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mingi, despite being an adventurer, was always quite concerned about his own well-being.
many people had this idea that adventurers were never afraid of danger, or that they were always willing to risk their lives on some fascinating quest. mingi... was not like that. there were many people in the guild that fit that description, sure, but you could count mingi out. he'd only joined a year ago and decided that, while adventuring was fun, he'd rather avoid any commissions that sounded even vaguely dangerous.
luckily for him, people came to the adventurer's guild with all sorts of problems. mingi often found himself doing the most mundane activities one could imagine— but he enjoyed it, and that was all that really mattered.
his long time friend (and mentor) seonghwa would disagree. seonghwa wanted excitement and swordfights and things that could probably get him killed. which was all so ironic, because he always worried immensely about mingi and yeosang's safety, always nagging them and making sure they were careful...
mingi missed him but, unfortunately, he'd probably be gone for a while longer. apparently none of the commissions in their home city were exciting enough for him, so he'd left months ago to go find something thrilling to do. mingi was vaguely worried, but he also knew that seonghwa had a big sword and wasn't afraid to use it.
mingi, on the other hand, did not own a weapon. unless you count a medium sized bag of marbles.
dangerous quests were sort of out of his league.
this was precisely the reason why he'd found himself in the middle of the woods quite late at night. he'd accepted a commission from a young woman whose pet dragon had run away, and she couldn't find him anywhere. mingi had initially panicked at the mention of a dragon, but she assured him that the reptile was still a baby, and wouldn't harm anyone. in the end he readily accepted the commision, and decided to set out looking for the dragon as soon as possible.
unfortunately, he'd been looking and asking around all day, and had come up with nothing. so he decided to check the forest, as somewhat of a last resort. he sort of wanted to avoid the forest— as it was very dark at night and he had no clue what horrible creatures could be in there— but he had to find that lady's dragon!
"star! star~ are you hiding in a tree?" mingi asked, hoping that perhaps the dragon would respond to his name, "your mom is worried sick about you... i sure hope you're not dead."
he held an oil lantern in one hand and a bag of coins in the other. dragons liked shiny things, didn't they? if needed, mingi planned to just start throwing coins at the creature and hope for the best. for now, he held out the lantern and looked around helplessly. he sighed, deciding that maybe he should take a break.
carefully setting down the lantern and making sure it wouldn't tip over and start a forest fire, mingi sat down at the base of a tree, relieved to finally let himself rest after looking for that dragon all day. he grabbed a flask (filled simply with water because, again, he prioritizes his well-being) from his pocket and took a long drink as he stared at the fireflies glittering in front of him.
the sound of wind rustling through the trees and the faint chirping of crickets put mingi's mind at ease. the forest was actually quite beautiful at night, he realized. why was he scared to venture out here?
suddenly, amidst all the comforting sounds of the woods, mingi heard singing.
oh hell no.
if there was one thing mingi knew for certain it was that, if you ever hear mysterious singing and there's no people around, you absolutely DO NOT go near it. it cannot possibly mean anything good, in any circumstances. it was likely a siren or an evil spirit or some other variety of malicious creature that was going to eat him alive.
mingi grabbed his lantern, ready to make a run for where he knew he entered the forest, when he heard a barking noise coming from the same direction.
... a singing dog?
now he was just intrigued.
wait, no, bad mingi, he reminded himself, you do not go near the singing because it means certain death. possibly by a siren.
but why would a siren be in the middle of the woods? or have a dog with them?
mingi ultimately gave in to his curiosity, and followed the sound of the singing. it was quite beautiful, he noticed as he walked further into the woods. whoever it was was singing a song he'd never heard before, and it sounded perfect even without any accompaniment. they had a deep voice, smooth like honey, and mingi decided that if it was a siren— he was dead meat.
even though he had lived in sunview his entire life, mingi had never explored the forests much. the city was in the middle of the wilderness, so it was nearly impossible to avoid it, and yet somehow mingi did. so he was surprised to stumble into a clearing, a perfect circle framed by tall oak trees, where he found the source of the singing. a dark haired man with dragonfly-like wings on his back that rivaled the stars in both brightness and beauty, surrounded by wild animals.
"yeosang?"
the fairy turned around with a look of surprise, nearly startling all the animals that surrounded him. he pet a wolf between the ears as his gaze softened. "oh, mingi? mingi! hi!"
"i— i'm not interrupting anything, am i?" mingi asked nervously. his heart was beating like a damn drum. of course his luck is so bad that he would run into his crush of all people in the middle of the god damn woods. "wait, gods, what that you singing?"
"ah, yes, it was," yeosang responded, smiling sheepishly, "i didn't know i had an audience. i promise i'm not usually that bad—"
mingi gasped quietly. "how could you say that?" he was offended, but didn't want to be too loud in case he disturbed any of the animals, so he toned it down a bit. "it was beautiful! i can't believe i've never heard you sing before, it was amazing."
yeosang giggled at that. be still, mingi's weak heart. "i'm glad you thought so. i enjoy singing, but i try not to do so around people. how do i say this... my singing can potentially have magical properties, and i'd hate to cause any chaos in town."
mingi nodded understandingly. human townsfolk were always a bit apprehensive towards fairies— and with good reason, considering that fairies can be insanely powerful and don't often have other people's best interests in mind. yeosang wasn't like other fairies, though. he was always so considerate and kind and did so much work for the guild and oh gods mingi was so fucking whipped.
who could blame him, though?
yeosang looked like a dream, especially like this— his statuesque features illuminated by the moonlight, his wings fluttering, sitting on the forest floor surrounded by deer, rabbits, birds, and more. he was turned with his back facing mingi, but there was another animal in his lap that he was petting, and... wait a damn minute.
"is that a baby dragon in your lap?" mingi asked, exasperated.
"yeah, it is," yeosang responded with a smile, holding it up like you would a cat, "not sure what he's doing all the way out here, since he's clearly someone's pet. he has a collar and nametag— his name—"
"is star?"
the fairy raised an eyebrow. "yes, how did you—"
"i was out here looking for him!" mingi sighed in relief, "his owner asked me to find him, she's been really worried. oh, thank the gods he's alright."
"ah, that's good to know. i was worried that someone left him out here on purpose," yeosang said solemnly, petting the reptile's back, "do you want to take him back now?"
"well, actually," the adventurer started, nervously fiddling with a button on his sleeve, "could i sit with you for a while? if not that's fine but you know i've been walking around all day and even though it's late i could use a break and—"
"come on, sit," yeosang interrupted, before mingi could make an even bigger fool of himself. mingi took off his cloak and laid it on the forest floor before sitting down and leaning against yeosang. the fairy rolled his eyes and moved the dragon from his lap as he manhandled (manhandled! with his stupidly muscular arms!) mingi to rest his head on his thigh.
face flushed red, mingi laughed nervously. "what was wrong with how I was sitting before?"
"this is more comfortable, isn't it?" yeosang asked, "besides, i need to do something with my hands, and this way i can play with your hair... if that's okay with you."
mingi was certain that he was dreaming at this point. not that yeosang being affectionate was unusual, but this whole situation just felt unreal. maybe it was the magic. either way, he kept his composure. somehow. "i am more than fine with that. it's gotten pretty long so it'd be a waste if you didn't, really."
mingi may have fallen asleep like that. and he may have decided, that morning, that waking up to yeosang's face was something he could never get tired of.