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Hyungwon is six years old when they meet for the first time. He’s visiting his aunt and uncle for the summer, way, way out in the countryside and he ends up wandering a little to far from the mountain path.
He finds himself deep in the woods, dark and cool somehow, even in the midst of the summer heat. Gentle whispers rustle the leaves on the trees that stretch their branches high above his head. It suddenly dawns on him how utterly alone he is and its almost too much for his little six year old heart to handle. He feels his legs begin to shake and tears rush to his eyes. He sits down on the soft, cool earth and hugs his knees to his chest, tears spilling over his cheeks.
A soft hello startles Hyungwon from his tears. Looking up he sees a man. Well, kind of.
He looks like a man from what Hyungwon can tell. He has broad shoulders, narrow hips and long, muscular legs. He’s just wearing jeans and a short sleeved button up, hanging open with a white undershirt underneath. Short, bright blonde hair frames his face which is covered by a beautiful mask. It’s white with small, rounded cat ears and a softly curved muzzle with a delicate pink nose painted on the end. The mask has large, black oval shaped eyes painted on with smaller eye holes cut out of their centre. It also has red and gold details on the forehead and beside the eyes.
Hyungwon is so excited to see another person in the woods that he forgets everything his parents had told him about being cautious with strangers. He runs towards the man with his arms out stretched. The man, of course, dodges out of the way. Hyungwon turns and runs at him again and again the man dodges. And again. And again until he hits Hyungwon on the head with a stick to stop him from charging forward.
“Ow! What was that for?” Hyungwon squeaks out, back on the forest floor, rubbing what will undoubtedly be and impressive goose egg.
“You are human.” The man says, as if that would answer all of the questions that Hyungwon has ever had in his six years of being alive.
“What does that have to do anything?” He asks with as much incredulity as he can muster.
The strange man cocks his head to the side, cat mask tilting with confused curiosity.
“Do you not know where you are?”
Hyungwon hangs his head in shame. “No. I wandered from the path and couldn’t find my way back.”
“Didn’t your parents teach you anything about what happens to children who stray from the path?”
It should be threatening but, the way the strange man crouches down so he is eye level with Hyungwon, tilting his head to the other side makes him look nothing but adorably curious.
Hyunwon shakes his head. The man sits down, cross legged in front of Hyungwon.
“This is the Mountain God’s forest. It’s home to all different sorts. Tree spirits, kitsune, faeries, you name it?”
“Are you one of those?” Hyungwon asks.
“No,” the man says with a laugh. “I am only a spirit.”
“But why did you hit me like that?”
“Because I cannot be touched by a human. If I am, then I will disappear.”
“Disappear?”
The cat mask nods. Then he stands up, brushing the grass and dirt off his legs. He holds the stick out to Hyungwon.
“Grab on.” He encourages. “I will lead you out of this forest.”
Hyungwon takes the end of the stick in his small hand and follows as the strange man leads himThrough the forest.
“You know, you are much different from how I imagined spirits would be.” Hyungwon says. He’s not really expecting a response. And he doesn’t get one. The man just continues to lead him through the forest. It’s getting considerably lighter. The canopy above their heads is thinning and the trees are getting more and more spaced out.
Soon the breach the edge of the trees. Hyungwon can see the huge stone arch the at indicates the entrance to the trail. The man walks with him all the way there before stopping. hyungwon turns to face him.
“My name is Hyungwon, by the way.” He chirps. “What’s yours?”
The cat mask tilts to the side again. Hyungwon shuffles his feet, unnerved by the silence. The man says nothing and Hyungwon inches back toward the stairs that lead into the village.
“That’s okay! You don’t have to tell be if you don’t want to. I’ll be back tomorrow with a gift to say thank you!” And Hyungwon turns to start own the stairs towards his aunt and Uncles house.
Then he hears it. So quiet it could have been the gentle rustle of the wind through the trees if it weren’t for the distinct, muffled lilt of his voice.
“Wonho”
He whips around searching the stone archway for any sign of the man in the cat mask but there is no one there. He turns back and starts towards home with a smile on his face.
He comes back the next day, unsure if Wonho will be waiting for him. He has stolen some popsicles from his aunt and uncles freezer to bring as a gift for the spirit. He doesn’t even know if spirits can eat popsicles or if Wonho even likes popsicles. Who is he kidding? Everyone loves popsicles.
Surprisingly, when he arrives at the stone arch, Wonho is sitting on the top stair, cat mask and all. Hyungwon is overjoyed. He runs toward Wonho, arms out stretched only to be met with a stick to the head.
He falls to the ground groaning and rubbing his head.
“Seriously, when will you learn, kid?” Wont says crouching down in front of Hyungwon.
“Sorry, I just got excited.” He says with a pout. Wont laughs and stands, stick outstretched for Hyungwon to take. He does and Wonho pulls him to his feet.
“Come. I have something I want to show you.”
The spend the day playing in the long grass in a beautiful meadow hidden deep in the woods. Butterflies flutter around them as they chase each other over hills and between the trees. The play tag, Wonho using a stick instead of his hands to catch the young boy. And when they get tired Wonho leads them a little farther through the woods and into a beautiful clearing filled with flowers of a ll different kinds. There is a small stream trickling its way across the centre of the clearing. the water is cool and crystal clears they cup it in their hands and drink their fill. They eat the popsicles as well, which are mostly melted by the time they get to them. Wonho just pulls his mask away from his mouth and sticks the treat underneath to lick.
When they’re done the wash their hands in the river. Then Wonho lays down on his back, basking in the warm summer sun and Hyungwon sets about making a bouquet. He says it’s for his aunt but really, he has Wonho in mind when he’s picking the flowers.
The next time Hyungwon looks over at Wonho his breathing is even and his fingers twitch a little in the warm sunlight.
Hyungwon walks over, kneeling beside his head. He places the flowers on the grass beside him. He looks curiously down at the cat mask. He can’t help but wonder about what Wont’s face looks like. His fingers twitch towards the mask. It should be okay to touch, shouldn’t it?
Very carefully he places his small ands on the mask and lifts.
Wonho is beautiful. Long dark lashes cast delicate shadows on flawless, soft looking skin. High cheek bones give way to round cheeks, painted a warm pink from the heat of the sun. A strong straight nose leads into rosy, pink lips complete with a gentle cupid’s bow that curve s upwards at the corners even with his face relaxed in sleep making him look almost cat like. Even at six years old Hyungwon knows that Wonho is beautiful.
Suddenly, Wont’s eyes open and Hyungwon is staring into bright, stormy grey eyes, pupils narrowed into vertical slits, just like a cat’s. He supposes Wonho must have picked his mask for a reason.
Hyungwon jerks back in shock, slamming the mask back down on Wonho’s face, apologizing profusely.
Wonho sits up, rubbing his face under the mask.
“I’m so sorry! I was just curious about why you wear the mask is all.”
Wonho laughs. “I don’t look much like a spirit without it do I?” He asks.
Hyungwon shakes his head.
“Come on. It’s getting late and we’ve got quite a walk to get back into town.”
So Hyungwon spends the rest of the summer playing with Wonho in the home of the Mountain God. They run through long, emerald grass that mimics ocean waves in the way it ripples and dances in the warm summer wind. They stroll through dark forests filled with towering trees that don’t seem so frightening no that Hyungwon has someone to walk by his side.
Eventually, Hyungwon must go back to the city and get ready to begin school once again. He bids Wonho goodbye and heads out with a promise to return the next summer.
And return he does. the next summer and the one after that and the one after that until, in what seems to be much to short of a time, he is nearly entering high school.
It is the summer before and he has changed a whole lot, though Wonho hasn’t changed at all. Where Wonho is broad and muscular, Hyungwon has grown tall and slender. Where Wonho has sharp, angled eyes that carry all the colours of a storm over the ocean, Hyungwon’s eyes are large and round, almost doe like in shape and they are the colour of the soft, warm earth of the banks of stream that runs through their favourite clearing. Where Wont’s hair is pale gold, like the rolling wheat fields, Hyungwon’s is as black as the night sky. Where Wonho’s lips curve like a cat’s and curl upwards in a permanent, tiny smile, Hyungwon’s curve downward in a permanent pout.
One thing hadn’t changed though. Every summer Hyungwon makes the long trip out to his aunt and uncles and every summer Wonho is waiting for him under the great stone arches.
Today they are playing hide and seek. A game that Hyungwon is much to old to play but he can’t help but feel childish when he is in the forest. Hyungwon is hiding and Wonho is searching.
Hyungwon waits up in a tree crouching on one of the lower branches, still high enough in the canopy that the shadows cloak him fairly well. He’s going to try to scare Wonho.
As he grew up and spent more and more summers in the forest with the spirit, he had begun to wonder what his face was like. Not what it looked like. No, Hyungwon wouldn’t forget beauty like that too quickly. But he wondered about how Wonho would react to things. Would he get creases between his eye brows when he was concentrating? Would he snarl and growl when he was angry, like the creature whose character he wore on his face? What did he look like when he laughed? When he cried? Over time, Hyungwon wondered more and more about the way Wonho’s face would look when he blushed. would he blush if Hyungwon held his hand? Or kissed his cheek? Hyungwon would never know those things, so he settled on finding out what Wonho looked like when he was scared.
“Hyungwon?” The spirit in question called out wandering through the woods looking in bushes here and there. “Seriously, it’s been more than half an hour! Where are you?” Worry was starting to creep into the edges of his voice.
One. Two. Three!
Hyungwon spun down, tree branch hooked under the backs of his knees, yelling, trying his best to look menacing.
Wonho jumped backwards hand over his heart, body tense, as if it was deciding on whether it should run or fight.
“God, Hyungwon! What the hell was that for?”
Hyungwon was laughing as he pulled himself back upward so he was straddling the branch he had just been hanging from.
“Oh my God, you should have seen yourself!” He wheezed out, body racked with laughter, arm clutching his stomach. “You looked like you were ready to sprint off into the woods and never come back!”
“Why did you do that?” And Hyungwon can here the pout in his voice, even if he can’t see it. He wonders if Wonho’s lips are as pink and full as he remembers them being.
“I guess I just wanted to see what you were like when you were scared. You should seriously where that mask less when it just you and me. I’ve already seen what you really look like so there’s no need for it.”
Wonho tilts his head to the side, hands reaching up for the mask. “i guess you’re right. But is there some reason you don’t want me to wear it?”
How does Hyungwon go about telling Wonho how badly he wants to spend the day just watching and learning all of his different facial ticks and expressions? He doesn’t.
“Well, there’s no particular reason but—“
Hyungwon shifts his weight on the tree branch and suddenly he is plummeting towards the ground.
“Hyungwon!”
And Wonho is rushing forward, arms out stretched to catch him.
Hyungwon crashes face first into the bushes beneath the tree, Wonho stopped about a foot away, arms tucked into his chest as if he had recoiled and stopped himself from catching Hyungwon at the very last second.
Hyungwon rolls out of the bushes and onto the soft rest floor. he doesn’t think anythings broken but damn thats gonna hurt in the morning. Wonho is kneeling by his side now, fingers twitching nervously at his side, like he wants to reach out and touch to make sure Hyungwon is okay. He settles for asking.
“Are you okay?”
Hyungwon sits up and looks at Wonho, right where he knows his eyes are, shielded behind the mask.
“Don’t ever do that again.”
Wonho tilts his head in confusion.
“Do what—?“
“You almost touched me! You would have died and then where would I be? Lost in the woods without you! Again!” Hyungwon can feel his eyes starting to get warm. He blinks and eyelashes lift, wetter than before. He fells tears start to well up in his eyes. He doesn't know whether it from the pain of falling out of the tree or from the fear that he had almost lost Wonho but he starts crying none the less.
“Don’t ever touch me, no matter what happens.” The tears are flowing freely down his cheek now. He lifts his hand to roughly wipe them away. “Okay?” Hyungwon hiccups out. Wonho stays kneeling in front of him, cat mask staring blankly forward. Still the tension in his body makes it look like he would love nothing more than t wrap his arms around the boy crying in front of him. Anything he could possibly do to ease his pain.
Okay
Two years later and Hyungwon finds himself wondering about Wonho. The air is still cold and there is snow on the ground. It will be many moths until he will see Wonho again but he can’t help but wonder.
How does Wonho stay warm in the winter time? Does he have a home somewhere deep in the woods? Does he like the snow? Or does he prefer the warmth of summer?
Then of course Hyungwon finds himself wondering about how Wonho would look in the snow. Would the bleak whiteness of the forest soften the stormy grey in his eyes? Would it heighten the pink blush on his cheeks to a near crimson colour? What about his lips? Would they get chapped in the cold just like a humans? Or would they stay soft and pink just like how they were in the summer?
He wonders what it would be like to have Wonho hold him. Would it be warm in the embrace of a spirit? Would he let Hyungwon bury his face into his neck even though his nose would be freezing cold? Would he let Hyungwon breath in against the junction between his neck and his shoulder, taking in all of his scents and memorizing every smell? Would he let Hyungwon kiss his neck? His lips? Would Wonho kiss him back?
He wonders and wonders all the way through the winter and into the spring. Then summer comes and finds Hyunwon and Wonho sitting side by side on a cliff side, feet dangling precariously over the edge. Wonho removes his mask and sets it beside him. Butterflies dance around his face landing in his hair before taking off again.
“Why don’t you age?” Hyungwon asks. He has noticed that while he had gotten older, Wonho had hardly changed at all. He reckoned they were almost the dame age now.
“I am not human.” Wonho says simply. “But I suppose it has been enough years. You have stuck by my side for all this time. It’s only fair that I share with you how I came to be this way.”
Wonho picks up his mask, carefully examining the front of it.
“I am not a spirit. But I am no longer human either. Its seems like maybe, one day, long ago i was but i can hardly remember. When I was a baby, My parents brought me up to the mountainside and left me with nothing more than a blanket and a prayer. I was born so weak. They thought that, were I to stay with them, I wouldn't last the night. So they brought me to the Mountain God and they prayed for him to take care of me. To grant me life.” Wonho is gazing out across the sea that swells far below their feet.
“You have to understand, a body that is granted life with magic is held in delicate balance. It’s fragile. So the Mountain God granted me life, made it so i would never move on, but even the strongest magic could not make me a whole person. If I ever touch another human, this body will break apart. I am like a ghost, Hyungwon.”
Hyungwon watches as Wonho slips his mask back onto his face.
“It’s okay if you forget me, you know. Someone like me cannot exist in this world forever. Especially not with you.”
“It’s kind of like the snow isn’t it?” Hyungwon says, looking out over the rolling sea, crashing headlong into the cliff face. The wind whips at his hair.
“I thought of you all winter. All the way into the spring. So, you can’t forget me okay? Even if, one day, we are separated, you can’t forget me.
Hyungwon stands up and puts his hands in his pockets and Wonho follows suit.
“And, until then we should enjoy the time that we have together.” He says with a smile.
And they spend the rest of the summer doing just that.
Two summers later sees Hyungwon graduated. He’s been accepted into his first choice of university. He’s going to be studying journalism and creative writing. He’s always loved to tell stories.
He tells Wonho on the first day of summer. Of course, Wonho is overjoyed. Possibly even more excited than the actual student in question.
“I want you to come with me to this festival!” Wonho says, his face is mask free today though it remains secure in his hands. But, this means that Hyungwon can see the way he's lips curl upward, like a cat, showing all of his straight, white teeth. It scrunches up the rest of his face, eyes curving into slits, the lines around his mouth deepening.
“A festival? Is it some kind of spirit festival?” Hyungwon asks, trying his best to stay calm in the face of such a disarming smile.
“Kind of. It’s meant to mimic human festivals. All of the spirits disguise themselves as humans and then through a huge party! Its amazing. Though I’ve heard that sometimes humans get confused and find themselves mixed up in the crowd” Wont says. “Think of it as a graduation present.”
So Hyungwon finds himself standing in the middle of a spirit festival. He is surrounded by bright colours, flashing lights and creature after creature that are so close to looking human. They are always just a little bit short of looking completely normal, by human standards.
For example, Hyungwon had seen a young boy with a long, russet fox tail sticking out the back of his pants. Or the women who had walked past that had fish fins sticking out behind her human ears.
There are so many different people around that won pulls a strip of fabric out from his pocket and hands one end to Hyungwon. he ties the other end to his wrist and gestures for hyungwon to do the same.
“So you don;t get lost.” He says, and Hyungwon can hear the smile in his voice.
“I don’t know, Wonho, this feels an awful lot like a date.” He says. He ties the fabric around his wrist anyways.
“This is a date.” Wonho says cheekily before turning around and beginning to walk into the throng of people. Hyungwon is a little stunned. He has no choice but to follow Wonho. He’s glad that Wonho is facing the other way though. He can feel the heat on his face and he’s sure he looks like a tomato with the way he’s blushing.
They mingle around the festival for hours, admiring the lights and all the booths full of wondrous trinkets and festival attire. They come across a booth thats filled with masks and Hyungwon points out one that looks just like Wont’s except its black instead of white. They stumble onto a booth that is selling what looks to bee cotton candy but when the owner passes them the sticks of fluffy sugar the little clouds lift off into the sky, floating upward like tiny little clouds.
Lastly they sit down to watch the last attraction of the night. a beautiful fireworks show, more spectacular than Hyungwon had ever seen at a human festival. There are bright bursts of gold, red and green. big booming cracks and flashes as the gunpowder explodes in to a glittering shower of colour and smoke. Hyungwon watches the coloured light flicker across Wont’s mask only to have Wonho turn and look him directly in the eyes. Hyungwon smiles.
“Thank you.”
Wonho’s cat mask turns back to the fireworks. They watch the rest of the show in companionable silence.
Afterward they are walking home. Side by side, still tied together by the piece of fabric, even though there really isn’t a need for it anymore.
“I really hate waiting for summer, you know?” Wonho says, breaking the quiet of the warm summer night. “I find myself thinking about you all year. And even though I can’t really go into crowds, I still want to find you. To be with you.”
Wonho stops walking and pulls off his mask. Then he turns and places it over Hyungwon’s face. Through the eye hole he sees Wonho leaning closer and closer. There is a pressure on the cheek of the mask, pressing the warm ceramic into his skin. Wonho is kissing him. He’s so close that Hyungwon can see each individual eye lash, each crease under his eye. Everything smells like him too. The inside of the mask is warm from resting against Wont’s face practically all the time and it smells like his skin.
Its all over much too quickly for Hyungwons liking. They are walking again and Hyungwon keeps the mask on in an attempt to give himself sometime to will his blush away and calm his rapidly beating heart.
All of a sudden a pair of children from the festival come tearing past them. One of them trips forward and Wonho reaches out to grab him around the elbow to keep him from falling on his face.
“Are you okay?” Hyungwon asks the little boy.
“Yes, Thank you!” he squeaks out before bowing to them and racing off after his friend.
Hyungwon begins to turn to Wonho with a smile on his face.
“Gosh, kids are so— Oh my God!”
The skin on Wonho’s fingers is glowing a bright, iridescent blue, little pieces flaking off into the air and floating away into the sky to join the stars. Wonho just stares at his hand, a little dumbfounded.
“Wonho was that child human!?” Hyungwon demands. Wonho’s other hand begins to dematerialize. He smiles and turns his stormy grey eyes on Hyungwon.
“You can finally touch me.” His voices is full of wonder as the flesh of his hands begins to dissipate into the air, glowing, iridescent pieces flickering like fireflies, floating through the air before disappearing all together. He holds his arms out stretched and looks at Hyungwon with such happiness.
Hyungwon removes Wonho’s mask from his own face and discards it somewhere behind him. then he’s throwing himself forward, into Wonho’s arms. They feel just like he thought they would, strong and warm, wrapped tightly around his shoulders. He smells better than hyungwon could have ever imagined. Warm and musky, like sunlight and grass and wildflowers but also the coolness of fresh mountain water and the deep darkness of the woods.
Hyungwon holds on so tightly like, maybe, if he believes are enough, if he holds on tight enough he can hold all of the little piece together. Maybe, he can have one more day, one more hour, just one more minute. Maybe he can stop Wonho’s body from dissipating into warm night air, from disappearing out of his grasp.
it doesn’t work.
He finds himself falling forward to the ground, arms empty, heart empty but his eyes are filled to the brim with tears. He lifts his head to the sky to watch as the last pieces of Wonho drift off into the sky flickering and dancing on the whispers of wind, just like fireflies.
He keeps the mask. It sits on his bookshelf and when he has difficulty remembering why he started his stupid major in the first place he looks at it and he knows. He remembers all the stories he wants to tell.
He’s in his third year of university now. He still goes to visit his aunt and uncle in the summer, only for a week or two now. He has a job and he has to pay his tuition so he can’t afford to take the whole summer off anymore. His hair is blonde now, the colour of rolling wheat fields but he is still tall and thin with big eyes and pouty lips. He still spends his week long vacations strolling through the forest of the Mountain God. He isn’t afraid of the getting lost in the woods anymore. He has spent so much time there that he doesn’t think he could get lost if he tried.
He likes to watch the fireflies now. Sometimes it almost looks to him like they flicker green and blue instead of their usual yellow light. It reminds him of an old friend.
Hyungwon is getting a cup of coffee from the cafe on campus. He’s picking up his order and turning around, not looking where he’s going. Evidently, neither was the person he ran into. Its not a gentle bump either. Its the kinds that end with both of them on the floor, hot coffee spilling over both of them. Their luck that their is hardly anyone else in the coffee shop.
“I’m so sorry. Oh my God, i should have been watching where I was going. Are you okay? Here let me.”
Hyungwon is broken out of the shock of finding himself of the floor by a gentle hand pressing a was of napkins to the front of his shirt.
“Oh, no. I’m as much to blame as you are. And I’m fine. What about you?” Hyungwon looks up t take in the stranger he’d slammed into.
His hair isn’t blonde like wheat and his eyes don’t look like a stormy sea. His hair is black as night and his eyes are the colour of warm earth. He has broad shoulders and a slim waist and he doesn’t wear a mask. In fact when his eyes meet Hyungwon’s he smiles so unguardedly, its big and bright and nearly blinding.
“I’m fine, too.” He sticks out his hand and his fingers are long and slender. “My name is Hoseok.” He says. “At least let me buy you another coffee to make up for the one I spilled?” He asks. And Hyungwon takes the man’s hand in his own and shakes it.
“I’m Hyungwon.” He says a little shyly. “And I would love that.”