Archive of Our Own

Minho is happy enough with the life he’s made for himself. 

There’s times where he wishes he never had to leave his old life behind, but there wasn’t much left in it for him, anyway. His people are kind, just, fair, but they also have an eye for the exquisite. A hair out of place or an uneven smile, and their kindness can waver. It’s conditional love. Always has been. Beauty is status. Looks are currency. It’s just how the fae are. 

Once upon a time, Minho fit that standard to a T. He turned the heads of even the most gorgeous fairfolk, and he relished in the attention. His wings were his pride and joy. As pretty as they were, they were also large. Imposing. They reached from far above his head and cascaded into light down by his ankles. At the top, they were such a dark shade of blue, they almost appeared black. They curved above his head, almost like the wing of a bird if it were made from light. As they flowed down, they brightened into cerulean. Somehow, even at their darkest parts, they were full of light. Glimmering veins branched out from where his wings met his back, bringing flecks of silver out to even the tips of his wingspan. Simply put, they were gorgeous. 

Minho used to be beautiful. It ended when he got hurt doing what he loved– teaching. He lived in a small community for the supernatural that was primarily comprised of fae and witches. Fae magic and witch magic are similar enough that lessons related to the natural world could be taught together. And Minho adored teaching. He would stay late to tutor his students until any hour, simply because he loved seeing their faces light up when they finally managed to perfect the spell that was giving them trouble. He thought it was his calling in life. 

Not all students are eager learners. Some are happy to coast by with the bare minimum effort and call it a day. Some, embarrassed to be falling behind, disrupt class for others. The one and only student he ever disliked was a cruel child named Wonshik. The poor kid had a hard time learning to be fair, but he turned his frustrations outward upon Minho and his peers. Though he was unskilled, he was strong. Perhaps that was his whole problem; he was too powerful for his base skill level. The magic poured out of him and disrupted the peace.

Most days, he was just a nuisance. Minho could put out a small fire on the curtains of his learning lab before the piddly flames posed any real threat. He could even unstick Jongwoo, a young but talented fae boy who was often Wonshik’s favorite target, where he had been magically glued to his seat. His magic was powerful, but unrefined. It was easy to dismantle his spells when they were already designed to be destructive. Most days, that is. 

Minho’s final day of teaching was unlike anything he had ever experienced, even from Wonshik. It was an evaluation day for introductory plant spells. Really simple stuff, and something they had been working towards all year. Minho stayed late many times reviewing the material with Wonshik, who vehemently blew him off each and every time. He eventually stepped back as his tutor, and suggested to his parents that they try to nurture the skills at home. They more or less listened, but the results just didn’t show in class. Minho hoped for the best, but knew that failing marks were likely headed his way. 

The one student Wonshik always left alone was a promising young fae named Eunji. No matter the assignment, she exceeded Minho’s expectations each and every time. Her passion for the craft rivaled that of many of the professionals Minho knew. She was a force to be reckoned with. He let her parents know she was gifted, and he tutored her in magical skills far above other students her age. Eunji was more than just a good student, she was Minho’s very own protégé. 

She performed her skills test with no problems. Perfect form, annunciation, and results. Her flowers bloomed tall and strong, and Minho couldn’t help but beam at her progress. She beamed back at him with pride, the very thing he did all of this for. 

The next student on the roster after Eunji was, unfortunately, Wonshik. Something shifted in his energy watching Eunji’s evaluation. He didn’t bother looking up when Minho called his name. 

“Wonshik?” Minho repeated, standing to walk to the boy’s desk. Before Minho could take another step forward, Wonshik thrust out his hands and vines tore through the floor of the studio. Eunji’s chair was right in his path. Without thinking, Minho dove in front of it before it could reach her. Two thick vines wrapped around each of his arms. He tried his best to back away and rip them apart, but two more vines joined and held his legs. It tore him to his knees.

Teachers aren’t supposed to use magic against their students. It teaches them that magic is a weapon that can be used against the weak. Even now, in the worst scenario, Minho won’t retaliate. 

“Wonshik! Drop your spell now!” Minho demanded. For the first time, Wonshik looked up. He immediately paled when he realized he’d trapped Minho instead of Eunji. 

“I’m so sorry! I meant for it to grab Eu–” Wonshik began, but he never got to finish. As he waved his hands to disperse the spell, it fought back as always. It released Minho’s legs, but held his arms tighter as the free vines dove for his wings.

Minho didn’t hear much else over the sound of flesh and magic tearing from him. His screams eventually drowned out even that. Everything else is a blur. 

He woke up some time later, looking up into the eyes of the town healer. Her face was full of something Minho wasn’t used to receiving. He thinks he has her piteous gaze burned into the back of his eyelids. It visits him sometimes when he relives this in the middle of the night. 

His wings will never look the same again. The left one was nearly torn in half. The swirls of silver that once pulsed through the full wing are now dead at the bottom where they were reattached. The top part still glows, but it's not the healthy shade it once was. The life and magic in the wing was taken from him. There’s a gnarly scar carved through it, marring his once beautiful wings. There’s other mild scars across his body from where the vines struck him as they retreated– the one on his stomach being the most severe, but none wounded him emotionally like the loss of his wings. 

The people of his town never looked at him the same. Eyes that once housed envy were suddenly intolerant. He couldn’t sit around and let it continue. The second he was healed enough to get his independence back, he left. There were no bridges burned, and he could always go home, but it was just simply too painful to look around  and take in so much judgement. He even lost his job. On paper, they said it came down to his “inability to control the classroom”. They claimed it was a safety issue. In reality, he knows it's because his status as a skilled teacher was shattered. His talent never wavered. His magic stayed as strong as ever, but he no longer fit the look of one of the brightest minds of his generation. 

He found it funny, in some ways. Many of his peers told him before he was wasting his talent on younger witches and fae. They encouraged him to become a professor and teach those who wanted to really hone their craft rather than taking a risk on reckless children. They never understood he just simply loved what he did. Everyone has to start somewhere, and he never saw teaching his young students as beneath him. It took one wry lesson to prove them right. Through it all, Minho still loved his job. He missed it. 

When he set off for the human world, he knew he would have to continue teaching in some shape or form. He always loved dancing, and brushed up on it enough to make a career out of it. His favorites are his weekend classes with kids. It helps every day go by a little bit easier. 

The human world is fine. They are aware of all types of supernatural creatures, but as is typical of humans, they can be discriminatory. Minho keeps a glamour over his wings as often as possible to avoid any conflict. Almost no one in the human world even knows he’s fae. Well, save for his roommate, Felix. Being a dance teacher doesn’t pay the bills alone, so he responded to Felix’s posting online for a roommate, and they turned out to be a pretty good match. That is, except for the fact that werewolves are sensitive to the smell of magic. Minho couldn’t keep up the act for long when Felix sneezed nonstop any time he came near with his glamour up. Even when Felix asked him outright why he smelled like magic, Minho tried to deny it. It wasn’t until Felix let him know he wouldn’t hurt him, that he was a wolf shifter, that Minho finally confessed. 

Felix ended up being a light in Minho’s life that he didn’t realize he was missing. Going from being surrounded by other fae to surrounded by humans in the blink of an eye deprived him of his sense of community. But Felix understood him. He left his birth pack under some pretty rough conditions. Minho doesn’t know the full extent of it, but he knows enough to know he’s better off here in the human world. They had a pack of their own in a way, just the two of them. Felix is still the only person Minho will let see his wings. 

He resolved to never tell another soul. Felix is kind, but Minho doesn’t trust anyone else to look at him the same once they see his damaged wing. Maybe he can trust people to know he’s a fae, but he knows deep down they would doubt his skills if they saw the scars across his wingspan. 

He’s nearing the end of one of his lessons when the studio door creeps open. Odd, considering none of the students were late or missing today. No one should be popping in, especially not this close to the end of the lesson. 

Wavy brown hair and thick rimmed glasses poke through the door frame. Minho is besotted immediately. However, he’s a bit tall compared to his usual students. He’s a grown man. Certainly not one of his usual customers. Minho realizes that behind the glasses, two deep brown eyes are peering at him. He clears his throat. 

“Can I help you?” Minho asks. He immediately realizes the tone was harsher than he meant for it to be. Felix told him to work on it. At home, fae and witches alike are direct. They say what they mean when they speak. Humans dawdle around the point. Regardless, the human looks flustered. Minho decides he can try harder at this whole dawdling thing. 

“Oh, sorry! The front desk sent me to this room to speak to Minho? Can I wait here until your class is over?” The man looks so sheepish when he asks, Minho doesn’t have the heart to send him to the bench the parents wait on just outside the door. Instead, he gestures to the rest area where the students set their bags. 

“Sure. You can wait over there if you’d like. We’re just about to wrap up,” Minho says. He turns back to his students, then remembers to dawdle, “Help yourself to water from the fountain.” 

The man grins ear to ear and bows, “Thank you! You won’t even notice I’m here.” he says. He practically scurries to the seating area. He doesn’t take Minho up on the water offer, but he does eye the fountain once he’s seated. 

Minho returns to his students and wraps up the lesson just a smidge faster than he normally would. There’s not much left anyway, just telling them what they need to review before he sees them again. His priorities are elsewhere at the moment. Forgive him. Minho opens the door and lets the students match to their parents as quickly as possible. Maybe it’s in poor taste, but he has to know what this guy wants as soon as possible. He’s just a man after all. If he’s sitting here hoping and praying that everyone’s parents are on time today, then that’s between him and whatever god gets his message. They must, because the studio clears out in record time. Minho turns back to the stranger, who has been watching him round up kids this whole time. His large eyes trail up to meet Minho’s now. 

“So, what’s up?” Minho asks. He’s still trying to master more colloquial human speech patterns. Felix tells him he’s awfully formal. It’s a fae thing, but it can be offputting to people raised around humans. 

“Oh, I was hoping to get lessons from you? I hear you offer a beginner course? I want to try dancing.” the man asks politely. Minho holds back a laugh. He can’t be serious. 

“What’s your name?” Minho asks. 

“Um, Jisung.” 

“Jisung, I offer beginner lessons for children.” Minho explains. Jisung’s innocent expression falls, and it’s Minho’s fault, fuck. He needs to get it back.

“Oh really? I swear on the website it didn’t specify that, I’m so sorry,” Jisung says, already gathering his things, “I’ll be out of your way. Sorry about that, Minho.” He’s red from ear to ear. 

“Hey, wait–” Minho tries to stop him. Surely they can work something out. Minho wouldn’t charge him a dime if he got to see those cheeks once a week. Anything to keep them talking for another second, but–

“No, really, it’s okay. I’ll head out. Thank you for your time!” Jisung blurts quickly. By now, he has his bag and his phone situated. Minho doesn’t get a chance to protest again before Jisung is out the door. He has too much pride to follow him, and he’s not sure it’s a good look to outright grab a stranger’s arm and stop him. Oh, well. He was cute. A bit spacey, but cute. 

Minho takes the time to slowly gather his own materials. Now that he’s not rushing to get his students out the door, he realizes just how sore he is. Dancing usually takes a lot out of him, and he’s normally even more sore towards the end of the week, but this is something entirely different. When he hasn’t dropped the glamour on his wings for a while, they start to ache. They’re made of magic more than they are a physical part of his body, so having them snuffed out under another spell for too long can cause problems. Not to mention, maintaining that spell long term drains his magical reserves. When he’s around the apartment and only Felix is home, he doesn’t mind dropping the glamour for the night, but he hasn’t had much of a chance as of late. Lots of lessons later in the day plus the normal stress of life and it slips his mind for a while. 

It’s not like he’s really itching to see them anymore anyway. He decides he’ll have to drop the glamour when he gets home tonight. Felix shouldn’t have anyone over. Well, unless he’s finally going to make a move on this Jeongin guy he keeps swooning over. It’s been months and months of pathetic gay pining with little to no progress other than Jeongin making Felix’s coffee extra sweet at the café he works at just because he knows that’s how Felix likes it. Both of them are shameless and excessively gay, and it’s long overdue that someone makes a move. The only thing holding Felix up is that he’s not certain what exactly Jeongin is. He senses some sort of supernatural vibe from Jeongin that he can’t accurately place yet. Minho gets it– he would be scared to make a move if he didn’t know how the other person felt about the supernatural. Well, maybe he almost offered private lessons to a man with that exact idea in mind. Is Minho also pathetic and gay? 

Doesn’t matter. His wings hurt, his feet hurt, and he wants to go home. He finishes shoving his things into his dance bag, grabs his car keys, and locks up the studio for the night. All the while, he’s thinking of pretty boys with round cheeks who accidentally sign up for children’s dance lessons. Maybe it’s not too late. He’s not all that tall. He could fit right in if the receptionist just looks away and…

He’s still outside. 

Jisung is waiting outside. It’s getting dark out and Jisung is still just waiting on the side of the building. Minho didn’t exactly rush to get out the door, so Jisung had plenty of time to make it to his car and peel off before he got any more embarrassed. So why is he still here? It’s a second chance for Minho, and he won’t fuck it up this time. 

“You know, you ran out before I could tell you about my private lessons.” Minho said. He started quietly so he wouldn't startle Jisung, but it was no use. He jumped the second Minho spoke, and his eyes shrunk back to their normal size once he realized it was just Minho. 

“Oh, it’s you,” Jisung says, and apparently something about his shoes is really interesting, because that’s where his gaze falls, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have run out like that.” 

“It’s fine. We’re talking now,” Minho says simply. He looks out over the parking lot. The only cars left in the lot are his own and that same receptionist’s car, “I really can do private lessons, though. You’re a bit old for my usual classes, but I have time for late night classes, and some on weekends.” He absolutely does not have the time. It’s the only time he carves out of the week for himself, but it wouldn’t hurt to let Jisung into that time. He’s interesting. 

“Really? You’d do that for me?” Jisung asks. He finally looks up at Minho, and his eyes have gone wide again. 

“Sure. I do this because I love it.” Minho says. One day he will understand subtleness without being dismissive. 

“Then yeah, of course. If you really don’t mind. Can I give you my number?” Jisung asks. He’s already pulling his phone out. Minho bets he hasn’t heard the word no often enough to hesitate. Minho takes his phone and sends himself a text just to be certain he has a way to reach Jisung too. He hands it back and Jisung just smiles up at him. 

“Thanks! I’m warning you again, I’m, like, totally new to dancing so it’s going to be rough for a while.” Jisung says. Minho just shrugs. 

“Well, I’ll be new to teaching adults, so I suppose we’re learning together.” Minho says. Somehow it works to ease Jisung’s insecurities, and he nods and looks bashfully out at the parking lot. Minho follows his gaze, and realizes Jisung still hasn’t made it to a car. 

“You waiting on someone?” Minho asks. Jisung shakes his head. 

“Nah. Well, kinda. I just booked a ride,” Jisung replies, waving his phone again, “I don’t drive, so…” Jisung says that last part quietly. Minho really shouldn’t be offering perfect strangers rides, but this one seems so cute and harmless. Would it really be so bad if he just–

“Cancel it. I can take you home.” Minho says. Jisung’s eyes snap back up to him. 

“What? You would do that?” Jisung asks.

“It’s a good investment. I can’t give you dance lessons if you get killed by a serial killer driver.” he jokes. Jisung laughs. 

“And who’s to say you’re not a serial killer either, hm?” Jisung replies. He’s smiling so brightly when he asks, bobbing his head to tease lightly. 

“You’ll have to take your chances,” Minho deadpans, heading for his car, “You coming?” He throws over his shoulder. He doesn’t get a reply, but after a moment of hesitation he hears Jisung running after him to catch up. 

—

Jisung lives out of Minho’s way. Significantly out of Minho’s way. It’s fine. He must have paid so much just to get there in the first place, just to talk to Minho and find out he doesn’t actually offer adult classes. It feels like the least Minho can do to help him out. You know, other than opening an extra private lesson slot he hardly has time for. God, he needs to stand up. 

Jisung is fidgety in the passenger seat, but he keeps himself busy by looking out the window. Out of the corner of his eye, Minho watches Jisung relax slowly. 

“How long have you been teaching?” Jisung asks. Loaded question. 

“Um, on and off for a few years. I only started teaching dance a few months ago, though.” Minho answers. 

“Were you teaching something else before?” Jisung asks. Whatever was outside the window must be less important now, because Minho can feel Jisung’s eyes on the side of his face. 

“Mhm. Still little kids. Kindergarten age.” Minho says simply. He hopes it's vague enough to answer Jisung’s question without being too rude. He can’t scare him off this soon, but he knows deep down he can’t answer what he’s really asking. 

“You’re good with them, from what I saw at the end of class.” Jisung says sincerely. Minho tries not to laugh. If only Jisung knew how quickly he got rid of his students today just to have a chance to talk to him sooner. If only Jisung saw where Minho was a year ago. 

“I try,” Minho says wistfully, “What do you do?” Jisung seems to be around his age. He should be finishing up college or looking for his first job if Minho had to guess. 

“Not much right now. I graduated in December, but I’m still looking for my first job in my major. Retail pays the bills until then.” He explains.

“And the major is?” Minho asks. 

“Oh! Music Ed. I’m finding out the hard way that’s not super in demand right now.” Jisung sighs. 

“Hey, you’ll find something eventually,” Minho encourages him. He knows how lucky he was that Felix grew up dancing at this studio and recommended Minho to the owner, “Honestly, ask around when you come in for lessons. A lot of the kids have parents in entertainment, and a lot of the adults in other classes are just practicing for their day jobs. There’s all kinds of ways to network if you know where to look.” 

“There are adult classes?” Jisung asks. And fuck, Minho’s done for. 

“Yeah, just taught by other teachers.” In Minho’s defense, Jisung asked for him specifically. And no, of course it never crossed Minho’s mind to recommend him to another teacher, “Sorry, I never mentioned that.” 

“Oh, it’s fine. I think private lessons from you would be cool if you're still offering.” Jisung says. And duh, Minho is still offering. 

“Yeah, no problem. I have availability.” Minho lies. It’s worth it with how Jisung lights up. 

“Good. That’s why I went in to speak with you specifically.” Jisung said, taking Minho by surprise.

“Really? Why’s that?” 

“Well, I’ve never danced a day in my life, and I get really nervous about trying new things,” Jisung starts, “I can’t stand not being good at something right away, as ridiculous as that sounds. Your reviews said you’re good with beginners, and you have smaller class sizes. It sounded really perfect.” 

“I didn’t know I had reviews.” Minho says. 

“You do, and they don’t do you justice. I mean, shuttle service? You really go above and beyond!” Jisung jokes. 

“Hmm… Don’t get used to it. This is only part of the welcome package.” Minho jokes right back. He looks over at Jisung, who is looking up so pathetically at him he can’t help but cave and end his teasing.

“Joking. I don’t mind giving you a ride home after lessons. You’ll be my last most days, anyway.” Minho offers. This really is too much. Jisung is a total stranger and yet he feels this pull to offer him everything. 

“Really? Thank you!” Jisung exclaims, “Your studio is so far away and I am just not meant for driving. Really, I’m terrible. That would be a huge help.” 

Okay, maybe Jisung’s gratitude makes it all worth it. 

“Don’t mention it. I’m sure you’re not that bad at driving, anyway.” Minho offered. 

“I burst into tears if I go over fifteen miles per hour.” 

“Nevermind.” 

The conversation just flows after that. They hit it off great, and they have the same sense of humor. Turns out, Jisung likes the same café Felix frequents. Maybe one day they can team up to spy on Felix and Jeongin together. Minho doesn’t feel an ounce of the tiredness he once did, despite how late it’s getting and the toll work took on his body today. Jisung just recharges him.

Minho pulls into the lot of Jisung’s apartment, and he immediately feels himself deflating. They have to part ways now, but they’ve been having so much fun. They have a lot in common, and for only the second time since moving here, Minho feels like he wants to befriend someone. More than that, even, and he knows it. He hasn’t let himself feel attracted to anyone since his accident, knowing he wouldn’t let it go anywhere. Minho has a hard time believing anyone could be attracted to him. All of him. But Jisung is just… Different. Minho can let himself live in delusion, just this once. 

“Thank you again, Minho. It was so nice meeting you!” Jisung says. He pops the car door open and Minho feels his good mood pop with it. 

“Any time, Jisung,” Minho says, a little too earnestly, too tenderly for just having met today, “Text me tomorrow about lessons. We can get you in pretty soon.” 

Jisung nods, “You got it! Goodnight, Minho. Get home safe.” Jisung says with a smile. He shuts the door and Minho waits until he safely scans his card and is in the building before he pulls away. 

—

“You’re home late.” Felix notes as soon as Minho walks in. He’s perched on their couch, not really watching whatever he has on the TV. He’s more involved in whatever is in his phone. Kids these days. 

“I was taking home a new student.” Minho replies. 

“Their parents didn’t come for them?” Felix says, mildly horrified. 

“He’s a grown adult man, so no.” Minho answers, setting his dance bag down and shrugging his coat off.

“You take adults now?” Felix asked, finally looking up from his phone. 

“I take one,” Minho said, flopping down next to Felix on the couch. His bones ached as he sank further and further into the couch. He thinks he could live there. The only part of him that hasn’t been completely folded into the cushions is his head, which Felix has taken into his lap. He’s running his fingers through Minho’s hair and it feels so good. 

“I normally wouldn’t but he was just so cute,” Minho explained, “You’d have to see him to get it. He’s a total dork–” 

“You would be into that.” 

“-And he paid for a ride all the way to the studio just to ask about lessons. What was I supposed to do?” Minho asked, shifting to look up at Felix.

“I don’t know, Minho. But you say I’m bad with Jeongin and this is a whole other level.” Felix teased. 

“Okay, but the difference is I made a move right away and you have been waiting on Jeongin for months and months.” Minho pointed out.

Felix balks at him, “I’m not waiting on him! I visit the café every time I know he’s working! I’m there so often he has my different orders memorized and he says he makes them special for me.”

“And you haven’t taken that as a hint that he likes you and tried to see him outside of stalking his working hours?” Minho asks. 

“Well, no,” Felix starts, “But you’re seeing what’s-his-face at work, too!” 

“His name is Jisung and we met less than two hours ago.” Minho remarks. Felix concedes. 

“Fine. Whatever. I still think opening a whole extra class just for one guy the second you met him is a lot more pitiful.” Felix says. Minho pulls a throw pillow from his side and launches it at Felix’s head. He catches it before it makes contact and sends it back towards Minho, who isn’t quite as fast. It connects with his face and Minho feigns distress.

“Woe is me! Struck down by my closest friend. In my darkest hour, with my glass skin and paper bones, after a long, laborious day.” Minho says. He clutches his hand to his stomach and rolls his head to the side, dropping the pillow to the floor, “I may never recover.” 

“You’ll walk it off.” Felix says, hands returning to Minho’s hair. 

“I won’t. I may never walk again! Today killed me, and you were the final straw,” Minho says. Felix just rolls his eyes, “Seriously though, I don’t know who decided on this choreo, but it’s brutal. My legs, my back, my– my wings are all so sore.” he stumbles over his words. Even though he trusts Felix with his biggest insecurity, it doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

“You decided the choreography,” Felix points out, “Do you need to drop your glamour? Stretch out for a while?” He suggests softer. And Minho knows it’s because he would have a hard time doing it until he was fully alone unless someone (Felix) prompted him. 

Minho sighs, “Probably. Do you mind?” he asks softly. Felix looks down at him sweetly. 

“Not at all, you know that.” Felix affirms. And yeah, he does, but that doesn’t make the next part any easier. He sits up with his bones protesting every inch of the way there. Minho really wants to give in and let them have what they want, but he knows this is for the best. 

Fully upright, he shrugs his t-shirt off. It would just get in the way when the glamour is down. Still, its absence reveals the gash along his stomach. A reminder that even when he presents as a human, there will be scars he can’t hide. 

He’s been running his fingertips along the ridges without realizing. It’s not until Felix places his hand over Minho’s and lowers it that he’s aware of it. Silly nervous habits. 

“Minho, you’re so much more nervous around me than usual. What’s wrong? You were getting better.” Felix asks. 

Minho opens his mouth to argue but shuts it. Felix is right. He hasn’t been this skittish in front of him in a long time. He takes a deep breath and exhales all the air from his lungs. As it goes, he imagines himself pulling parts of the glamour away bit by bit. It falls off in blanketed layers, leaving only his black and blue wings behind. When he opens his eyes, Felix is looking up at the tips of them with the same affection as always. 

“You’re right,” Minho admits, “I guess… Meeting Jisung just has me thinking. Worried.” Minho says in a rare show of vulnerability. 

“About?”

“I know we just met today, but there’s something about him. I’m… interested.” Minho says. 

Felix just chuckles, “That much was obvious. But what’s the problem?” 

“I haven’t been interested in anyone since I came here. I guess I never considered my wings would get in the way of getting to know people in that way.” Minho explains. Felix doesn’t look convinced. 

“It’s not, though? It sounds like you hit it off today. Well enough that he let you drive him home the first day you met, too.” 

“Yeah, but that’s because he doesn’t know. And he hasn’t seen my wings.” Minho finally says. He didn’t want to have to say it so plainly. 

“Oh, Minho…” Felix says, and Minho tries not to put his walls back up at the first sight of pity, “You’re thinking too much. Just take it slow and see where things go. If he’s worth keeping around, he’ll like you for who you really are. Fae or not, scarred wings or not. They’re pretty, hyung, really.” 

Realistically, Felix is right. He shouldn’t even be hanging this much of his self worth on a stranger to begin with. Pessimistically, he thinks he’s going to die alone. He can settle somewhere in the middle for the time being. 

“You’re wise, Yongbokkie. You know that?” Minho says. 

“Don’t accuse me of such things.” Felix says. He leans in to give Minho a quick hug, which he readily accepts. When he pulls back, Felix himself is partially shifted too. His freckled ears have sharpened into points at the top, and his dark brown eyes have warmed into a bright amber color. His fangs have dropped as well. Felix looks pretty badass when he’s shifted. 

“And besides, if we can’t get men to like us how we are, we have each other. Wanna make a marriage pact?” Felix offers. Minho just laughs. Felix always knows how to make him feel better. 

“Why don’t we see where you can get with Jeongin and I can get with Jisung before we sign any papers?” Minho giggles. 

“Hey, we wouldn’t sign anything for quite some time,” Felix says, jokingly pointing a finger towards Minho, “God, Jeongin. Okay, so, today I ruled out him being a vampire.” Felix starts, and Minho settles in for their regularly scheduled debrief on everything there is to know about the cute barista.

—

Minho doesn’t remember falling asleep on the couch. He only slightly regrets it when he wakes up with his bones aching just as much as they did the night before. It’s slightly improved by the fact that Felix is wrapped around him. Which, as happy as he is, he does have to pry the werewolf’s hands off of him slowly so he can get up for the day. He doesn’t have lessons today but he likes to get an early start regardless. Especially this week, since it’s leading up to the full moon. It affects both of them even if Felix gets the worst of it. He’s going to be a bottomless pit as far as food goes, and it certainly won’t show with how low his energy will be until the day before. It’s become a habit that Minho cooks hearty breakfasts for him in the days leading up to the full moon. 

It helps Minho too. Most supernatural creatures have their own special relationship to the moon, and fae are no exception. So much of fae magic is connected to nature, which is influenced by the phases of the moon. Wildlife, flora, and the tides are all at its mercy. It’s not uncommon for fae magic to act up when the full moon is high. Last full moon, Minho sneezed and a pipe burst in the apartment. The time before that, he accidentally doubled the size of Felix’s houseplants. It’s never anything outrageously harmful, but Minho likes to play it safe and stay indoors for the night anyway. He won’t take the risk of someone seeing him perform magic and uproot his life all again. His hard limit is accidentally terrorizing the plumbing of his neighbors. Felix has even invited him on his full moon runs, but Minho feels like he has to decline. The last thing he wants to do is hurt Felix.

He’s just finishing up when Felix strolls in wiping the sleep from his eyes. His tiny fangs poke into his lips. He gets this way when he’s really relaxed. 

“Good morning.” Minho says softly. He pushes a bowl towards Felix’s end of the table. 

“G’morning.” Felix says. He flops into the seat rather than sitting. 

“Is it already that bad?” Minho asks.

“I think my bones are melting.” Felix answers. He doesn’t even look up from his bowl. 

“Understood. I’ll get you some medicine too.” Minho replies. They both know it won’t do much, but it does help to take the edge off. Minho gathers the medicine from the cabinet and sets down two small pills in front of Felix. He saves an extra one for himself, because that pesky wing pain is still lingering.

“Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.” Felix says. 

They eat in silence for a bit, letting the calm of the morning put them at ease. Minho likes how comfortable they are with each other. It makes it easy to unwind and share moments like this. 

“You know what? You should come with me today.” Felix says. Minho already knows what he means. He definitely wants Minho to go with him to the café Jeongin works at. Felix goes just about every day at this point. Minho has been a few times, but never on a Monday. Monday is Felix’s designated day to sit in that damn café for hours pretending to work on his laptop, while actually just flirting with Jeongin. 

“And watch you put out for three hours? Tempting.” Minho says sarcastically. 

“Come on! It will be fun. I’ll get you a tea.” Felix says. And the tea sweetens the deal for sure. Minho would never actually tell Felix no but he does like to see him struggle. 

“Please? I need someone else to scope out Jeongin. And not a quick one like last time, like I need you to, like, feel his aura and stuff.” Felix begged. 

Like he said, he can’t tell Felix no, so he ends up driving him to this café anyway. He should know how loved he is by now. 

In Felix’s defense, it is a nice spot. It’s hidden away in a quieter part of town so it doesn’t get too busy. It really is a nice place to get work done. Unfortunately, Felix has probably never done a minute of work here so long as Jeongin has been on the clock. 

And Felix only ever goes when he knows Jeongin is working. And of course, Felix makes a beeline for the hotbar rather than the registers when he sees Jeongin’s head poking above it. Jeongin lights up when Felix calls for him, too. Minho needs one of them to grow up and ask the other one out already before these two give him any more gray hairs.

Minho faintly hears, “...my roommate Minho, right?” As Minho approaches them. Jeongin’s attention flits to Minho for only a second before he’s right back to Felix. 

“Oh, of course I remember Minho! How have you been, man?” Jeongin asks. He almost certainly does not care. His eyes are darting all over Felix’s face again. 

“Good, you?” Minho asks in return. Jeongin does not hear. Him and Felix are talking about something new already. 

Minho just lovingly rolls his eyes and sets his stuff down at Felix’s usual spot. He’s a creature of habit. Felix will catch up sooner or later, and he knows Minho’s order anyway. 

His phone lights up while he’s unpacking his bag. A notification from Jisung. The way that he lunges for his phone makes him rethink teasing Felix so much. 

Jisung

hi! it’s jisung

it’s tomorrow morning so i’m texting you about dance classes lol

you said id be the last one most days, so late lessons?

You

Yes!

Is that too enthusiastic? Where is the line between business and business casual?

They would mostly be late lessons. My last slot of the day is typically any time between 5-8, because kids take up the lessons from 2-4 after they’re out of school. 

I’m mostly open Wednesday through Sunday morning. Do any of those times work for you?

He’s sure not to mention that most of his students only come one to two days a week. If Jisung wants to show up at his studio every night, then he won’t stop him. 

Felix sits down across from him. Minho didn’t even hear him coming. He’s grinning ear to ear with two drinks in hand. 

“Minho, he’s perfect,” Felix says. It’s the loudest whisper he’s ever heard, “He invited me out!” 

“What? Felix, that’s amazing!” Minho exclaims. Maybe they aren’t so doomed after all, “What are you guys doing?” 

“He wants me to go to his recital  Sunday night. He sings in a choir!” Felix exclaims. Minho wishes he could be happy for him, he really does. There’s just one huge problem with Sunday night specifically. 

“What’s wrong?” Felix asks. His face has fallen so fast.

“Felix, you kinda have plans on Sunday. Unchangeable plans,” Minho says. Felix still doesn’t seem to get it, lost in the haze of Jeongin, “The full moon, Felix. It’s Sunday, remember?” Minho whispers. 

Felix gasps, “Oh! Oh my god, I completely forgot.” he groans. His head hits the table between them. His drink almost spills and Minho quietly moves it away from the epicenter of Felix’s crisis. 

“You can always reschedule?” Minho says. Felix looks up at him through his bangs that have fallen across his head. That’s definitely not what he wants to hear. 

“I can’t,” He groans sitting up. He passes a quick look over his shoulder to make sure Jeongin is out of earshot, then whispers, “I’ve been waiting for so long for this. It would be lame to cancel.” 

Minho really doesn’t mean to laugh at him, “So what’s the plan? Go to his recital and wolf out in front of everyone?” Hey, it’s a surefire way to check Jeongin’s pulse on the supernatural, but it’s also a huge risk to Felix. Minho is not letting him go. 

“I mean, maybe? It’s early enough in the night that I can be home before the moon rises.” Felix suggests. 

“Felix, n–”

“I can go to the woods the second it ends. In and out.” Felix defends. He can’t believe it. He’s actually considering this?

“Felix, that’s a huge risk…” Minho says, “I really don’t think you should be going. I’m sure Jeongin will understand if you ask to do something else.” 

“He said most of his friends don’t care about his recitals. I can’t back out now. It’s at least worth it to try. I’ll be so quick, Minho.” Felix begs. Like Minho said, he really can’t tell Felix no. 

“Fine, then I’m going with you.” Minho says. He catches both of them off guard. He did not mean to say that. 

“You. You’d go with me?” Felix asks. His eyebrows have shot up to his hairline. He has to commit to it now. 

Minho sighs, “Yes. If something goes wrong, I don’t want you to be there on your own.”

“You never go out on the full moon.” Felix says flatly. 

“Which should show you how concerned I am.” Minho says just as plainly. 

Felix scans Minho’s face and sighs, “I can’t stop you from going, just like you can’t stop me. But I want you to be sure that’s what you really want to do, Minho.” 

“Of course I don’t want to. But I’d rather do that than see you get hurt, so…” Minho says. His phone buzzing breaks up the tension. He grabs for it, immediately forgetting his composure. 

Jisung

that’s perfect actually

this wednesday and saturday?

Minho is already typing a reply when Felix clears his breath. Fuck. He forgot about that guy. 

“What’s so important?” Felix asks. He looks over Minho’s face again, “And why are you pink?” Curse Minho’s tendency to blush.

“Nothing.” He says. 

“So it’s that Jisung guy?” Felix prods. Minho doesn’t answer him, “Why are you so red?” 

You

Yep! Booking you in right now. Can you send me your email for the appointment confirmation?

“Maybe.” Minho says. 

“Mhm.” Minho says and he takes a particularly sassy sip of his drink. He will deal with him later. Minho just got Jisung’s email and now he has some very important lessons to schedule. 

“What did he say?” Felix asks.

“He’s just booking his lessons.” Minho says. His laptop flies open. 

“How romantic.” Felix says through a smirk. Minho is about to say something snarky back when Jeongin approaches their table with two plates in hand. 

“Excuse me, guys. Sorry to interrupt. We just pulled out a try of croissants that are a little burned, and I wanted to see if you guys would like them? They’ll just be thrown out otherwise.” Jeongin says. His smile goes from ear to ear. Minho looks over the croissants and they could not possibly look more perfectly baked. This sneaky fox. 

“Yes! Thank you.” Felix exclaims. He takes both plates from Jeongin, who leaves with a wink. 

“Minho, did you see that?”

“Yes, I was right here.” Minho says. He turns over the croissant. It looks perfect. He tells Felix as much. 

“I know. He has to like me, right?” Felix asks. There’s no way he still doubts it. These hopeless gay youth. What will become of them? 

Minho has a very productive morning of booking Jisung’s classes and sending Jisung his confirmation emails and outlining Jisung’s first lesson. Felix has a very productive morning of staring at Jeongin. Minho’s not sure he saw him type a single word the entire time they were there. Before they go, Felix slips Jeongin his number and finally is the one to take the initiative. Minho gives him a celebratory pat on the ass on their way out. 

—

Jisung is not a natural learner. 

At least not when it comes to dancing. Maybe in other areas of his life he’s a prodigy, a genius even, but dance just isn’t his calling. 

Warmups go well enough. Stretching takes a few minutes longer than usual, but that’s mostly Minho’s fault. He’s the one who wanted to make sure Jisung was really prepared to start dancing, and it’s not because he’s a necessarily careful person. The best part is how easy it is to monitor his newest student. You can’t get away with staring at someone anywhere else in the world besides a dance studio mirror. It’s times like this where Minho knows he found his calling. 

Other than that, Jisung dances like he has two left feet. Getting Jisung to even know which foot is his left is a struggle. It gets to a point where Minho wonders if he should have just used an old lesson for his younger students rather than making up a whole new adult lesson. 

“Why don’t we take a break and get water for a second.” Minho suggests after Jisung trips over his own feet again. He thinks Jisung is getting frustrated, and he knows from experience how important it is to give students a chance to relax before they fully give up. 

Jisung agrees a lot less eagerly than Minho would have guessed. He nods and directs him to the benches, and grabs two bottles of water. He passes the second one to Jisung, who gladly accepts it and takes a huge gulp. 

“Not too bad for a beginner, right?” Jisung asks. Minho isn’t sure where he got that idea from. Still, he won’t be the one to crush Jisung’s spirit so early.

“Yeah. You’re already making great progress. I think you’re getting the fundamentals down.” Minho says. He can hear the insincerity in his own voice. Jisung just laughs.

“I know I’m bad right now, don’t worry,” Jisung says through a wide smile, “And you can tell me I’m bad, too. That’s how learning happens.” 

Minho chuckles at him, “Then in that case, yeah, it’s a bit rough right now. But it’s only the first lesson, and really, you’re not that bad.” 

“That’s better. If this is going to go well, you have to be honest, Minho.” Jisung says. He says it so lightly, but it still pokes at Minho’s deepest insecurities. He already really, really likes Jisung– and it came on horribly fast considering his track record in recent memory. They bicker and joke like they’ve been friends for years already. Minho can’t explain the magnetism that draws him to Jisung so intensely, but he’s not about to ruin it by saying, “Hey, I’m actually also a fae and my wings are busted. Surprise!” Instead, he opts for, 

“Of course, Jisung.”

—

They get back to it with marginally more luck. Jisung still has a long way to go before he’s doing any full routines, but Minho gave him some things to work on before their next lesson on Saturday night. Normally, Minho would take the full weekend of the full moon off out of an abundance of caution, but he just can’t help himself. 

“That’s fine. I can work on this before then, I promise. My roommates might not love the idea but they’re loud all the time, anyway.” Jisung jokes. He zips up his bag and slings it over his shoulder. 

“Ah, man, do you have shitty roommates?” Minho asks. He grabs his own bag and his keys. Jisung adamantly shakes his head. 

“No, they’re the best, actually! They just record audio and video a lot for their work and me stomping around in the background probably isn’t what they prefer.” Jisung explains. 

“More music majors?” Minho asks. 

“Kinda. Chan and I were in the same program in college and he wanted to pursue music, but he accidentally got a job doing Foley art. It’s really sick, actually. And Hyunjin is a professional dancer and records his practices a lot.” Jisung explains. He focuses a lot less on the dancer and Minho can’t imagine why.

“You have a dancer in your house and you still wanted lessons from me?” Minho asks with a smile. He’s heading towards the door but is sure to cock his head teasingly at Jisung on his way. Jisung just whines. 

“You don’t understand. He’s so good at everything. I can’t have him teach me. We would fight.” Jisung explains. He falls in line behind Minho, who shuts off the studio lights for the night. He’ll pretend he didn’t see Jisung jump. 

“I thought you said they weren’t shitty roommates?” Minho asks. 

Jisung laughs, “I love Hyunjin now, but I couldn’t stand him when we first met. It’s stupid, but before we really couldn’t even be in the same room together. I still wouldn’t let him teach me to dance, though.” Jisung explains. 

“You should tell me about him on the way home.” Minho says. Jisung looks up at him with wide eyes. 

“You’re really still okay with taking me?” He says thankfully. 

“Get in the car, Jisung.” 

He explains their whole backstory the entire way home; about how they had overlapping friend groups but didn’t get along themselves. About how their departments overlapped just enough that they had classes together, and they were always competing for the top spot. About how they were paired together for a project, agreed to meet up to work on it, and Jisung overslept that morning. It was a snowball effect until eventually they fully were not on speaking terms. 

“How did you make up?” Minho asks. He’s secretly happy they’ve hit every red light imaginable on the way to Jisung’s apartment. 

“Um, it’s a bit of a sensitive story for one of our other friends, but I doubt you know him anyway.” Jisung says. For the first time all night, his light dims. 

“You don’t have to tell me, then.” Minho assures him. 

“No, it’s fine, really,” Jisung says. He takes a deep breath before he continues, “So one of our mutual friends is actually a siren.”

Minho’s blood runs cold. Sirens are a controversial species in the human and supernatural world alike. Humans, well, humans aren’t always the biggest fans of any type of supernatural. It’s not like the fae world was much kinder to them. Minho doesn’t hold any of these opinions himself, but he heard what some of his people would say about sirens– about how their magic can only be manipulative and evil. The tales of sirens leading sailors to their deaths at sea stuck around. Besides, a lot of sirens aren’t exactly fond of fae either. Minho never understood it, but he also doesn’t know this mysterious siren Jisung is referring to personally, and he especially doesn’t know what he’s told Jisung already. 

“Well, he’s only half siren, but that doesn’t matter. He’s in the music department and a lot of people thought he had an unfair advantage. This guy doesn’t even have full siren powers. He can just shift into his tail. None of the vocal manipulation powers, or the healing powers, or anything else useful. He can sing beautifully, but it has nothing to do with what he is.” Jisung explains. Out of the corner of his eye, Minho can see Jisung check to see how he’s taking all of this in. 

“I assume your peers took it out on him?” Minho asks. 

“Yeah. Bad,” Jisung says, settling back into his seat, “So he has this ring he loves, and it keeps him from transforming when he touches water. Without it, he would spend half of his time shifted… They found out about that.” Jisung says shortly. 

“They would corner him before rehearsals and take the ring. They’d lock him somewhere and force him to transform so it looked like he was always late. It really started messing with his grades and the parts he would get for shows. He never told any of us, we just stumbled into  it one day. Chan and I were coming from the music department late one night, and Hyunjin was coming from down the hall in the dance studios. We just happened to walk by the cleaning closet they were shoving him into as it happened. We had no idea how bad it had gotten.” Jisung says. His hands are animated as he gets more and more angry at recounting the memory. 

“That’s disgusting. I’m so sorry he had to deal with that.” Minho says. He wants Jisung to know he’s cool with the supernatural, even if he doesn’t want him to know why just yet. 

“He didn’t have to after that day. Hyunjin was the first one to jump into action and start defending him. They never bothered him again, and I gained a lot of respect for Hyunjin after that. He seemed to think the same of me when I helped, and we agreed on a fresh start.” 

“And then at some point you liked each other enough to live together?” Minho asks jokingly. Jisung rolls his eyes with a smile. 

“Turns out we have a lot in common. When he’s not being annoying, he’s a lot of fun.” Jisung says. 

“You may have to introduce me some time.” Minho says before he can think about it. Him and Jisung are not friends by any interpretation of the word yet. He can’t just ask to meet Jisung’s friends. Jisung doesn’t seem to think it’s weird at all. 

“Yeah! I mean, you’re both dancers. Good ones, too. You probably have a lot in common.” Jisung says. His brightness is back. 

“I’d like that.” Minho says sincerely.

“What are your friends like?” Jisung asks. Minho prepares to give the most pathetic answer of his life. 

“Friend, singular. Felix is pretty cool. We live together. Neither of us are from around here, so we mostly keep to each other. It’s nice, though. He’s like if a ray of sunshine was a person.” Minho explains. 

“It’s good that you found each other then. Sounds like you both needed someone.” Jisung says. It’s offhanded– he’s already looking out the window and doesn’t realize just how true that is. 

—

The ride is never quiet. The entire time, Jisung carries the conversation. They realize they both like anime, and the same restaurants, and similar fashion. They have so much in common and it continues to blow Minho’s mind. Still, his mind is picking at one little problem over and over again, which is only amplified by Jisung’s story about his siren friend. Jisung isn’t prejudiced against sirens, which is nice, but what about fae? He’s so close to an answer with a question he just can’t ask. 

Still, he enjoys the ride. It’s one of the first times in a long while he’s gotten to know someone else his age so well. Jisung makes it easy. It wears on Minho to no end when he pulls into the same familiar parking lot. 

Jisung, on the other hand, is beaming. 

“Thank you so much for the ride. You have no idea how much this helps.” Jisung says. He’s glowing. It fills Minho’s car. 

“Any time!” Minho says, and, because he has no self control, “You know, I’d teach you to drive some time. Not because I mind driving you home, just because it might help.” Minho hears how tight the words sound. Jisung cocks his head, confused. 

“What?” He asks simply. Minho immediately knows he overstepped. 

“Sorry. That’s probably a bit much. We met, like, twice and–” 

“No! No, it’s not that,” Jisung assures him. His hand reaches across the center console and grabs Minho’s forearm. Minho turns into static, “It’s not too much. It’s nice.” Jisung assures him. 

“Really?” Minho asks. 

“Yeah. I can’t get anyone to teach me anymore just because I’m so bad, so this is, like, a lifesaver.” Jisung says. How many hands has he slipped through? Poor thing. 

“Really. Even if it’s just an hour after lessons here and there.” Minho offers. 

“Yes. Oh my god. I promise I won’t crash your car.” Jisung assures him. 

“I don’t think you can hurt it too much going fifteen miles per hour.” Minho jokes. Jisung’s hand smacks his forearm this time. 

“You’d be surprised.” 

“We can talk about it after your next lesson if you’d like? I can’t imagine either of us wanting to start that tonight.” Minho says, absolutely hoping for any excuse to keep seeing Jisung longer today. 

“Nah. I need, like, at least a few hours to emotionally prepare.” Jisung says, popping the door open instead, “Thank you, though. Genuinely. You’re a really good teacher already.” He’s out of the car now, cutely peeking down at Minho. 

“I have a promising student.” Minho says. Jisung rolls his eyes. 

“Remember that when I trip over my own feet again and hit a curb in your nice car.” Jisung says. 

—

Minho needs help. Psychiatric. Magical, maybe. Perhaps divine intervention.

Jisung has worked his way into every crevice of Minho’s brain. 

The entire ride home he suffers from whiplash in his own head. One second, he’s head over heels, already counting down the hours until their next lesson. The next, he feels bile in his throat at the thought of Jisung finding out about him. He’s going to have to figure out more about Jisung’s siren friend the next time they’re together. Minho is way too invested to get his heart broken down because this guy doesn’t like fae. But it’s not like Jisung gives him any prejudiced vibe anyway. 

The way more fun thing to think about is how they have more time to see each other now. Granted, he has offered his car up to a self proclaimed awful driver, but that’s probably nothing to worry about. Probably. His car will probably survive and Jisung likes fae and will probably want to keep taking lessons with Minho and maybe even be his friend. Probably. Maybe. 

“You’ve never offered to teach me how to drive.” Felix points out when Minho gets home and explains the mess he’s gotten himself into. 

“I have. You said you don’t need to know as long as you live with me.” Minho retorts. 

“Oh yeah,” Felix shrugs, “But you’re way deeper into this than I am with Jeongin already. Minho, you’ve met him twice.” 

“Yeah, but I’m not offering to see him on the night of the full moon. Felix, are still you sure that’s a good idea?” Minho asks sincerely. Felix just sighs. 

“Yes and no. I know it’s risky, but I already committed. I have to go through with it now.” Felix explained. 

“You can reschedule your little date and just go to his next concert.” Minho suggested. 

“He has a solo in this one, Minho. I can’t miss it. It means so much to him and he wants me to be there.” Felix said. And, yeah, it makes sense. It doesn’t make Minho any less afraid, though. 

“I’d still like to go with you then. I can sit off on my own and let you guys have your own moment afterwards, but I’d really like to be in the room at least. Just in case.” Minho offered. He really chose his words carefully, because he didn’t want Felix to think he doubted his self control.

“Honestly, it would make me feel better if you were there, but I don’t want you to go if you don’t feel safe.” 

“I’d feel less safe waiting at home.” Minho says. Felix giggles. 

“Then yeah, let’s go,” Felix says, “But you have to let me have, like, five minutes with Jeongin alone after he’s done where I can pretend to be cool before I run off into the woods like a lunatic.” 

“Sure. But the second it hits five minutes, I do expect you to be running off into the woods like a lunatic.” Minho says. He jokingly sticks his hand out. Felix takes it and shakes on it. He’s grinning with his freckle-dusted cheeks. 

“Deal.”

—

Minho can tell Jisung did his homework. Barely. 

He seems to have discovered he has two feet; one left and one right. He has the moves memorized. It’s just that they’re not good at all, but that part is Minho’s job. 

“I promise I’m trying. Really.” Jisung says when he sits against the studio wall. He doesn’t look up at Minho when he says it. 

“I can tell.” Minho says as sincerely as possible. Jisung huffs. 

“I spent so much time practicing this and practicing this and yet I’m still so bad.” Jisung says. Minho opens his mouth to speak but Jisung cuts him off, “And you don’t have to tell me I’m good, remember? I need to learn.” 

“You can learn without being so hard on yourself, too, you know?” Minho says. He finally shuffles across the room and sits next to Jisung, “If it’s just you and I here, and you’re the person in the room being the hardest on you, there’s a problem. It’s my job to critique, and yours is to learn and actually enjoy it.” Minho says. Jisung looks at him with a wild look in his eyes. 

“You’re really smart, Minho,” Jisung says, almost reluctantly. 

“Haven’t I heard it!” Minho says dramatically. Jisung rolls his eyes, “But seriously, you have potential. You care, which is more than what most people can say. Besides, I think I figured out what your problem might be.” 

“Really?” 

“Really. You hold more weight on your right foot. If you distribute your weight evenly and keep it light on both feet, you might find it easier to move from one step to the next.” Minho suggests.

Jisung blinks at him, “I didn’t realize I was doing that,” he says quietly. 

“See? Let me do my job. It’s an easy fix, too. You’re not bad, Jisung, you’re just starting out.” Minho says. 

“When did you learn how to be so encouraging? Seriously, I feel better.” Jisung asks. The sincere answer is somewhere between when Minho was hit with his thirtieth wayward light spell or the dozenth student who cried over a crumbling plant, but he can’t say that. 

“I have a lot of my own experience struggling. If you take enough lessons, you’ll see it eventually. Messy stuff.” Minho says.

Jisung beams at him, “I can’t imagine that.” He says through giggles. Minho stands and offers him a hand.

“Remember that when I end up flat on my ass or my shoe flies off.” 

—

An hour later, Jisung has wildly improved. The weight distribution issue might have been all that was stopping him from getting the hang of it. When he’s more assured, he’s lightning quick on his feet. His moves may still be sloppy from time to time, but they’re powerful. If he can harness it he’ll be a real talent in no time. He tells Jisung exactly that. 

“It’s because of you, seriously. You’re really observant. And motivational.” Jisung adds. Minho shakes his head. 

“I can only point you in the right direction. It’s up to you what you do with it.” Minho says kindly. It seems to resonate with Jisung. 

“Either way, you’re seriously a good teacher. I can’t thank you enough.” Jisung says and it makes Minho’s heart feel funny. 

“Don’t mention it.” He replies. He looks at Jisung and a moment passes between them. Jisung’s eyes are just so wide and sweet and they look so thankful. Minho doesn’t know what to do with it. Jisung’s mouth falls open like he wants to speak but can’t make the words come out. He’s just so darn cute. It makes Minho’s chest twitch. Or is it more in his core? It feels similar to his magic when— Oh no.

The lights in the studio snap off, breaking their eye contact. Jisung jumps and makes a yipping sound. It’s followed by a smacking sound, and Minho can only assume it’s him slapping a hand over his own mouth. 

Curse Minho’s magic. It’s not supposed to get weird until tomorrow night! He has a whole extra day of being normal before his magic goes haywire. Why now? Minho tries to call to his magic to flick them back on but it’s no use. 

“That’s weird. They’re not on a timer, right?” Jisung asks. 

“No, it’s just a regular switch.” Minho sighs. ‘I’m on a monthly timer, though!’ Is what he really wants to say. 

Jisung shuffles around for something in the dark and comes up with his phone flashlight. He pops back into Minho’s view with his big cheeks lit from below. God, he’s cute. 

“Hello again.” 

“Hi.”

“I think that’s our sign to pack it up for the night.” Jisung says happily. Minho can’t agree more, especially if his magic wants to be hormonal so early. 

“Please.”

—

“Are you totally beat or do you think you have your first driving lesson in you tonight, too?” Minho asks on a whim. 

“Um…” Jisung says, suddenly tense. They’re in the car heading towards Jisung’s place, but it’s not too late to redirect. 

“My apartment is, like, 99% college students who are away on break right now. Plus it’s night anyway. The parking lot will be super dead if you want somewhere open to practice.” Minho offers. In his head, it sounded great. Once the words are out of his mouth, he realizes he just invited Jisung over to his place. Well, not really. He invited Jisung to his parking lot, but that’s still an invitation nonetheless. 

Jisung doesn’t reply at first. He looks out the window silently and picks at the seam of his jeans. 

“You don’t have to. It’s late and I sprung it on you and–”

“We can try.” Jisung says quietly. 

“You sure?” Minho says. He really doesn’t mean to sound so surprised. It’s just, well, Jisung doesn’t seem like he wants to do this at all. He sighs. 

“Yeah. I’m always going to be afraid of it anyway, so now is as good a time as any.” He says. He puffs himself up a bit, and Minho isn’t sure who he’s trying to convince more. He would laugh if he didn’t think Jisung would be offended. 

“And my apartment is fine? We can still get there pretty easily with the next two exits.” Minho explains. 

“Yeah, whatever you recommend. I trust you.” Jisung agrees. He’s locked on looking straight ahead now. He’s ready to rip a hole in the seams of his jeans, though. Minho is overcome with a wicked thought and almost beats it back, but gives in just this once. He slowly reaches out his hand and sets it over Jisung’s. Jisung freezes up immediately, so Minho focuses on steadying his fingers rather than fully holding his hand. Minho gives him a light squeeze before speaking. 

“Don’t worry too much, alright? If it gets to be too much, we’ll stop. You don’t have to do anything more than what you’re comfortable with,” Minho assures him. As soon as he’s done talking, he drops Jisung’s hand. He doesn’t want to completely overstep. 

Jisung doesn’t say anything again, and Minho is worried he’s made it weird. He doesn’t retract his own words this time, though. He needs Jisung to know he means those at least. 

It takes Jisung a moment to say anything. Minho just keeps driving. He almost considers aiming for the second exit to his apartment complex instead. It gives Jisung enough time to back out of going to his weird dance teacher’s parking lot. 

Jisung sniffles, “Yeah, that sounds nice. I trust you.” He says simply. His voice is flat and firm, and it doesn’t sound like he’s been crying or otherwise emotional. Still, the energy in the car has definitely shifted. He hopes Jisung is okay but he can’t bring himself to ask again. 

They ride in silence much of the rest of the way there. Last time, he and Jisung bounced off of each other relentlessly on their late night drive. Now he’s more afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing again. He’s not even sure what happened. Maybe he shouldn’t have reached for his hand. 

“Um, thank you by the way,” Jisung says, and Minho fights the urge to look at him. The road is barely more important, “You’re a really understanding teacher. Like, I know you won’t get mad at me or stressed or anything, so thank you.” 

Now it’s Minho’s turn to be quiet. He didn’t expect that out of Jisung. If anything he expected him to be weirded out and stop all of their lessons all together. 

“I hope that’s not weird to say, like, I know we’ve only had two lessons together but–” Jisung babbles. 

“No! No, it’s not weird at all.” Minho clarifies, “I’m just happy, is all. And surprised. You’re by far my most interesting student Jisung.” Minho can feel eyes on him again. He’s certain they’re big and brown and shiny too, and he really wishes he wasn’t driving right now. The moment feels too sincere again. 

“And you’re my favorite one to discuss anime with, so there’s that.” Minho adds, just to ease the mood again. Jisung’s eyes face forward again. 

“That is a plus. Hey, did you see the new episode of…” 

Jisung goes on and on about this show with all of their tension in the rearview. Minho is glad to have the same old Jisung back. He’s also glad he’s distracted, so he can’t see the flower petals poking out of the air conditioning vents. Minho looks up at the moon, silently apologizing for blaming it all alone earlier. The blame also rests on Minho’s shoulders for falling so inexplicably quickly for the world’s worst dancer, as well as on Jisung for being so easy to fall for. 

—

Minho’s hands are shaky as he fumbles to get his keys in his door. 

The driving lesson didn’t last long and could have gone infinitely better. Jisung really wasn’t kidding when he said he was afraid of driving. Even with an empty lot, his hands were shaking the second he sat in the driver’s seat. The longer they stayed there, the worse he got. Eventually, it was long past the time to get him out of there. 

Minho offered to take him up to his apartment to get comfortable when the panic attack set in. Jisung wordlessly agreed with wild darting eyes. For a brief second, the thought crossed Minho’s mind that he is allowing a near stranger into his home. For all he knows, Jisung is a serial killer who has been leading him on all along until he had the right moment to do Minho in. Then Minho realizes most serial killers probably need to drive getaway cars, and Jisung’s shaking frame tells him he has no experience with that. Regardless, Minho is a winged spellcaster with a scary werewolf roommate, so Jisung is outgunned anyway. 

He leads him into the apartment and through the dark hallway. Minho flicks a light on so they don’t trip over Felix’s shoes. He can yell at him about that later. Right now, he wants to get Jisung to the couch. 

The couch is currently occupied by the aforementioned scary werewolf roommate, who is the furthest thing from scary right now. Felix is wrapped in more blanket layers than Minho can count with an abandoned bowl of ice cream sitting between him and the drama he’s watching. So much for Minho’s scary attack dog. 

Felix looks over casually, but quickly realizes something serious is going on, “Hey, I– Minho? What’s wrong? Is that–?”

“This is Jisung, he just needs a second to relax.” Minho explains. He sets Jisung down on the couch next to Felix. Immediately, Minho can see that Felix wants to comfort him in traditional werewolf ways. He can practically see him sending out calming pheromones and wrapping one of his blankets around Jisung.

“Hey, Jisung. I’m Felix," he says. Jisung nods at him, but still can’t get the words out, “You get panic attacks a lot? I used to, too.” Felix says. Minho never considered that before. He doesn’t know much about Felix’s time in his birth pack, but he knows it was rough. It’s hard to imagine the bright, happy Felix he knows today in a situation like this. 

“You’re okay now. Whatever it is that scared you isn’t here with us now,” Felix says, and Jisung seems to respond well to that. He’s still a nervous wreck regardless. 

“Do you want me to grab you water?” Felix says, and he’s up and on the move before he even gets a reply, “Stay with Minho for a second, I’ll be right back,” and with that, Felix is already in their kitchen. 

“He’s nice.” Jisung says, simply, quietly. 

“He’s the best.” Minho agrees. But it isn’t about him right now, as kind as he is, “Do you want to breathe with me?” He offers. Jisung nods.
“Okay, that’s good. We’ll start slow. In… Hold… And out.” Minho says, and Jisung follows him. It takes a while, but Jisung eventually has an easier time holding his breath. When he manages to, he visibly relaxes. 

Minho debates using calming magic on Jisung. On any normal day, it’s a fairly simple spell he could perform in his sleep. However, he already had two magical mishaps today because of the imminent full moon. He’s afraid of harming Jisung, or accidentally exposing himself. By the time he’s made up his mind, Jisung has calmed down again anyway. The breathing and calming pheromones must have worked well for him. 

“Thank you.” Jisung says. He still can’t look up at Minho, but he is looking down at their hands. Minho didn’t realize in the heat of the moment, but their hands are locked together. 

Felix returns with the water before that can fully short circuit Minho’s brain. 

“And thank you, too,” Jisung directs towards Felix, “Sorry we had to meet like that. It’s awfully embarrassing.” He says. Felix offers him the water and shakes his head. 

“Not at all. I know what those are like. Don’t worry about it, man.” Felix assures him. 

“It’s nice to meet you, though. Minho said good things about you.” Jisung adds. 

Felix shoots Minho an interested look, “Did he, now?”

“He’s never going to stop asking about that by the way.” Minho warns Jisung. 

Felix nods, “He’s right.” 

It makes Jisung laugh a little, and Minho is glad to see that familiar smile back. He knows he’s staring, and he can feel Felix’s eyes watching him with amusement. 

“You can stay here as long as you need, and then I still don’t mind taking you home,” Minho offers. 

Jisung shakes his head and sits up, “Oh, I can’t intrude on you guys like that. Really, I can head out now. You guys have done so much for me already.” 

Felix gently pushes him back down onto the couch, “Nonsense,” he says, “You just had a panic attack. You’re not going home alone now. Come on, what do you like to watch?” 

Jisung blinks and looks between them, searching for any sign that they would give in and send him out. He doesn’t find it and sighs. 

“What’s that anime you recommend to me the other day? Let’s watch an episode and then I can take you home.” Minho offers. As much as he would love it if Jisung could spend the night on their couch, he knows it's not realistic. The full moon is tomorrow, and by the morning, both he and Felix are going to be unpredictable. It’s already risky enough to have him here with Minho’s magic acting up early, but he just can’t rationalize taking him home yet. 

Jisung looks up at him with the same wide eyes as always, “Oh, I really think you’ll like it. It’s called…”

—

Felix sets up the TV for them, then hands Minho the remote and stands to leave. 

“You’re not staying for the episode?” Minho asks. Felix just shakes his head. 

“Nah, I have to be up early tomorrow. You two have fun, though.” Felix explains. And it’s at this point Minho realizes he owes Felix big time. He absolutely does not have to be up early tomorrow. He took the day off months in advance in preparation for the full moon, and he doesn’t have anything planned until Jeongin’s concert. He’s sneaky, but a wonderful wingman. 

“That’s a shame. It was nice meeting you, man.” Jisung says. 

“You too, Jisung. Goodnight, guys!” Felix says, and he scurries off before Minho can even reply. He owes Felix his life. 

The reality of the situation quickly sets in, though. Now he’s left alone with Jisung, one blanket between them, and he’s supposed to be focusing on an anime? Unlikely. 

If Jisung is worried, he doesn’t show it. He settles deeper into the couch and tugs the blanket up to his chin. 

“And then there were two,” Jisung says. He keeps his eyes set straight ahead at the TV, watching the introduction, pointing out the characters in a running train of thought, “She’s pretty cool. Her powers always scared me when I was little, though. Oh and, that’s the main character. He’s my favorite. I had my big gay awakening because of him.” Jisung says, and he must not have realized what he was saying out loud. Minho realizes for the first time that he never actually knew for certain if Jisung was even into guys. He just, you know, has a vibe about him that Minho determined as the absolute truth. It’s nice to know, but he realizes that Jisung is probably freaking the hell out about whether or not that’s okay with Minho. 

“I can see that,” Minho says, and quickly realizes that is not enough. Another character flashes across the screen; another guy with softer features. He looks like the wind could push him over if it blew hard enough. Perfect. “He would have been my type, though.” Minho says, gesturing towards the screen. Jisung’s eyes snap between Minho and the screen, back to Minho. He visibly relaxes back into the couch again once he realizes Minho is gay too. 

“See, I always imagined myself as him instead, because he has this crazy tension with the main guy,” Jisung explains, “They never let it happen though, because, well obviously. But they make him end up with the main girl, which appeased my bisexuality enough to make me finish the show.” 

“Spoilers?” Minho jokes, nudging him with his elbow. 

“It’s going to be obvious from the first five minutes. I promise I didn’t spoil anything.” Jisung says with crinkles by his eyes. Minho wants to wrap his arms around him so badly. 

The show is fine, at least as far as Minho can tell. As he predicted he absolutely does not pay an ounce of attention. It’s hard to focus when he has Jisung right next to him on the couch. 

Plus, Jisung talks the entire time, explaining little things Minho should notice now ‘Because it will all make sense later’. Minho would have been focusing on Jisung anyway, so he finds it endearing. Jisung apologizes throughout and promises he just has one more thing to say about a dozen times. Minho wishes ill upon whoever made him think he needs to be quiet. 

Eventually, the one episode turns into two, and two into three. Jisung’s chatter also slows as the episodes carry on, and he slumps more and more into the couch– into Minho. He has melted into Minho’s side as the hours have gone on. He might not even be lucid enough to realize. He might not be awake at all. Minho hesitantly, gently, slings an arm around Jisung. He stiffens under Minho’s arm, and for a second he wonders if that was too much too soon. 

A warm hand reaches out of the blanket and grabs Minho’s from where it rests in front of Jisung’s chest. He’s– he’s holding his hand. On purpose. He’s awake and he’s holding his hand on purpose. Jisung settles back into Minho’s side and rests in his new spot under Minho’s arm. 

Minho is on cloud nine. Maybe Jisung will be too tired to go home and he can spend the night? Maybe if Minho is super careful and reins in his magic, he could take Jisung out for coffee in the morning when they wake up together. Then he will happily take him home. The thought is so cute and domestic it makes his head hurt. His heart could explode out of his chest. 

Something else explodes instead. The glass of water Felix set down for Jisung cracks and explodes in a millisecond. Fuck. He was so stupid for thinking he could get away with this.

Jisung shoots up and out of Minho’s arms, “What was that?” He exclaims as he’s pulled out of his sleepy lull. 

“I don’t know, the glass just cracked.” Minho says. He gestures to the mess across the table. Jisung blinks and cocks his head. 

“What the hell happened?” Jisung asks. He moves to stand but Minho pulls him back. 

“Careful, there’s probably glass on the floor. I can get it.” Minho says. He flicks the lamp on the side table on and shuffles around the glass and puddles on the floor. 

He feels his head spin when he finally makes it to the kitchen and grabs paper towels. That was so close, and he’s not even out of the woods yet. Jisung could know. He has to know. What other reason would glass just spontaneously explode?

He has to go back out there soon before Jisung gets antsy and comes looking for him. He breathes deep and slow and tries to clear his mind before going back out there. His feelings for Jisung cause his magic to spasm, so he needs to hold them down until after tomorrow night. He won’t see Jisung again for lessons until later next week, so he should be more than recovered by then. He just needs to make it through tonight, and yes, take Jisung home for his own good. 

He turns back out to the living room, to see Jisung still perched on the couch, now with his legs crossed. He’s carefully bent over, delicately picking up the larger pieces of glass and gently setting them down on the table. It’s sweet, but Jisung could get hurt. 

“Really, Jisung, it’s okay. I can get it.” Minho assures him. Jisung looks up at him then, and to Minho’s horror, there’s a small cut across his cheek. Minho did that to him. He feels ill.

His heart sinks as he realizes. He hurt Jisung because he selfishly wanted to spend more time with him. 

“Jisung, your cheek.” Minho says. He sets the towels down and rushes to Jisung’s side. Jisung doesn’t seem to realize he’s bleeding and pads around looking for the spot. He pulls his fingers back and blinks when he realizes there’s a spot of blood. 

“Here, come with me. I’ll wash it out and set a bandage on it.” Minho says. He kicks his slippers off and nudges them towards Jisung so he can safely walk to the kitchen. Jisung doesn’t say anything, but shuffles the slippers on and takes Minho’s hand as he guides him to the sink. 

Minho gently dabs at the cut with water, and makes sure there’s no glass still embedded in the cut. It’s not deep, but it shouldn’t be there at all. He tries not to focus on how Jisung’s eyes cross to watch as he meticulously cleans the cut. 

“I’m going to put something on there so it heals nicer, okay?” Minho says, as he tosses away the bloody paper towels. Jisung nods. 

“Thank you, Minho.” Jisung says quietly. His cheeks are dusted red. They will kill Minho one of these days. What he doesn’t know is that he’s going to cast a small healing spell as well. Just enough so Jisung isn’t in any pain and it doesn’t leave a mark when it heals without completely exposing Minho. 

He grabs the tube and tells Jisung to close his eyes. Jisung does, and his eyelashes fall so prettily over the tops of his cheeks. Minho is going to combust. 

He quickly dabs the ointment over the spot. He makes sure Jisung’s eyes are shut before pushing tiny traces of magic through his fingertips into the cut. Jisung’s nose crinkles. 

“It tickles,” Jisung giggles. 

“I’m almost done, Jisungie.” Minho says. He pales when he realizes he used the nickname. Jisung doesn’t seem to mind, and smiles.

Minho gently applies a small bandage to his cheek, and he’s done. It wasn’t a deep cut to begin with, but now it’s hardly there at all. It should never have been there in the first place. He feels awful. 

“I’m so sorry, Jisung. That shouldn’t have happened.” Minho says. He can’t look at him. If he knew what actually happened, he would be afraid of Minho. He knows it. 

Jisung sets a hand on Minho’s forearm, “Hey, it’s not your fault. It’s a tiny cut, anyway.” Jisung assures him, “Come on, let’s go get your living room cleaned up.” He says, and hops off the counter. He doesn’t give Minho a second to protest or explain, ‘No, it is actually my fault!’

Felix is in the living room rubbing his eyes when they head back out. His hair is sticking up in every direction. 

“What was that?” he asks. 

“The glass of water you brought me cracked out of nowhere. I don’t know what happened. We were both falling asleep.” Jisung says. Felix is suddenly wide awake. 

“Did it? That’s strange.” Felix asks with a look at Minho. 

“I got most of the big pieces up, but we still need to sop up the water and get the little pieces.” Jisung says. He’s already on his way to grab the paper towels. 

Minho and Felix both go to stop him, “It’s our apartment, don’t worry about it, Jisung,” Felix assures him. 

“It won’t kill me to help. Come on.” Jisung says. Jisung must not realize that if he keeps being so cute in front of Minho, it might just get them all killed.

They get it cleaned up without any more injuries or accidents, and Felix sets off for bed again. 

“I guess it’s getting late. Is it okay if I take you home now?” Minho asks. As much as he wishes he could offer up his apartment to Jisung for the night, he knows for certain now that it is not safe. Jisung seems disappointed. 

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.” Jisung says. 

“I never mind. I’m offering because I want to.” Minho assures him. 

They pack up Jisung’s things and head towards his apartment. The drive is still lively, but Jisung carries the conversation. Minho responds, but he’s focused on not casting a spell that would end in the car flipping now. He’s keeping an eye on the air vents, and thankfully he doesn’t see any pesky petals poking through this time. 

They do actually manage to make it to Jisung’s apartment without, well, a scratch. Jisung seems hesitant to get out of the car. 

“So I guess this is it until next Wednesday, huh?” Jisung says. He’s a little bit groggy from sleep, and visibly upset from the lack of time they’ll spend together. They haven’t even known each other for a week, and he’s upset at the idea of not seeing Minho for a few days. That is not something he can think about right now or he’ll cast light as bright as the Sun in his little car. 

“Unfortunately, but you do have my number.” Minho says with a soft smile. 

“Would… Would you want to hang out outside of lessons?” Jisung asks hesitantly, “I mean, we don’t have to. You can say no. But like, I just thought–” 

Minho laughs, and Jisung’s mouth snaps shut, “Yes, Jisung. Don’t worry. That’s why I said you have my number.” 

“Really? Okay, cool. I’ll text you,” Jisung says. His bright energy is restored, “I’m kinda busy tomorrow, but I’ll text you about Monday or Tuesday.” 

Minho smiles wide. He has Monday off, and that’s Felix’s favorite day to stare at Jeongin. Even the full moon can’t keep him bedridden and away from Jeongin. They would have the apartment to themselves. 

“That’s perfect. I look forward to it, Jisungie.” Minho says, letting the nickname slip again. 

“Me too,” Jisung says with a nervous smile. He pops his door open, “Text me when you’re home, too, though. And thank you again!” Jisung says. He’s rushing to gather his things. Minho can’t stand how cute he is. 

“Sure thing. Goodnight, Jisung.” 

“Goodnight, Minho!” Jisung says, and closes the car door just a tad too hard. 

Minho makes it home safe, albeit followed by his very own little cloud of rain. He texts Jisung the second he’s safely in the house, and is confronted by Felix a second later. 

“That was close.” Felix observes.

Minho slumps against the door, “I know.”

“And you say I’m bad.” 

“I know.” Minho groans. This boy is going to be the death of him.

—

Felix is far too invested in putting his very best clothes on for someone who will be tearing out of them in a few hours. 

He’s been flitting around the apartment for hours trying on all of his favorite outfits at least twice, and even some of Minho’s, making sure he wears the perfect outfit for Jeongin to see from the stage. 

“Felix, don’t wear anything you would miss if it got ruined,” Minho points out, “Jeongin already likes you. What you have on is fine.” Minho says. They both have on slim black slacks, both taken from Minho’s closet. Minho has on a dark blue dress shirt, with the buttons done up tightly. Felix also has on a dress shirt, with the white sleeves rolled up to his forearms and the top two buttons undone. Those few square inches of chest are going to make all the difference when Jeongin sees them from afar, he claims. 

“Minho, it has to be perfect. What if he thinks I don’t care about his show? The way you dress says a lot about you.” Felix says, sitting down to try on yet another pair of shoes. He has a hard time untying them with his claws dropping already. He shakes his hand and looks at his nails again, which are back to normal. Minho spares him the struggle and whisks a small spell his way. Both sets of laces unravel and fall nicely into Felix’s hands. He sighs. 

“This probably isn’t the best idea. For either of us.” Minho says. Felix didn’t notice, but the spell he cast on his shoes also doubled the size of the houseplant on his windowsill. 

“It probably isn’t, but I have to do this,” Felix affirms. He stands and walks over to his mirror, taking a look at the new pair of shoes, “I know I have to tell him eventually, and I want to, just maybe not right now. Like, before the first real date, you know?” 

It makes sense to Minho. He’s doing the same thing with Jisung, really. It must get old trying to give people disclaimers before being invited to normal events, let alone dates. 

“I know what you mean,” Minho says quietly, “You really do look good, though. Come on, let’s get your emergency bag packed and hit the road.” Minho’s back is starting to ache, and his wings are begging to push through his glamour. He wants to be done with the drive and out of the uncomfortable car seat before it gets any worse.

“But would you wear this shirt, or should I wear the red–” 

“Felix, he’s going to want to take it off of you no matter what. Now come on, where’s your brown contacts?” Minho says. 

—

When they get to the concert hall, Felix assures him he’s already planned for the perfect seats. 

“Jeongin is going to be standing in the middle of the choir, so we can see him from anywhere, really. So if we sit here,” Felix says, leading him to aisle seats towards the back, “We can see him, he can still see us, and we should be able to get out easily in case of any… emergencies.” Felix says. He takes his seat and pats the very end of the row for Minho to sit down. Minho rolls his eyes with affection and sits down. The hard wooden seats are actually worse for his poor back than the car seats. Silently, he wills his wings to hold off just a little bit longer. They will be free soon enough. 

“You’re lucky I like you.” Minho says. 

“You love me.” Felix says with a nudge. 

They chatter quietly as the small auditorium fills up with more and more people. Out of the people under thirty, they are without a doubt the ones dressed the nicest. Minho can tell a lot of the crowd is made up of students or parents of the performers. Jeongin will know Felix cares for certain. 

They’re two minutes out from the start time, when a familiar voice perks up from behind Minho. 

“Got room for one more here?” Jisung asks. Minho can feel the blood drain from his face. Even Felix stiffens next to him. 

“Hey, Jisung, what are you doing here?” Minho says, trying to act cool and definitely not like he’s ten times more likely to expose himself in front of this whole crowd now. 

“My friend Jeongin is in the show. I think I told you about him.” Jisung explains. Minho scoots down to make room for Jisung and realizes two things at the same time. 

The first, is that he has now trapped himself in this aisle if anything goes wrong. Jisung is sitting on the other side, which will delay his escape. Not to mention he’l be right there and able to see everything. 

The second is that Jeongin is Jisung’s half-siren friend. Felix is going to love that. Minho wonders if Jeongin faces any full moon side effects. Jisung said he doesn’t have most siren powers, so maybe he’s also immune to the full moon. Sirens are supposed to have similar side effects to fae otherwise. Minho will keep an eye on that, of course, in between his moments of panic. 

“Oh, we’re here for Jeongin too!” Felix says happily.

“No way! Small world,” Jisung says, “How do you guys know him?”

“Oh, I met him at the café he works at.” Felix explains. For a split second, a look of understanding washes over Jisung’s face. 

“Ah, is your Korean name Yongbok by any chance?” Jisung asks. 

Felix nods, “Yeah, how did you know?” 

Jisung laughs, “He’s mentioned you, but I didn’t realize you go by either name. Now it all makes sense.” Felix’s eyes go starry. 

“He’s mentioned me?” Felix asks. His eyes blow wide. 

“All good things, don’t worry,” Jisung says. As if on cue, the lights start to dim and the choir begins entering the stage, “Trust me. And ask him on a date already, I’m begging you.” Jisung says. Felix gawks and tries to climb over Minho to ask more, but he gets shushed by the elderly couple in front of them. Felix slinks back into his seat, vibrating at a frequency that could ignite the wooden seats below them. Minho’s happy for him. 

Minho’s eyes quickly adjust to the lighting and scan for Jeongin. Sure enough, he’s already out on stage in the middle of the choir. Jeongin scans the crowd trying to find his friends through the stage lighting. Jisung and Felix take it upon themselves to wave dramatically from either side of Minho, which is when Jeongin finally spots them. He seems a little surprised at first, probably that they’re all sitting together by chance, but then gives them a small wave. 

Once everyone is in their spots, a man in a sharp suit comes out, and the audience begins clapping. Minho tries to ignore how the lights above pulse slightly every time his hands connect. He can’t give into his magic yet. If he can just last two hours, he can make it home before the moon rises and he will have successfully chaperoned Felix’s weird sorta first date. 

The conductor introduces himself, and thenthe show. It’s the final spring concert for most of the graduating seniors, which includes Jeongin. As the man describes the themes of the pieces he selected and the work they have done over the semester, Minho flips through the program. There’s only one name he’s looking for, and he finds it beneath Jeongin’s headshot in the senior section. His bio really shows off how accomplished he is, even despite the adversity he faced from his peers. It also mentions a solo for this performance. Felix is going to go nuts. 

Minho nudges Felix’s side and shows him the page. His eyes widen when he reaches the part about the solo. He looks up at Minho with a giddy smile. He’s so gone already. Jisung is right, he really does need to get up the nerve to properly ask him out. 

Jisung taps Minho’s knee and asks what’s going on. 

“Did you know Jeongin has a solo?” Minho asks. 

“What? No, that’s so cool!” Jisung whispers. He’s quiet, but the couple in front of them shushes them again. Minho and Jisung share a look and giggle. Felix sighs to Minho’s left. 

The conductor concludes his speech, and the house lights dim more after he finds his way to his podium. A beat passes and the choir adjusts to their spots. Jeongin looks nervous in the center. He’s passing his weight back and forth between his feet and taking deep breaths. Felix is laser focused on him specifically. Jeongin seems to smile in their direction, despite how much darker it has gotten. Minho figures he might still have a siren’s improved eyesight.

That reminds Minho to check for the ring Jisung mentioned. His eyesight as a fae isn’t as good as Felix or Jeongin’s, but it’s still better than the average person’s. It takes him a minute but he spots the ring on Jeongin’s left hand. It looks unassuming, but the small white stone in the center of the band is probably what gives Jeongin the ability to touch water without transforming. That kind of magic isn’t easy to come by. The witches in Minho’s home town were always wary of casting enchantments for other species. Maybe Jeongin is alright with fae, and hopefully werewolves for Felix’s sake, and passed that on to Jisung at some point. 

Regardless, Jeongin visibly calms when he looks in Felix’s general direction. Minho would wager he can actually see him, but he’s also willing to bet Felix is flinging his damn hormones around again. He’d consider asking him if he wasn’t steadily growing afraid of the old people sitting in front of them, or if he thought he could even manage to get Felix’s attention. Minho isn’t sure Felix is blinking. 

After everyone is settled and ready to go, the conductor raises his baton, and the choir begins to sing. 

This part is easy. All Minho has to do is sit and behave and not cast spells and occasionally stop Felix from drooling. Easy enough. He’s calm right now, and he can be very normal about the fact that Han Jisung is sitting next to him. They have sat next to each other in Minho’s car several times without anything weird happening, so tonight can’t be any different. 

The choir sounds good, too. The first piece is a slow, calming song. It’s not enough to really raise Minho’s blood pressure and get him to cast a spell on accident. 

The second song is more lively. It splits the choir in half between the men and the women. It’s hard to make out the lyrics, but Minho can tell it’s a love song. The two halves of the choir trade off back and forth in a conversational piece. It’s romantic and blissful. Minho relaxes back into the seat for the first time all evening. 

Suddenly, a hand sneaks next to his on the seat. Jisung’s pinky finger grazes Minho’s, and Minho’s stomach lurches. He swears he’s done for if this boy tries to hold his hand. 

He’s the luckiest unlucky guy in the world. Jisung tentatively laces his fingers into Minho’s. His hands are cold, and Minho’s are warm. He would be able to wax poetic about that if not for the fact that he’s likely to flood this place with daisies at any given second. He squeezes Jisung’s hand and looks over at him. Even with the lights down, Jisung shines when he looks back at him. 

Minho can do this. He can be normal and not explode the entire auditorium over some hand holding. He’s not a blushing teenager. He’s not a ticking time bomb that will explode into pansies. He’s not. 

He can let himself brush the full moon aside for just a moment. Jisung reciprocates his feelings! He hasn’t felt this way about someone in so long, and he’s never fallen so fast. It feels good to let himself have this. But what does having this entail? 

That means confessing to Jisung that he’s a fae. Maybe he’ll react well to that. But then he’ll want to see Minho’s wings, and, well… 

They’re still his biggest insecurity, and he meant it when he promised himself no one else would ever lay eyes on them again. They’re proof that his magic was weak, and a permanent reminder of the home he walked away from. It’s a visual reminder of the career he was torn away from. Worst of all, it alienates him from his own people. If other fae couldn’t look at him the same, why should Jisung? 

Minho panics. He knows whatever is blooming between him and Jisung can’t last. Jisung deserves someone who will take him home and introduce him to his family. Minho can never do that. Jisung deserves someone who doesn’t hide things from him, and Minho is keeping the biggest secret of all. He deserves someone whose hand he would be proud to hold in the streets, and not someone who hides away. 

The dim house light directly overhead begins to flicker. Jisung looks up at it for a moment and laughs through his nose. He doesn’t seem to make the connection that he is the one making Minho do that. Felix does, though. He nudges Minho’s side. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Felix whispers.

“Honestly, I have no clue.” Minho admits. He really shouldn’t have come here. Felix visibly pales, even in the dark. 

“Do you need to get out of here? We can go to the bathroom really quickly.” Felix offers. 

“Absolutely not.” Minho says forcefully without thinking. Felix is about to ask why, but his eyes travel down first and he gets his answer. 

Felix rolls his eyes and smirks, “No way you’re going to expose yourself in public over your crush.” He doesn’t seem to realize his fangs are dropped. 

“You’re one to talk, wolfie,” Minho replies. He gives Felix an exaggerated smile, which causes his younger friend to furrow his brows and feel his canines. Felix sighs when he feels the sharp points. 

The elderly couple in front of them fully turns around to shoot them a look. Minho and Felix both shrink down in their seats. Jisung tugs on Minho’s arm.
“Everything alright?” Jisung asks. 

“I think so.” Minho says. Well, so long as he does not experience a thought any time soon. 

The song ends, and Minho knows better than to clap this time. His hand is busy anyway. He gives Jisung’s hand a light squeeze and pats his leg instead. This time the lights don’t betray him, and there’s no other signs of his magic running wild. So far, so good. 

Except for the fact that his wings are aching at this point. They are desperate to drop the glamour and stretch out for the first time in a while. He’s not sure how he’s even going to make it two full hours. He sits up a little straighter hoping better posture will help. There’s a twinge where the base of his wings is and he sighs. 

Jisung looks over at him again, more concerned. 

“You sure?” he whispers. 

“Mostly. Don’t worry.” Minho says with another squeeze for Jisung’s hand. Jisung looks less convinced this time but doesn’t push it. 

They head into the next song, which begins with a solo. The girl sings beautifully, and it has Minho excited for Jeongin’s solo. Based on the program he still has quite a while to wait. Jeongin’s solo part is towards the end of the night, and he’s the last soloist overall. If Minho makes it that long, he may have to watch from the hallway. The last thing he wants is to ruin Jeongin’s big moment. 

He can’t bear to think about it. Not only would he ruin Jeongin’s final performance, but everyone’s eyes would be on him. He would be a distraction and everyone would be disgusted by him. By what he is, and even more so by his appearance. He can’t have that. 

Felix smothers a sneeze next to him. He makes eye contact with the young wolf shifter, whose eyes are blown wide. 

“Minho, your glamour,” Felix sniffles. Right. Werewolves are sensitive to the smell of magic. Minho’s glamour must be wavering. If that’s the case, he doesn’t have long before his wings are exposed for everyone to see, most importantly, Jisung. Felix sneezes again and startles Minho, making him jump in his seat. He feels a droplet of water on his nose. Terrified, Minho looks up to see a rain cloud forming above him. He jolts out of his seat. Jisung looks terrified and drops his hand. He looks down at it, and Minho can’t make out the specific shape, but Jisung is holding something now. He has no time to think about that, he just needs to run. 

“Excuse me Jisung, I’m so sorry,” Minho apologizes, practically climbing over Jisung. The elderly couple looks ready to strangle him. 

“What do you need? I’ll go with you.” Jisung says, standing from his own seat. Minho pushes him back down. 

“Just stay with Felix and keep an eye on him. Please trust me. That’s the best thing you can do for me, Jisungie.” Minho says. He looks deep into Jisung’s eyes, which are wide with concern. Minho takes in the warm brown color like it’s the last time he will ever get the chance. It might be.

“Are you sure? Please, talk to me. Let me go with you.” Jisung says. He’s still trying to whisper, but they are causing a mild scene. A few more heads from neighboring rows turn back to them. 

“Certain. Thank you for everything.” Minho says with finality. He goes to move his hand off the back of the bench to Jisung’s shoulder, but his hands are being followed by ivy creeping up the back of the seat. Minho pulls his hand back like it was burned. Though it was foolish, he still hopes Jisung didn’t notice. 

Jisung looks worried. He wants to reach out a hand to grab Minho’s again but Minho pulls away. Jisung’s eyes get glassy with the rejection. He looks down into his other hand, where he’s cradling that same object from before to his chest. The light hits it now, and the sight of it makes Minho’s blood run cold. 

Between their clasped hands, Minho must have grown a carnation. 

It’s all he needs to see to turn on his heels and run. He pushes past the noise and the pounding in his head and the ache in his heart and runs for the car. It’s what he’s good at. He ran from home and now he’s running from Jisung because it’s what he does best. 

His hands are shaking when he starts the car and tears threaten to pour down his cheeks. He’ll let himself break when he gets home, but not yet. Traffic is graciously light tonight. He makes it home in record time, with a record number of traffic violations as well. He just needs to get somewhere safe. 

He doesn’t know the feeling of safety until he closes the apartment door behind him. As he’s settling backwards to rest on the door, the glamour finally drops. His wings unfurl and creep into his peripheral vision like the taunting inky overcoat they are. He lets them wrap around him like a warm blanket as he slides down the door and cries into his hands. 

Everything has gone wrong. Jisung has to know. He has to. Flowers don’t appear in just anyone’s hands. Humans don’t make lights flicker or grow vines indoors. He has to know, and there’s no way he feels the same about Minho anymore. The worst part is, he can’t even blame him. All he wanted was for Minho to be honest with him, and he couldn’t even do that. 

He also realizes now that Jisung and Felix are both stranded there, without a single car or license between them. Felix’s plan was always to book it to the woods on the east side of campus anyway, but a ride from Minho would have been nice. Jisung could have used the help too. Fuck, he can’t even be dependable. Maybe it’s for the best that Jisung loses interest in him. What would Minho even be able to do for him? 

The rain cloud Minho had long forgotten about opens up above him. The little droplets hitting his head are so cruel it almost makes him laugh. He laughs until his hands give away and his head drops to his knees instead. He hugs his legs to his chest and just lets it all out as the drizzle above him fades out. He runs his hands through his damp hair and tightens his grip just to ground himself. There’s no point staying on the ground and pitying himself. He shoots a quick text to Felix to make sure he’s going to make it out of the show safely and then stumbles into the bathroom for a towel. He finds one of Felix’s in their closet, and silently makes another apology to him for borrowing it. Just one more to add to the list. The rain wasn’t heavy so all he needs is a quick run through for his hair and he’s set. 

When he’s done, he throws his head back to air dry it and finds himself looking in the mirror. His own reflection stares back at him, and it’s the harshest stare he’s ever found himself under. He doesn’t know how he ever convinced himself things with Jisung could be possible when his wings look like that. The scar looks angrier today somehow, and the magic flowing through his wings looks sickly to boot. It’s probably a side effect of holding them back so long, or maybe it’s a reflection of his rotten mood. Either way, they look lifeless. There was never any chance for Minho. Not like this. 

He’s about to sit against the wall and fall into tears again when he hears the front door open. What is Felix doing back here? It’s not safe for him, he needs to go on a run before he gets stuck indoors for the whole moon. Just another way Minho has turned this night on its head for everyone else. 

Minho hurries back down the hall, “Yongbok-ah? What are you doing back here? You have to-” Minho stops dead in his tracks as he rounds the corner. His eyes have to be playing a trick on him. 

It’s not Felix. It’s Jisung. 

He’s looking at Minho with wide eyes. His frame shrinks down every second as he takes everything in. Is he… afraid? Of Minho? Is he mad? The one thing he asked of Minho from the very first day is for him to be up front with him. 

“Jisung…” 

“Minho? Woah…” Jisung trails off. His voice is unreadable. 

“I’m sorry. I can explain.” Minho begins to ramble. What is there to say, though? “I should have told you sooner. And I know you’re probably mad, or afraid, or disgusted, and-” 

Jisung cuts him off, “What? No, Minho, of course not.” Jisung says. He seems more offended at the idea he would be upset than at the actual issue of Minho hiding things. 

“But-” 

“Is this all it is? What you’ve been freaking out about?” Jisung asks softly. He’s not upset, just more… piteous if Minho had to guess. 

“Yeah?” Minho says. He still doesn’t understand how this isn’t the end of their friendship. A complete betrayal of trust. Jisung just blinks back at him. His shoulders fall as the silence grows between them. 

“That’s– I… Can we sit down and talk about this?” Jisung asks. So this is the part where he tells Minho off. It’s best to get it over and done with. 

“Of course, Jisung.” Minho says. He doesn’t dare use his nickname right now. 

With a gesture, he guides Jisung to the living room and sits opposite of him on the couch. Jisung sits down with a sigh, hands together, and looks at his feet. Minho almost wishes Jisung would look at him so he could see his face so he can understand what Jisung is thinking about. He gets his wish a second later when Jisung looks up at him with sad eyes. 

“Did you really think I’d hate you for this?” Jisung asks. He sounds so small, so hurt, and not for any of the reasons he would have assumed. Jisung is upset that Minho thought he would be upset? It doesn’t make sense to Minho. He must not reply fast enough because Jisung fills the silence. 

“I don’t know, I guess I just thought you knew me better than that? Like, I know we just met but I told you about my friend and I don’t think I’ve given you any reason to think I’d hate you for this and… and I just don’t understand why you didn’t trust me with this. Why it had to be this big secret?” Jisung says. 

Minho sighs. His wings fold in behind him as he shrinks in on himself. He doesn’t miss how Jisung’s eyes watch curiously. 

“I really did want to tell you eventually, I just didn’t know how. People aren’t always the biggest fans of fae. It can be scary. The only other person who knows is Felix.” Minho explains. Jisung gets more frustrated with this answer. 

“I get that. I told you about my friend. I’m sure you’ve put together that that’s Jeongin by now. He’s half siren, so why would I hate you for being fae? Is it something I did?” Jisung asks. Minho finally pins that lingering emotion radiating off of Jisung– guilt. He panics.

“No! No. Jisung you haven’t done anything,” Minho begins to explain. His wings ruffle a bit when he gets emotional, and Jisung’s eyes follow them again. Minho quickly tucks them back behind himself, “Sometimes, sirens and fae don’t get along. I don’t feel that way at all, but I had no idea that Jeongin was your friend at that time. I didn’t know if that would complicate things for you.” Minho says. Now, in hindsight, it sounds weird to hear it. Jisung seems eased by the information regardless. 

“Really? I didn’t know that. Jeongin’s never mentioned it, at least,” Jisung says, “But that makes sense. Um, I promise that’s not a problem for either of us, though.” Jisung says. He half laughs at the end, and Minho makes up for the other half. It’s still tense between them, there’s a hurt he’ll have to work on relieving, but they will make it through this. Probably. 

“Are you okay?” Minho asks. He realizes now that Jisung probably had to find a way to get here on short notice and that he was really, really worried for Minho. 

“Me?” Jisung asks in disbelief. Minho nods, “I’m fine… glad you’re okay. I was a little upset that you felt like you had to hide from me, but I think I get it now.” He shifts around in his seat. 

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Minho says. Jisung shakes his head. 

“It’s fine. I’m just glad you’re okay,” Jisung says. He scoots closer to Minho on the couch, “What made you decide to go out on the full moon, though? That doesn’t seem like something you would do.” Jisung asks. Minho laughs and rolls his eyes. 

“Felix. He agreed to go see Jeongin’s show and forgot that we had prior arrangements tonight. He’s too into Jeongin to think straight.” Minho says. Jisung laughs. 

“They’re going to be really annoying when they finally get together. Someone needs to make a move already. A siren and a werewolf are an interesting pair, though.” Jisung says. Minho’s blood goes cold. 

“Wait, how did you know?” Minho says. 

“Jeongin’s had an idea that Felix is a werewolf for a while now. He says any time they make eye contact, Felix’s eyes turn gold. We weren’t certain, but after you said you and Felix had prior arrangements tonight, I figured Jeongin’s probably right. Not to mention Felix went running off after telling Jeongin how amazing his performance was. Jeongin didn’t even get a chance to thank him.” Jisung says. Minho sighs. Fuck. He should have been there to help Felix, and he really needs to watch what he says. Minho sighs and shuts his eyes tight. Chilly hands brush over his, and the couch dips in front of him. 

“Hey, it’s fine. Really,” Jisung says. When Minho opens his eyes, Jisung is right in front of him, “Jeongin isn’t upset and I’m not upset. I think it’s really cool.” Jisung says. 

“Really?” 

“Really. Like, my friend has badass powers and beautiful wings. That’s the coolest thing I can think of.” Jisung affirms. Minho is stopped in his tracks. 

Beautiful? His wings are beautiful? Jisung must now know what fae wings are supposed to look like. He can’t think they’re beautiful when they’re this torn, this scarred, this dull. 

“You… You think they’re beautiful?” Minho asks. His voice is small. He would feel insecure about it if not for Jisung’s sincerity. 

“Are you kidding me? They’re gorgeous, Minho. Have you seen them?” Jisung asks. Minho wants to say yes I’ve seen them and naturally that’s why I’m so confused right now. Minho just blinks at him. Jisung’s eyes look past him at his wings. They’re still crumpled behind Minho, so he’s not sure how much Jisung is even seeing. 

“Is it weird if I ask to see them?” Jisung asks. It’s his turn to look small. Minho’s gut reaction is to say no and bring up the glamour no matter how much it hurts him. But this is Jisung, and Jisung has never given him a reason to doubt him. Maybe it’s time he starts letting people in. He can start with Jisung, at least. 

Minho nods and stands. Jisung follows with wide eyes, and it feels so weird standing before him like this. Jisung’s eyes reflect the light from Minho’s wings back at him, and that’s the first time he’s like the sight of his magic in a long time. He can do this. 

He spreads his wings out as wide as the living room will let him. The dark curtains fill his peripheral vision, and the silvery magic no longer looks so sickly. Jisung gasps in front of him. 

Minho scans his face for any signs of judgement, or disgust, or apprehension. He finds the opposite. Jisung’s circle mouth falls open in awe instead. 

“Wow… Minho, they’re really gorgeous.” Jisung says. His voice is breathy and sincere and it makes Minho feel like he’s floating. He smiles back at Jisung and wordlessly turns to show Jisung the other side.

Facing away from him feels easier. He doesn’t have to watch Jisung look at him like he’s seeing him for the first time. In a way, he is. A fae’s wings reflect so much of their mood, their personality, and their magic. The scarring is a part of Minho too, and now Jisung knows it. 

“Wow…” Jisung says quietly behind him. A second later, cold fingertips trace over the scars. Delicate as ever, careful in a way that makes Minho’s heart hurt, Jisung follows the lines from the edge of his wings towards the base at Minho’s back. His hands may be cold but warmth spreads through Minho’s chest and face. 

“Minho, you’re really beautiful.” Jisung says. Not just his wings, not any part of his body, Minho as a whole. Every part of him, down to his scars. He’s glad he’s facing away from Jisung so he can’t see the way his eyes are welling up. He’s not a crier, really. It’s just the moon. Just Jisung. 

Cold hands find themselves on Minho’s shoulders, and Jisung gently tugs to try to spin him around. Minho doesn’t budge. Jisung can’t see him when he’s like this because of him. 

Instead, the hand shifts the way it wraps around Minho’s shoulder, and he realizes all too late it’s because Jisung is moving to face him. He tries to blink away the tears before Jisung notices, but it just makes them fall. Jisung visibly tenses. 

“What’s wrong? What happened?” he asks so gently. Jisung’s hand slowly rises to brush away the stray tear on Minho’s face. He leans into the touch and smiles against Jisung’s palm. 

“Just, you Jisung. You’re really special, you know that?” Minho says, smiling down so he knows it’s good. Every part of knowing Jisung has been so, so good. Minho reaches down to Jisung’s other hand and holds it properly, since he missed the chance earlier today. He likes him so much it scares him. Jisung hasn’t been in Minho’s life very long, but even in a short time he’s torn down Minho’s walls. He gives Jisung’s hand a squeeze, and Jisung squeezes back with a big toothy grin. Jisung unlaces his cold fingers from Minho’s and holds a closed fist face up between them. When he opens them, a crumpled chrysanthemum rests in his palm. They break into a giggle fit. 

“I think I could get used to this.” Jisung says. He has no idea of the bouquets Minho has in mind, now that he can show Jisung who he is properly. 

“I hope so.” Minho says as he confidently takes a step closer to Jisung. 

Jisung steps closer this time, looking between Minho’s eyes, trying to read the moment. Minho hopes he’s correct about where this is headed. Jisung must find what he’s looking for, because he cups Minho’s cheeks in his hands. Jisung pushes up on his toes, and he’s kissing Minho. 

Jisung kisses him gently but hungrily. Minho gives it right back to him. He can’t remember the last time he wanted someone so bad. His hands wrap around Jisung’s waist and pull him closer. Jisung smiles into the kiss and finds his footing. 

Minho doesn’t realize his wings are wrapping around Jisung until Jisung giggles and breaks the kiss. 

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t realize.” Minho says. They’re both beaming. 

“It’s fine, the magic just tickles. It’s warm.” Jisung says.

“Then what do you say we put on another episode of that anime you like and I warm you up for a while?” Minho says. He’s excited at the idea that maybe he won’t have to take Jisung home at the end of the night. 

“I’d like that.” Jisung says. He curls into Minho’s side. Minho wraps an arm and a wing around him. 

“The catch is I might accidentally make a mini tornado in this apartment in the middle of the night. And you’ll probably have to help me track down my naked roommate running through the woods at some point.” Minho jokes. 

Jisung laughs, “We’ll have to invite Jeongin. Make it a double date, you know?” 

“If that’s what it takes to get them together, then so be it.” Minho jokes back. They sit back on the couch with Jisung wrapped under Minho’s arm and wing. It might be wishful thinking, but Minho thinks his magic glows clearer and reaches his wingtips for the first time since the accident. They do eventually fall asleep like that, and are woken up by a very disheveled Felix crawling back to the apartment in the morning. 

“Morning, Minho. Glad you made it home alright,” Felix says. He doesn’t realize Jisung is even there at first. At some point in the night he was completely covered by Minho’s wing. 

“Sorry about that. Did everything go alright?” Minho asks. Felix shrugs. 

“Fine, I guess. Jeongin probably thinks I’m weird, but he also seemed super happy to see me there.” Felix says groggily. He rubs his eyes and leaves a trail through the dirt caked on his face. 

Jisung stirs from his spot under Minho’s wing and groans. He stretches out and his feet poke out from the end, getting a surprised yelp from Felix.

“Dude, he’s obsessed with you and he already knows anyway. Just talk to him.” Jisung yawns. He turns over and tucks himself more into Minho’s side. He’s back out before Felix can even respond. 

“Wha- What happened? You told him?” Felix says, surprise written all over his face. 

“He sorta found out. It’s okay, really. I’m happy.” Minho says. He can’t help himself from beaming. He can feel his ears turning red. 

“I’ll ask later. I’m really happy for you, though,” Felix says sweetly, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to shower a few dozen layers of dirt off and then go flirt with Jeongin like my life depends on it.” Felix says. He’s halfway down the hall already. 

“Do you need a ride?” Minho calls after him sweetly.

“Please!” Felix yells back. 

“Can I go with you and tease them?” Jisung asks quietly. 

“Obviously.” Minho says. He tugs Jisung in closer to his side. He presses a kiss to the top of Jisung’s head, and thinks of a future where people truly know him and love him anyway. Even if he teases them for being so in love, even if his wings are scarred.