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Wumuti stood in front of their reflection holding a brush loaded with hair dye and wearing their junkiest t-shirt. SHINee blared from the TV in the common room. With bright red smudges on their neck and ears, Wumuti frowned at their phone screen and backspaced exclamation points and emojis while their stress levels slowly elevated.
They had just turned in a huge design project the night before—two whole days early. It was a miracle that they had submitted it that weekend instead of at four in the morning on Monday. Wumuti had slaved away at every stroke and layer of that project for weeks. They had sacrificed sleep, forgotten meals, and on top of everything, kept up with all the planning in their social life.
Their assignments and friends hadn’t suffered, but Wumuti had. So, they decided to celebrate by dyeing their hair the brightest shade of red they could find in a box.
The hope was that it would help them reset and breathe for a morning without distractions, but one Instagram notification derailed that plan. In moments, Wumuti was drafting multiple posts with graphics they had thrown together a week earlier. They fretted over how to write captions that sounded inviting but not desperate or cartoonishly excited, because usually Rui took care of writing the captions.
Speaking of Rui, she was going to kill Wumuti. Once again, they were jumping straight to the next project without so much as taking a breath.
In response to their frustration, a few tiny leaves sprouted in the sink drain, and the hanging pothos by the door angled its leaves towards the mirror.
Wumuti waved them away dismissively.
“It’s fine,” they said, and the plants went still.
They saved the final draft, locked their phone, and set it face down on the counter. Sure, their and Rui’s club wouldn’t advertise itself, and the next meeting was less than a week away, but Wumuti could pause for a bit. Rui was on her way with the fliers, anyway.
Wumuti and Rui had joined the university’s LGBTQ+ club together three years before. It had been a good space for a couple freshmen to settle in while getting used to campus life. There weren’t very many witches like the two of them, though.
Before long, Wumuti started asking questions about what events or spaces existed for queer students with magic. It turns out they had been the first to ask.
Queer kids were obviously in the minority on campus, and only about one in ten children were born witches. Unfortunately, a lot of children with magic weren’t believed when their magic developed. Or other children without magic were afraid enough (or envious enough) to bully them.
Wumuti had known their fair share of bullies. They were a Nature witch and had identified as genderfluid since they were little. It had been life changing to meet Rui as a random roommate and realize early on that she was bigender and gifted at potion magic.
Rui was devious about her talent, too. Once, on a whim, she had mixed a gentle sleeping potion into her and Wumuti’s least favorite professor’s coffee right under his nose. Class ended early, and for the remaining thirty minutes before Wumuti’s next class, the two of them sat in the sunshine on the student center steps instead of under fluorescent classroom lights.
After finding a professor they liked to sponsor their idea for a new club chapter, the two of them worked on creating a space for queer witches within the existing LGBTQ+ club. Their new chapter became officially recognized, and since then, they had been running monthly meetings for almost two years.
A text notification chimed. Wumuti picked up their phone and saw that it was about the meeting next week, but not from the club group chat.
It was Cocona. He said he had met someone interested in joining. A spark of excitement lit in Wumuti’s chest. This would be the first prospective member this school year, and Wumuti loved getting to spoil new members. They especially loved getting to introduce freshmen to the group, and Cocona was an RA at the freshman dorm.
Wumuti typed back a couple excited messages asking for more information. Just then, they heard the front door open. Their roommate was finally back.
“Muti!” cried Rui. She launched herself across the dorm until she was panting in the doorframe of their shared bathroom.
Her shoulder-length black hair was styled in a neat braid, and she wore one of her more charming sweaters with a flared skirt. She had paid special attention to her makeup that morning. For library visits, she usually loved to add little gemstones at the corner of her eyes. Sometimes she stuck to eyeliner and a bit of contour on days she felt more masc, though.
Rui was so breathless that Wumuti would have thought she had witnessed something unbelievable outside. But she was smiling, and she had the same lovesick look in her eyes that she always did after coming back from the university library.
“You’ll be proud of me!”
Wumuti raised their eyebrows. “Hot librarian?”
“Hot librarian,” she repeated, nodding.
At the start of the year, Rui had developed an instant crush on the new person working the library desk. Most visits, she only accomplished making eye contact. She already had a constantly rotating stack of borrowed books on the coffee table in the dorm and had read maybe two of them.
“Did you finally get their number?” Wumuti asked, turning to her.
Rui paused, then winced and hid her face against the doorframe. “No! I completely forgot!” she groaned.
“Then what happened?” Wumuti laughed.
“They said they liked my makeup, then I said I liked theirs, then they asked what my name was, and then I asked for theirs.”
Wumuti waited for the name. Rui just beamed at them.
“…And?”
“Then I left because I was nervous. They’re so tall.”
“What’s their name, darling?”
“Oh! They go by Hyun,” she answered dreamily. “Do you really think I should invite them to the meeting next week?”
“Of course! Why not?”
Wumuti had never seen Hyun but knew that they were a Cosmic witch because they always wore a couple magic-related pins with constellations in them on their jacket. It was one of the first things Rui had noticed and reported back to Wumuti.
Another text chimed. Wumuti quickly checked it and smiled.
“Who’s that?” asked Rui.
“Someone new is coming next week. His name is Haru.”
“That’s so exciting!” said Rui, clasping her hands together. “What’s he like?”
“Apparently, they’re a Psychic witch. An Empath. They’ve had a hard time settling in since move-in day.”
Rui frowned. “Ugh. Imagine moving into a dorm and starting classes when you can sense what everyone around you is feeling all the time! I’m overwhelmed just thinking about it…”
“Well, hopefully we can be a calm, safe space next week for—”
“Oh no…” said Rui, suddenly looking worried.
“What?”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to be calm if Hyun is there.”
Wumuti suppressed a laugh. They rubbed Rui’s shoulder comfortingly. “Rui, honey, nobody’s going to be bothered if you’re a little nervous around your crush. Invite them! The more the merrier!”
Rui’s face brightened, then she eyed Wumuti’s partially dyed head.
“Do you want help with the back?”
Wumuti readily handed her the brush and the little bowl of dye on the counter. Rui had a precise touch when it came to hair color. Maybe it had to do with her talent with all kinds of potions and elixirs.
“Can you add a little something to make the color hold longer?” asked Wumuti.
Rui’s reflection in the mirror gave a look like she was already scheming.
“I’ve got you. You’ll get your money’s worth from this horrible box dye.”
Wumuti grinned, relaxed their shoulders, and let their roommate work her magic.
On Thursday, Wumuti ran her fingers through her hair—which was miraculously glossy and still as red as if it had been dyed that morning—and decided she would leave it down for the meeting. She walked out of her room and joined Rui in gathering everything they needed.
That morning, she and Rui had packed the flyers, a plastic table cloth, snacks (including chips, muffins Rui had made, and some instant coffee packets), fidget toys in pride colors Wumuti found on sale (people love free trinkets), and a couple board games.
At the door and ready to leave was Rui. He wore his favorite pair of jeans and a loose-fitting band t-shirt. He was clutching a plastic pitcher of bright pink lemonade close to his chest.
“I want you to know I had the thought that I could mix a love potion into the lemonade, but I didn’t,” he said seriously.
Wumuti narrowed her eyes at him. Rui had invited Hyun to the club meeting the next time he saw them. As a result, he had been narrowly close to spiraling over meeting them in a setting outside the library.
Rui had come a long way on his impulsiveness with potions, but Wumuti just wanted to make sure.
“You didn’t?” she clarified.
“I didn’t! Of course not.”
“I’m proud of you,” she said earnestly. “Besides, if Hyun isn’t interested in you at least a little by now, a relationship with them probably isn’t worth pursuing.”
Rui let out a wistful sigh as he packed up the lemonade. “Yeah, I guess…”
It was the sort of rainy day that threatened storms all day with rolling, dark, blanket-like clouds. It had rained a little off and on, and Wumuti hoped beyond hope that the weather wouldn’t get any worse. She tapped the weather app on her phone to check how bad it would get closer to sunset.
Over her shoulder, Rui gasped.
“Thunderstorms? Muti—”
Rui was holding a box of items to set up at the meeting and opening the door at the same time. They were on the way out. Wumuti chewed on her bottom lip worriedly.
A few leaves fell from overhead, one of which brushed Wumuti’s nose and startled her. They both looked up, and a crooked vine had grown from the ceiling and hung over their heads.
“Muti, are you okay?” asked Rui.
“It’ll be fine. The forecast doesn’t look too bad,” said Wumuti. She gave Rui a forced smile and threw her backpack full of fliers and other odds and ends over her shoulder.
Thankfully, Rui didn’t push. He only eyed the pesky plant on the ceiling warily, then followed Wumuti out the door.
The lobby was empty when they walked inside. Wumuti scanned the furniture in the room.
“Where do we find that table…”
They had been promised a long folding table by the RA Rui had talked to last week. He had double checked that she could be there to help them find one and set it up before anyone arrived.
Rui set down his box and started texting, his nails clicking away on his phone.
A moment later, his jaw dropped. “She’s out of town!”
“What do you mean?” said Wumuti.
“She says she forgot! But the storage closet is sometimes left unlocked.”
Wumuti searched the lobby and the short hallways on either side until she found the closet. She heard Rui come up behind her. When she tried the handle, it didn’t budge.
“Did she say who—”
“She has the only key,” said Rui, staring glumly down at his phone.
Wumuti let out a quick sigh. “Well, I guess we should see if there’s a spare table in the student center. Or the engineering building, maybe…that’s a bit closer.”
The engineering building was a ten-minute walk. Rui was biting one of his nails and looking crestfallen.
Out of the corner of her eye, Wumuti saw green sprout from the baseboards by the storage closet. The little plant grew toward Wumuti, its tiny leaves reaching out to her.
Wumuti ignored it.
Rui huffed. “I made sure she was free today. I can’t believe…”
Wumuti was quick to pat his arm soothingly.
“It’s not your fault, darling. Come on, let’s find a backup.”
As Wumuti approached the doors, the light from the lobby windows dimmed. The threat of rain looked inevitable then. And sure enough, angry clouds covered campus, and sheets of rain began pouring down. A loud clap of thunder shook the building, and lightning flashed.
Wumuti’s heart sank. If it was just rain, she and Rui might have still made the trek. But with the thunder and lightning sounding so close, there was no way it was safe for her and Rui to venture outside.
Her phone chimed, then so did Rui’s. Then the texts kept coming. They shared a defeated look and checked the group chat.
Wooyoung
Are we still meeting?
🥺
Lily
i hate storms :((
Cocona
thunder and lightning’s not supposed to stop for another hour, ugh
Wumuti sighed and reluctantly typed out a reply.
We’ll reschedule for next week! Everyone stay safe and dry ❤️
Felix
awww but i made snackssssss and i miss everyone
Soyeon 🦁
Miss you guys 😭
Lily
did u make brownies??!?!??
[Lily loved Soyeon🦁’s message]
Felix
maybe😈
[Felix loved Soyeon🦁’s message]
Lily
istg as soon as the storm is over i’m climbing thru your window
Wumuti smiled sadly at her phone and felt heavy disappointment in her chest. They couldn’t ask their friends to walk through a torrential downpour and thunder.
Instead, they would need to regroup for next week…get feedback on who was free and when. Then plan a meet up with the RA again to get the table out of storage. Wumuti felt her pulse quicken with anxiety. Then she glanced down and saw Rui’s text come through.
Ruiiii🌷
We’ll still see each other soon! I’ll send a poll tomorrow about times everybody’s available!!
Wumuti looked up and gave him a thankful smile.
She felt the strange sensation of something tightening around her ankle and looked down. There was an annoying little vine curling around her. She pressed her lips into a thin line and kicked it away.
Just then, even as the rain beat down on the windows, the lobby door opened and someone stepped inside. Wumuti jumped.
She noticed a few things about this person right away. First, they were completely drenched. Clearly, they hadn’t anticipated the downpour either and walked outside without a raincoat or an umbrella. They were also about six feet tall. And incredibly good looking.
Wumuti was sure she had heard someone describe that height and those cheekbones before.
Sure enough, Rui audibly gasped.
Hyun waved at them. “Am I too early?”
As Rui stammered out a ‘hello’ and went up to greet them, Wumuti tried to ignore the thought that this was going to be a very sad first impression of the club for Hyun.
“It’s awful out there! Are you okay?” Rui was saying.
Hyun shook some of the rain out of their hair and took off their glasses, which had water clinging to them.
“I’m alright. It started coming down on my way over.” Then they glanced at Rui and smiled. “Hi.”
Wumuti could see Rui start to somehow melt and freeze up at the same time, so she stepped in.
“You must be Hyun! I’m Wumuti, Rui’s roommate.”
Hyun’s expression brightened. “You’re who Rui started the club with, right? I think it’s amazing what you guys are doing!”
Wumuti beamed. Hyun seemed to be just as charismatic and nice as Rui had said they were. What’s more, they kept stealing glances at Rui. Maybe her roommate’s crush wasn’t so one-sided.
“Thanks for coming. I’m sorry we got rained out. Unfortunately, we had to cancel last minute so it’ll just be us—”
The doors opened again, splashing rain on the ground and letting in someone else. They were much smaller than Hyun, though, and wore a bright yellow rain jacket that practically swallowed them whole. The hood was so big that they fought to toss it completely off their head.
He was young and had a gentle playfulness in his eyes. Wumuti decided this had to be Haru. To her knowledge, they were the only other person besides Hyun who had been invited and wasn’t part of the group chat yet.
“Hey,” said Haru shyly, “is this the queer witches club?”
Wumuti put on a brave, inviting smile. “Yep, you’re in the right place.”
She introduced herself, Rui, and Hyun.
Rui piped up, “Cocona and the others would be here too, but we figured it would be safer to reschedule for next week with all the heavy rain and lightning.”
Haru’s phone vibrated in his coat pocket. He pulled it free.
“Oh,” they said eventually, “Cocona just let me know.”
A deafening clap of thunder boomed overhead and made Wumuti flinch. The lobby looked drab and a little eerie when it was dark outside. Lightning flashed again, and Wumuti felt a spike of anxiety.
She looked around at the four of them and at her unpacked backpack of supplies. They had two potential new members who were stuck in a dorm lobby at a poorly planned club meeting with record low attendance. And no table. Wumuti was trying not to spiral into her disappointment over the whole situation.
When the next clap of thunder came, the lights in the lobby went out. Hyun let out a gasp, and Rui shuffled a little closer to Wumuti in the dark. For a moment, Wumuti couldn’t see anything as her eyes adjusted to the low light. But she didn’t mind the darkness as much as she minded how much of a disaster the meeting had ended up being.
Maybe she really should have gotten a bit more rest before throwing herself into planning again, because she felt a surprising amount of control over her mood slipping away. Her throat started to feel tight. She bit the inside of her cheek to get ahead of any tears that might spring to her eyes at any second.
Then, she heard the rustle of Haru’s jacket, and she felt a presence at her elbow. A hand slipped into her own, and at first, Wumuti thought Haru must be scared. But as they squeezed her hand and their easy, quiet presence calmed her a little, Wumuti remembered that he was an Empath. Haru was comforting her, not the other way around. They had felt Wumuti’s stress and followed their instincts to reassure her even though she was a stranger.
She really felt close to tears, now. Though it was because she was grateful and no longer because she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
For a few moments after the lights went out, things were quiet and tense. Then, suddenly there were pinpricks of light in front of Hyun. They looked like fireflies or maybe stars. Tiny, dazzling stars that slowly floated between the four of them. They sprang from Hyun’s hands in white, pale blue, burning orange, and gold.
Hyun was whispering so quietly that Wumuti couldn’t hear them, but she knew it must be a Cosmic witch’s spell. It sent the stars up to the ceiling, where they cast a gentle glow over the whole lobby.
Wumuti realized she was smiling when she saw that Rui was, too.
“They’re so pretty,” Rui said in awe.
Hyun wore a proud grin and pushed their glasses up their nose.
The change in the lobby was lovely enough that Wumuti almost forgot her earlier mood.
Haru let go of Wumuti's hand and started rifling through his bag. He pulled out a small box made of thin cardboard.
“I brought cookies,” he said shyly. He held it up to inspect the bottom and the sides. “Might be a little damp from outside…”
With a twinkle in their eyes, they held the cookies out to Wumuti and gave her an encouraging nod.
They still had no place to set their things down. However, Rui decided that didn’t matter and unfolded the tablecloth neatly on the floor. Once it was spread out, he gathered some plastic cups, the coffee, the lemonade, and the homemade muffins and sat down.
He looked up at Wumuti and patted the space next to him for her to join.
Hyun sat down across from Rui, watching him intently.
“Did you make these?” they asked.
Rui nodded shyly. “If you like them, I can send you the recipe. If you want.”
“Sure. Do you want my number?”
Rui reached for his phone so fast he almost dropped it.
Haru was glancing between them, looking thoroughly entertained. He locked eyes with Wumuti and gave her a knowing look.
Wumuti hid a grin behind her hand and felt a bit more of the tension in her shoulders fall away.
As Hyun finished typing their name and number into Rui’s phone, Haru looked at the little stars all around them and hummed thoughtfully.
“Something’s missing…” they said.
They took out their phone again and placed it in the center of the tablecloth. In a moment, they pulled up a showtunes playlist.
Wumuti noticed several songs from Wicked, The Greatest Showman, and SIX were on shuffle. She thought Cocona had said something about Haru majoring in music or theater.
“Are you thinking of joining any shows this year?” she asked.
Haru lit up at the question. “Yeah! At least I hope I can.”
Rui handed him a muffin. “I was thinking about auditioning with one of my dance major friends, too! Maybe we can all go together.”
Lightning flashed outside, but Wumuti felt herself beginning to unwind as she took a bite of one of Haru’s cookies. They were snickerdoodles. Cinnamon and sugar melted on her tongue.
Hyun was talking about how they had done some theater in high school, and Rui asked what they studied.
Yet again, Wumuti felt a stray vine coil around her wrist where her hand was propping her up. This time, she wasn’t annoyed, though. In fact, she had an idea and eyed the edges of the ceiling and corners of the room, where Hyun’s stars collected and sparkled the brightest.
With a wave of her hand, she threw her own dashes of color up on the walls. Flowers sprang from the corners and hung from the light fixture at the center of the lobby. Vines quickly crept down the walls.
She was partial to roses and knew her own and Rui’s favorite colors, so the room was peppered with mostly pink and red blooms. It was a relief to let out some of her magic and make something beautiful without stressing about it.
“Wow,” said Haru, who craned their neck to stare at the flowers in awe while they held a cup of pink lemonade in both hands. Then he looked around at their little group in amazement. “This club is awesome.”
Rui reached over and squeezed Wumuti’s hand.