he found out that basically no one aside of Yeosang and occasionally Seonghwa were allowed to touch him for more than three seconds at a time. Yunho still tried to sometimes, just to irritate him a bit. Jongho was cute when he tried to look angry.
He had also met Hongjoong this summer, a close friend of Seonghwa and apparently, Mingi's long-time boyfriend. Yunho may have annoyed Hongjoong with questions about Mingi to the point where he physically left the mountain to go get Mingi, so Yunho would shut up. Maybe they both cried for three days straight when they met again, but that was no ones business but theirs.
Mingi had grown to almost the same height as Yunho, all without a bear-spell, but otherwise, he was still all the same as Yunho remembered him. They were still as clingy as they had been when they had been ten years old, and Seonghwa joked that they would fuse together if they kept doing things like this. But Yunho had missed Mingi, had missed his best friend so much, so he didn't let it bother him that everyone just assumed Mingi was cheating on Hongjoong in plain sight. He was just glad he had his best friend back.
Seonghwa's arm tightened around Yunho, a telltale sign that the older was about to wake up. Yunho smiled. Today was going to be eventful.
Sometimes, Yunho still wasn't sure his new life was real. And with “sometimes” he referred to this time specifically, standing as close to where the mountain broke into a cliff as he dared. It was still the early morning, the sun barely peeking out from behind the eastern mountain ridge and the sky painted pink. The cold air tickled in his nose and his throat as he watched a flock of birds ascend.
He closed his eyes and breathed in again, pulling the air deep into his lungs and holding it there. He heard someone approaching him from behind, but didn't open his eyes.
“Do you want to stay a few more days?” Seonghwa asked, voice soft.
Yunho opened his eyes and looked at the witch. His black hair was windswept in the most beautiful way, but his face was painted with worry not even the soft light of the morning could erase. Yunho didn't answer immediately, just turned back towards Yangdong, the village on the mountain. Since he had been turned back he had lived here, in Seonghwa's cottage, with their friends, and he had gotten used to it. He had gotten used to Hongjoong and Seonghwa bicker like they have been married for thirty years, and he had even gotten used to Wooyoung's habit of never shutting the door on his way out. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect in the valley.
He told Seonghwa so.
“I know,” Seonghwa said. “It must be hard for you. Leaving I mean. I get it.”
If it had been anyone else than Seonghwa saying that, Yunho wouldn't have believed them. But Seonghwa, Seonghwa was as much at home up here as Yunho was. And he knew that, if it had been possible, Seonghwa would stay in Yangdong with him. But it wasn't. Yangdong was too far up the mountain to be safe in winter for humans and witches alike, and Yunho wasn't protected by a thick fur anymore.
“Hyung, we don't know where my family is, or if they're even alive. San and Wooyoung will go back to their coven on the other side of the eastern mountains. Hongjoongie-hyung and Mingi and Jongho live in Gampo. All I've known all summer will be gone.”
“I will still be here,” Seonghwa said, soft voice almost getting lost in the wind. But Yunho still heard him.
Tears welled in Yunho's eyes and Seonghwa's hands came up to cradle his cheeks to wipe them away. They weren't really tears of sadness, not entirely at least. Yunho was excited to experience the valley after so many years, but he was also so anxious. Seonghwa looked at him with the softest eyes, carressing Yunho's face like he was something precious.
“I'll still be here,” Seonghwa repeated, leaning forward. The kiss was soft, and Yunho's insides turned to warm goo. For a few seconds, he forgot about his worries, until Seonghwa pulled back enough to lean his forehead against Yunho's.
“It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. And in spring, we come home.”