Work Text:
jongho took off his headphones just in time to hear a knock on his bedroom door— which was either one of his housemates wanting to complain about something, or it was mingi and he was early for once. he decided it was probably mingi, his housemates weren’t fond of knocking.
“you can come in!” he shouted, not really wanting to get up from his desk. his chair wasn’t the comfiest thing in the world, but he’d been sitting for so long that he’d probably collapse immediately upon standing up.
mingi (of course it was mingi) opened the door and greeted jongho with a smile, before sitting on his bed. jongho turned around in his swivel chair, absolutely delighted to be looking at something that wasn’t a music theory assignment— even if the alternative was looking at a bruised and heavily bandaged mingi.
“jesus christ, hyung, what happened to you?” he asked.
mingi laughed nervously, trying to look at anything in the room besides his friend’s confused expression. “ever since i told hongjoong that i like when he bites me, i’ve kind of become a glorified chew toy. but i’m fine, i promise!”
jongho had become an expert at rolling his eyes over the years that he’s been mingi’s friend. “yeah, you certainly look like it. i thought he didn’t want to bite you or whatever?”
“i literally told you this the other day,” mingi scoffed, “he just didn’t want to drink blood from me and, before you ask, biting and drinking blood are very different activities.”
“i don’t get that at all.”
“eh, you don’t really need to. anyway, your guitar?”
“oh, right!” jongho said, getting up (and forcing himself to walk normally despite the fact that his legs had fallen asleep an hour ago) and shoving a guitar case out from under his bed, “almost forgot why you were here, to be honest.”
“yeah, i felt that,” mingi nodded, “do you wanna come back with me and watch me practice? hongjoong won’t be back for like, a couple hours at least, and i kind of want someone to hear me play.”
“actually…” jongho started, giving his friend an apologetic look after checking the time on his phone, “i would, but i can’t. i’m sorry but i have plans.”
“when you say you have ‘plans’ it sounds so impersonal, just say you’re going on a fucking date,” mingi laughed, “is yeosang coming over or are you going to his place? cause if he’s coming here you should probably hurry up and clean.”
“shut up, my room isn’t that bad.”
“no, yeah, your room is fine— i meant downstairs.”
jongho was almost afraid to ask. “well, whatever hyunjin and bomin did this time is irrelevant because i’m meeting him at a restaurant. which i have to be at in... fuck. like 10 minutes.”
“ah, okay. actually, before i leave, i have a kind of unrelated question,” mingi said, slinging the guitar case over his shoulder, “aren’t there weird rules about fairies and food? like you’re not supposed to eat anything they offer you, or something like that. i swear i read that somewhere.”
“maybe? i don’t know,” jongho shrugged, “if there is a rule like that, yeosang didn't tell me about it. to be honest, he doesn't really mention anything like that. i mean i know about some of them, like the 'don't give them your name' thing. but i told him my name and nothing happened."
“how do you know nothing happened, though?” mingi asked, squinting curiously at him.
“you’re stupid.”
mingi grinned. “thanks. you doing anything else after dinner?”
“not that my entire night is any of your business, but after dinner we’re going back to his place to-”
“wait! i take it back; i feel like this is where i should ask you to stop giving me details. please don’t give me more details,” mingi interrupted, waving his hands theatrically as if that would make jongho shut up faster.
“what, did you think i was gonna start giving you details about me and yeosang’s sex life? you’re gross, hyung,” jongho responded, making a face of pure disappointment, “why did your mind even go there?”
mingi just shrugged, lips curling into a devious smile that he probably learned from san, “i dunno, some people are pretty open about that. speaking of which, did i tell you that wooyoung-”
the conversation ended abruptly there, with a red-faced and flustered jongho forcibly removing mingi from his house.
~
yeosang swore to god ('god' in this case meaning whatever higher power happens to be listening) that jongho became even more charming every time he saw him. which made no sense, because humans weren't supposed to be like that. humans were gross and unintelligent creatures who disturbed his peace and were always up to no good.
at least that's what he thought before he started dating jongho. but that's neither here nor there.
"hey, sorry i'm late," jongho smiled, sitting down across from the fairy, "i forgot mingi was coming over to borrow my guitar, so i was stuck talking to him for a while."
"it's fine, you're not too late," yeosang said with a small laugh, tucking a small strand of blonde hair behind his delicately pointed ear, "i only just got here a couple minutes ago myself... more importantly, since when did mingi know how to play guitar?"
"oh, he doesn't."
they talked for a while, ordered their food, and talked even more. after they paid and left, they decided to walk around for a bit before heading back to yeosang and yunho's apartment.
jongho knew well that fairies probably had charming abilities— the amount of times he'd seen fairies described as 'unnaturally beautiful' was funny, mostly because they were absolutely right. yeosang was like a statue that had come to life, and every inch of him was sculpted perfectly.
sometimes he thought he was dating an angel rather than a fairy.
then jongho was reminded of what mingi said earlier about the fairy rules.
"hey, i have a question."
"mmh? go ahead," yeosang said, "i mean, as long as it's something i can answer. if it's school related, don't even bother..."
jongho laughed, showing his signature gummy smile. "no, it's not about school. i was just wondering if there's any fairy rules i should know about that you haven't really mentioned."
yeosang scrunched his nose as his boyfriend spoke. "what makes you ask that?"
"to be honest, nothing really. mingi brought it up and it made me curious because you never really mentioned them, and i thought those were a big thing with fairies? sorry if i'm being insensitive."
"oh, no, it's not insensitive at all..." the blonde said nervously, "you really don't need to worry about those, jjong. yeah, technically i have power over you because you gave me your name and technically you've broken a fuck ton of fae hospitality rules because we're supposed to be really picky about that... but i really like you, and i'm not gonna fuck that up by making you suffer the traditional rules of fairy court etiquette."
"so there are rules, then?"
"yeah, but it genuinely depends from fairy to fairy on whether or not they actually matter. if you'd accepted gifts from or said 'thank you' to any other fairy, you'd be in massive debt by now," yeosang sighed, "but i wouldn't do that to you."
"oh, okay."
"just... okay?"
jongho nodded thoughtfully, reaching to hold yeosang's hand. the fairy jolted in surprise— as he did any time he received physical affection from jongho in public. "i assumed that if these fairy etiquette rules were really important, you'd have told me. i already trust you not to use magic on me, so i trust you with this too."
"oh, good," yeosang sighed in relief, "i was really worried that you'd be upset about it. but... maybe we should go over rules about interacting with fairies. later. because you're gonna be in a lot of trouble with any fairy that isn't me, you know."
"why would I interact with any fairy that isn't you?" jongho asked, tilting his head, "oh, another thing, about the gift giving rule. is that why you always insist i don't get you anything? so you don't have to return the favor?"
"well now you're just calling me out!" the fairy responded, face flushing, "but, yeah, that's pretty much it. i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings by insisting that you don't ever give me anything, hopefully you understand my logic. but if you think about it, i have given you gifts before."
"name one."
"hmm... well, there's my virginity-"
"YEOSANG!" jongho half-whispered and half-shouted (they were still in public, after all), his face turning as red as his hair, "you can't just say that, there's people around!
"oh, it's not like anyone can hear us," yeosang said casually, as if that were a fact that the human should've known, "magic or whatever. i know you like your privacy, so.."
"ah, of course..." jongho said, face still hot with embarrassment.
"why'd you bring up the gift rule specifically? i think the name thing is a bit more concerning," the fairy admitted.
"well, you told me a while ago not to give you stuff, and i felt really bad about it even though i knew it probably wasn't about me," jongho explained, "but there's something i've been working on for you, and i don't expect anything in return! if you don't want to give me gifts because of fairy etiquette, i completely understand, but will you let me give you this thing?"
yeosang nodded, smiling brightly. "you seem really excited about it. can you give me a hint?"
"ah, sure. you know how hongjoong has been teaching me and mingi how to compose music? it's... something to do with that."
"jongho."
"yeah?"
"that's literally the most obvious hint you could've given me," yeosang snickered, "just say you're writing a song for me."
jongho smiled, looking down at his feet, "yeah, i'm writing a song for you."
"i can't wait to hear it."