Chapter Text
I had a thought, dear
However scary
About that night
The bugs and the dirt
Why were you digging?
What did you bury
Before those hands pulled me
From the earth?
“I don’t know if I am ready for this to happen”
“Of course you are. Beomgyu, we’ve been years waiting for this” Soobin crouches to put a tower of botany books inside a cardboard box and grabs the tape to stick it closed. With a snap of his fingers and a delicate hand movement, Beomgyu cuts a piece absent mindedly and levitates the tape back into his hands.
“I get it, okay? I’m just… scared, I guess” his finger gets stuck in the tacky end of the adhesive, and he scratches the residue off. “It’ll pass. This feeling, I mean. I just have to take the risk and stop overthinking. I don’t know why I can’t just be grateful for this opportunity”
One of the many glass jars neatly placed in a corner of the almost empty room starts tinkling, the herbs inside hitting the surface and creating a melodic chime, not far from scattered raindrops. The sound grows and grows in intensity, until the jar starts colliding against the rest of the objects surrounding it.
“Hey” Soobin stands up and tilts Beomgyu’s head, so they can look into each other’s eyes. With a thumb he softens the furrow between Beomgyu’s brows. The jar stops shaking right away. His hand caresses the other’s cheek, gently tracing his features. “We are doing this together, so don’t shut me out. Let’s finish this next box and sit down for a while so you can tell me what you are thinking, yeah?”
Beomgyu closes his eyes and imagines their future: Soobin’s pretty face fills each and every corner of his mind, all happy eyes and the most beautiful smile, no matter the outcome of the events. He takes a deep breath and nods.
“Okay”
☆ ☆ ☆
Kai is drowning. His head is filled with water. Water that clogs his windpipe, runs through his lungs, reaches every corner in the core of his body, and tries to get out. The pressure makes his muscles ache and his flesh bruise. The water inside his body is cold, but the ocean he is drowning in is extremely hot. Kai curls into himself and lets the darkness pull him towards the depth, towards the unknown. I’m going to die, he thinks. Still, he doesn’t try to swim afloat. Fuck, I’m really going to die here.
“You are not going to die” he hears through the haze. A muffled voice is speaking to him. “At least not from a cold”
Kai groans. “Shut up, hyung” He turns around in his cocoon of blankets and opens his eyes, squinting at the September sunrays filtering through the thin curtains. Yeonjun is sitting on a kitchen stool typing on the keyboard with long and swift fingers. It must be late afternoon, if the older one is already back from work.
“How are you feeling? Can I stop babysitting you for an hour? Will you manage to survive without my love and care?” asks Yeonjun without taking his eyes off the screen. A pillow flies though the living room and lands on top of the kitchen table, flinging the colorful mug that was lying there and spilling the few drops of coffee Yeonjun had left. “Hey! Be careful, you asshole!”
Kai had not expected the summer weather in Seoul to disappear as soon as he crossed out the third week of September on the calendar. They had warned him the temperatures would drop, and suddenly sleeveless outfits would not be an option for going out way past midnight; but having lived his whole life in Hawaii made anything thicker than a hoodie unfamiliar to him.
Of course he has visited South Korea in the past. Kai remembers spending the summer holidays with his family in Gangneung. Yeonjun and him would build the tallest sand castles and race against each other to endless laps through the beach. However, in the last few years he has been too busy studying: good grades mean better chances at getting into Seoul National University, and since he didn’t make it at eighteen years old, he has put all his efforts during the bachelor to get a place on his dream master’s degree.
“If you feel strong enough to be fighting and fussing, you might as well get a shower and head to your evening class. A whole day missed in SNU is like a week worth of American school” continues Yeonjun turning his laptop off and wiping the kitchen table with a dishcloth.
“I’m already twenty-two. Let me make my own decisions” Kai responds turning again on the couch and covering his head with the blanket. “Besides, you didn’t even go there” he snickers failing to suppress the fit of coughing that staggers through his throat afterwards.
Yeonjun picks his stuff up and turns around, marching into his room to drop everything on the bed and grab a backpack that is already prepared. “Whatever. I’m going to the gym. Call if you need me!” With untied shoelaces and a half-put jacket he slams the front door closed.
There are two things that Kai Huening (or Huening Kai, since he now lives in Seoul) has realized about the city in the month and a half he has been here:
1) The first one is that there are little to no green areas. Of course, there are nice riverside parks and you can ride the bus to Achasan Mountain, but his cousin and him can’t afford an apartment in a cute little neighborhood with dog parks, pretty cafés and lively pedestrian streets. In Honolulu, Kai didn’t do anything special: he went on late night walks with his friends, spent the day at the beach on weekends, went on random hikes occasionally or discovered new boba stores with tooth rotting flavors. Still, every little corner was surrounded with such beauty that made nature on the island feel almost magical. That is a warmth that Kai still has to experience in this new country.
2) The second one is that Seoul makes you lonely. The ashy skies and cold air of dawn play a big part, but it is mostly the feeling of living surrounded by people and still not making meaningful connections. Kai has tried to make friends, he has joined the hiking club at university and even met a couple of Yeonjun’s pals. The only person he thinks he is kind of close to is Taehyun, a guy from his microbiology class who takes fairly good notes, laughs at Kai’s jokes and asks him on Mondays for companionship during lunch.
So that is why, after Yeonjun leaves for his daily routine at the gym, Kai decides to send Taehyun a message letting him know he won’t be able to make it to the evening class. He then wraps himself like a burrito with the blanket and walks to the sink to fill a glass of water and pop into his mouth the couple of pills that hopefully will make him feel better.
“Eomma, I’m okay, really”
“You don’t sound okay, Kai-ya. Have you been drinking ginger tea? Do you need me to send you the recipe?”
A couple days later, Kai is wrapping his scarf twice around his neck holding the phone at a safe distance as he steps out of the bus in front of the campus gates. “No, you know I don’t like ginger” The few students who were on the same bus as him pass him by, walking quickly to make it on time. He strolls a bit faster too: The clouds are threatening with rain and he doesn't feel like arriving to his tutorial wet.
“Then drink other stuff, but put lots of liquids in you, Kai. It’s very important to stay hydrated when you have a cold. You’ll feel better too”
“I know. I just have a sore throat from coughing; the only day I had a fever was on Wednesday” Kai counts internally the doors on the main building. The entrance to the labs is on the fourth. “I’ll make myself a milk tea when I get home in a couple of hours”
“Okay, darling. I’ll call Yeonjunie later to thank him for keeping an eye on you. Learn a lot today!” she says excited.
“Mmhm, mahalo nui loa, a hui hou eomma”
“A hui hou!”
Kai hangs up while he enters the building through the fourth door. The Biodiversity and Conservation Lab is located at the very far end of the corridor and he can already see the harsh white light from the halogens dazzling through the small window next to the entrance. His classmates might think he is a bit of an overachiever, since Kai is starting early on his master’s thesis. However, to properly write about the endangered plant conservation strategies he wants to study, he needs to do fieldwork and collect data before a thick blanket of snow falls on the forests and the field trips get postponed until spring. Kai loves nature and everything it entails.
Taehyun agrees, even though he is more practical and is thinking of simulating climate scenarios on his computer. Kai surprisingly got him to tag along on the first outing to Gwanaksan, the mountain adjacent to the campus, which is exciting, since he hasn’t really dived into Korean species. Taehyun has a bit of acquired knowledge, but as his specialty is biotechnology, he isn’t that interested in Kai’s outdoor endeavors. A bummer, because Kai could actually go on for hours about Hawaii’s native plants and the secrets of ecosystems found nowhere else on Earth.
The afternoon goes smoothly. His professor teaches him how to use the machine that analyzes DNA, shows him the leaf and root samples she has obtained during the last month and lets him take a look at the seed storage facilities. By six Kai is exhausted and overwhelmed with information, but very very happy. The professor dismisses him and Kai collects his notes, stuffing them into his backpack and bowing politely with gratitude.
Yeonjun has written a short message in the meantime, saying he will be picking dinner up on his way back from the gym. Kai responds with a heart emoji, hoping to find fried chicken on a greasy bag when he gets home, and steps outside of the building, the chilly dusk slowly creeping into the city. He is in a fairly good mood; he thinks cheerfully adjusting his backpack on his shoulders. Nothing could really discourage him except…
Barely five steps after, a perfectly rounded drop leaves an imprint on the concrete floor. Kai looks up at the sky and sighs, opening the transit app to check on the next bus that will take him to his warm and sheltered apartment. More raindrops start to fall everywhere, and his legs take him on autopilot to the bus stop as the page loads.
Eighteen minutes.
He looks around. The bus stop has no shelter and it’s full-on lashing right now, too much of a downpour to walk back into the lab. Water runs down his hair and a drop falls inside his clothes, giving him goosebumps. Without thinking twice, Kai runs to the first establishment he sees. The Meadowbrew reads the small sign on the storefront. The shop window is dusty, yet he is able to see a warm orangey light on. He can kill a bit of time in there until the unfortunate storm ceases or enough time passes for the bus to magically appear on the stop. So, Kai decides to push the old wooden door open.
The first thing he notices when he enters is the tinkling sound of tiny golden bells draping over the threshold. The place is small: there is a round table with three colorful mismatching chairs in one corner, a wooden counter full of jars, spoons, bowls and trinkets, and a half-opened door behind it probably leading to a storeroom. The walls are full of shelves, but most of them are empty. The contents are probably inside the boxes that are scattered on the floor, some opened and some closed, marked by weird symbols doodled on the front with a broad-tip pen.
Kai frowns. What a weird place, he thinks. It surely looks as if the storm has originated on the inside of this exact spot. All the objects are just lying there, in a mess of half-sorted piles that remind him of his dad’s old garage: a classified chaos that only he could decipher.
The young man turns around determined to find another place to stay, when someone hurriedly walks out of the storeroom.
“Um… hi?”
“Oh. Hello” Kai answers, startled.
The person bears a confused look, rounded eyes scrutinizing Kai’s face, his wet hair, his hands, his legs… He suddenly feels self-conscious, not only because he is meticulously being observed, but because the guy is beautiful.
Chestnut brown hair cascades to his neck, messy bangs almost covering jet black irises that strip Kai naked to his soul. A charming silky blouse covers his shoulders, leaving his collarbones exposed, with a thick silver pendant lying in the middle, the shape resembling those symbols Kai has seen written on the cardboard boxes. The other is also wearing several dangly earrings that he cannot work out, since wild strands of hair cover his ears, almost as if magically floating in place. He has the clearest skin Kai has ever seen and his eyes unintentionally draw to his soft hands, now placed with extreme delicacy over the countertop.
“Sorry, can I help you with anything?” says the owner after clearing his throat. He is no longer surveying Kai, having decided instead on looking out the window, probably noticing the heavy rain that wasn’t there just a couple of minutes ago.
The latter can’t say that he hasn’t gotten used to the intense stares of strangers. Being mixed in an east-asian country with almond eyes, over six feet height and a thick American accent might be why.
“Um no. I just… well, the rain… I was” Kai is not sure on what to say. Should he excuse himself and leave? What type of store is this anyway? “The shop clearly isn’t open. I don’t want to be a bother” he explains pointing at the knick-knack-covered floor.
“The Meadowbrew is always open for those who need it” smiles the worker flicking a strand out of his eye. He looks around, his eyes landing on a spot below the counter and pulls out a lovely teacup with a lilac floral print. A couple of thread-like thin rings that Kai had not noticed before clink against the porcelain. “Perhaps would you like a hot milk tea to fight the gloomy weather?”
Kai nods confused. That’s… exactly what he has been craving the whole day. The other one just encourages him to sit down at the table with a gesture and fumbles between the glass jars, pulling out a little spoon and scooping ingredients into a teapot as if he understands the symbols on the tags.
Kai picks the blue chair with a velvety pillow and observes the place better, after dropping his backpack and his jacket on the back of the chair. “Is this a tea shop? Will you be opening anytime soon?” he asks breaking the silence after a minute.
“We should have opened last week but my lover is still gathering some of our essential ingredients” he speaks. There is a soft rasp to his voice, velvet laced in between his vocal cords.
“Oh” Kai breathes. The blood rushes to his face and his cheeks turn into a soft pink. The other has not even answered his first question, but Kai does not notice. Of course, someone so gorgeous should be in a relationship. “So you own this place together with your partner?” he wonders curious.
The silver rings chime again on the cup. He grabs it gracefully and places it next to the teapot, which is giving off steam, indicating the water is already hot and the spices are infusing. Kai peeks around looking for a stove, a kettle or even a portable burner. None of those options seem to have heated the teapot. The stream creates swirls in the air as the guy pours the drink into the cup. Kai shakes his head. It must have been already boiling.
“We have been years dreaming of opening our own shop” he answers after a while. The pretty cup gets placed with a matching plate in front of Kai. The milk is already there, mixed with cloves, star anise and more spices that he cannot really see. “An opportunity that I could not refuse was offered to me a few weeks ago. So I took it”
Kai observes his features better. The other one doesn’t seem much older than him, yet he has an aura of wisdom he has rarely seen in people their age. Maybe it is the way he talks.
He takes a little sip of tea. Surprisingly it is not too hot. “Well, I’m sure your business will be extremely successful” Kai smiles encouraging. “Overworked students will really appreciate a cozy teahouse to drink something hot after long study hours”
The owner blinks confused, as if trying to remember something. He then smiles too and shrugs. “Yeah, Soobin told me a lot of young humans wander through the mountain a couple miles north from here. He said they try to understand the forest but that they are too naive”
Soobin must be the lover, thinks Kai laughing at the other’s choice of words, not really feeling offended. “Oh, Gwanaksan? I’m going hiking there next weekend! I want to study some plant species, and my professor told me I could find different specimens” he says excited. The teacup is slowly emptying, sip by sip. The drink tastes truly delicious, it leaves a lingering sweet tang, something honey-like.
“So you learn about the forest too?”
“Kind of. Ecology” he explains shortly drinking in one gulp the last few drops and placing the empty cup on the saucer again. “I just started, though. I only moved here in August”
The guy nods. His auburn silky hair falls on his eyes and he blows upwards to push the strand back. “New to the city, then?” he ponders, sympathetically.
“Yeah”
“Me too” he sighs.
The silence stretches comfortably. Kai understands the ache. It is not easy to start from scratch in a new setting, even if the decision has been completely deliberate. He wonders if the other one comes from a completely different place, just like him. Kai looks out the window. It seems the rain has long stopped. The clouds in the sky are dissipating and the last rays of sunlight of the day pierce through them. A raindrop runs down the shop window and pools on the wooden windowsill.
“I might have to get going. I don’t want to steal any more of your time” Kai acknowledges, standing up to grab his backpack and pull out his wallet. “The tea was delicious and I don’t see a menu so, here” he says turning his wallet upside down and letting every coin drop on top of the table. He smiles, two crescents forming in his eyes.
“You don’t need to-
“Please. It’s the least I can do” Kai insists putting his jacket on and adjusting his backpack. The handles are still a bit wet. “It was nice meeting you… uhm-
“Beomgyu”
“Okay, Beomgyu-ssi” Beomgyu, Beomgyu, Beomgyu. Kai engraves it in his brain. For some reason he feels the urge to learn more about him: the guy is unusually attractive. Kai says goodbye one more time and pushes the door open, breathing the earthy scent of wetness and petrichor. He walks a few steps towards the bus stop jumping over the puddles on the street and with one quick glance he watches as Beomgyu stands there, behind the dusty window, observing Kai’s movements. The bus suddenly appears around the corner, which means he has barely been inside the shop for twenty minutes. Weird. He feels like he’s been in there for hours.
Soobin and Beomgyu from The Meadowbrew. What a strange and beautiful place.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Soobin. I’m telling you- a human entered the shop this evening” blurts Beomgyu alarmed, pacing the living room in every direction.
“Okay. First of all, you might need to relax because we are running out of lightbulbs, and the hardware store guy already gave me a weird look last week when I told him the third one had exploded” warns the other dropping a leather messenger bag on the lonely table. There is still not a lot of furniture in the room; or any room, for that matter.
“Seriously? You are telling me to relax?”
“And second of all, he probably isn’t human. There are a few vampire lads I’ve met who could easily pass for ordinary mortals with a bit of vitamin D deficiency” adds Soobin taking his woolly hat off and ruffling his drenched blonde hair.
Beomgyu exhales through his nose snickering and tilts his head, a sarcastic look in his eyes. “He didn’t seem sick, okay? He was actually like, really handsome” his mind wanders somewhere else but Beomgyu quickly comes back, agitated. “Also, look”
He searches through the pocket of his linen pants and pulls out seven silver coins, grabbing Soobin’s right hand and putting them on his palm. “He gave me human money!”
The other one just laughs. “I don’t know, love. It definitely sounds weird but let’s just forget about it. He probably won’t come back”
Beomgyu pouts. He traces Soobin’s knuckles and interlaces their fingers. Soobin’s hands are wet and cold. He has been gone for hours, searching in every nook and cranny of the forest. Beomgyu leaves a kiss on the tip of one of his pointy ears; they are red as a result of being flattened under a beanie all day. “I hate that hat” he murmurs.
“You know I can’t go out without it” Soobin gives him a wavering smile. He crouches down a bit and kisses the pout out of Beomgyu’s mouth.
Beomgyu is always warm in Soobin’s arms. He is a wild flame inside a jar. Fierce and captivating, full of joy and enthusiasm; a glow that melts his heart with just his presence. Soobin kisses him delicately, containing the eagerness to devour his familiar lips after just some hours apart.
“You should take a hot shower. Your skin is freezing” Beomgyu breathes brushing the corner of Soobin’s lips with his own.
“Can’t really feel it” Soobin mumbles back. Which is true. His kind was made to race the woods barefoot, to sleep on feathery moss beds, to protect the forests through thunderstorms, heat waves and blizzards alike. Their foreheads rest against each other for a moment before Soobin draws away. “I’ve got something for you”
And if the encounter with the human had been bothering him all night, Beomgyu easily forgets about it when Soobin grabs from his bag a corked vial filled with the thinnest spider silk.
“Oh my Deities!”
In a moment Beomgyu has snatched the vial from Soobin’s hands and is pounding around the room, bouncing on his feet and talking really fast. The wooden floor creaks under his weight. “I thought I would never be able to start on that healing potion! I hope the cranberry juice hasn’t gone bad. Do you remember when did we make it? Was it on Saturday? Oh my! You are amazing!”
“The perks of having an elf partner” laughs Soobin amused with Beomgyu’s antics.
“I should start right now” he says snapping his fingers to levitate the keys from the key rack and running to the kitchen to grab a small cauldron. The keys fly across the living room and into his pocket when he emerges back.
“Right now?”
“Yes!”
Beomgyu opens the front door and checks he’s got everything needed.
“Hey, wear something warmer. The heating is off down there” Soobin scolds him picking Beomgyu’s brown cardigan from the table and draping it over his shoulders. He arranges it nicely and looks into his eyes, which are shining with anticipation.
“Thank you” smiles Beomgyu. He basks for a moment in Soobin’s gaze and quickly leaves a peck on his lips before disappearing downstairs. “Take a shower! Your hair is a mess!” he shouts fumbling with the keys. Soobin hears him opening the back door of the shop and start gathering glass jars on the counter.
Soon. The Meadowbrew will open really soon, and Beomgyu’s dreams will finally come true.