Magical Mishaps & Found Families

SUMMARY:

Minho doesn't mind being a ghost so much as just being invisible... or the stupid reactions people have when they see him.

Then he meets Chan who's pleasantly crazy. Everything's fine until they celebrate the anniversary of their first meeting-

They discover two new ghosts in the same laundromat where they met and realize there's a suspicious pattern. Immediately they set to get to the bottom of it.

31 Days of Halloween (Stray Kids): October 2023

Story Twenty-Four:

Magical Mishaps & Found Families

The laundromat had a few people in it.
Minho sighed. He'd tried drawing attention to himself in a positive way for years. As a ghost who was invisible to most people, and sometimes visible to people who were A) Convinced he was a demon trying to trick them- Paranoid- and B) Just straight up afraid, having never realized they could see ghosts before... He had a reason to be down. So naturally when he met eyes with someone he looked away. He'd continue being comforted by the vibrations of the two giant washers he was on.
"Are you okay," the accented voice said... in English.
Hold the phone. His eyes popped open and he turned to face them. They didn't flinch which he wouldn't allow to be a balm to his nerves. "Have I accidentally wandered to another country again?"
The guy was watching the dryer under his top half. "Depends. Are you supposed to be in Korea?"
"I am."
"Then you're safe." He didn't seem to mind that there were other people there. They weren't in his eyesight, but still.
"Are you crazy?"
He honest to God giggled. "Maybe a little. I'm a witch. A ghost is the least scary thing I've seen in my life. Plus I lit my tablecloth on fire for my fifth birthday party." His eyes flicked up to meet his. "If that helps."
"Was it done maliciously?"
"I was... five?"
"So yes and no. Comforting."
"Thank... you?"
"You're welcome."
There's a saying about people being able to comfortably spend time in silence together, which after Minho laid back down, is exactly what they did.
Then he wandered over to help him fold his laundry.

Witches physically aged to thirty and stopped, which if Minho remembered correctly, meant that they'd met when Chan or Chris (apparently, his real name) had been twenty-six, so five years had passed.
"What are you thinking so hard about over there," Chris asked him in passing.
They had moved together back to Chris's home country. Australia, and were having breakfast. Well, Chris was. Minho had been doing inventory on their tea stock when he'd remembered. The anniversary of our first time meeting is coming up soon." He snapped his fingers and his translucency solidified and he took a deep breath. Air filling his lungs was a wonderful sensation. Chan figured out that he was a cursed Familiar and not a dead human. He still didn't have his past memories, but he could do this. He kissed him.
"Do you want to celebrate?"
"Do you," he demanded.
He giggled like the lunatic that he was. "I would celebrate every day if it meant we'd be together."
"Ew, gross. I love you." He kissed him again.

They celebrated by going back to Korea and having a date in the laundromat where they'd met.
"Yah," they heard yelled. A trashcan flew across the room.
Minho smirked and sat up straighter in his seat. "My not-ghost senses are prickling."
A human, looking spooked ran out of the laundromat, the door tinkling shut behind him.
Chan finished his glass of wine and stood up. "Shall we?"
"We shall." Minho to his offered arm and the bottle of wine. "Lead the way."
They found a crying ghost hiding under one of the folding tables- Felix- and a bulky, short, and angry ghost ranting about stupid humans- Changbin.
"We're not ghosts," Felix said and sniffled. "I'm a witch and he's my Famiiar. I don't understand how we got this way."
Chan practically vibrated with how cute he was and if he could touch him, Felix probably would've allowed himself to be squeezed to within an inch of his life. And not because could only just go through stuff right now. He kept reaching out to all of them for comfort before realizing he couldn't make contact when he went through everyone but Changbin.

"So you think someone is doing this to magic users and Familiars... or one or the other just keeps getting caught in the crossfire?" Changbin had his muscly arms crossed and was intent on getting to the bottom of this. Especially when he'd learned the same thing had happened to Minho.
"I don't know," Chan said.
"Yes, no. Either, or," Minho said. He snapped and became translucent. "This... is still here... even though I can solidify, so it's something to go on. Spell, phantasm, or some kind of ghostie spell. It pisses me off."
Felix floated over with his head down and shoulders hunched.
Minho eyes him suspiciously. When he realized what he wanted he sighed. "Yes. You can hug me."
He perked up. "Yay." He latched on to him like the leech he knew he'd be. "This feels so nice."
Minho couldn't help but blush at the cuteness. "You're welcome, Lixie. We'll get two solid, then we'll get to the bottom of this."

Since becoming solid, Felix had been latched on to Chris for a solid three hours and Changbin had eaten, worked out, and read through two spell books. Now they were plotting their next steps.
"It's weird how we all ended up in the same laundromat," Felix mumbled. He was half asleep on Chris's chest.
Chris, who was rocking him like a baby, said, "It's also weird how we're both from Australia."
"So is the person here in Korea or there in Australia," Changbin wondered angrily.
"Why would they be in Australia," Minho demanded.
"Because..." he gestured to Chris and Felix.
"But the laundromat is in Korea and there's also me and you, which are one hundred percent Korean." He scratched his cheek. "At least... I'm one hundred percent. Are you?"
"Yeah."
"Fine then."
"Guys," Chan said. "Can't we get along? We're on the same side."
Changbin said, "Whatever. I'm going for a walk."

They do work it out.
They do discover that the nephew of the laundromat's owner, Jeongin, is a witch, which is a rarity in his family. With magic that's activated with creativity, even doing his homework has the potential to become a magical misadventure.
Minho, Felix, and Changbin had become ghostified when he had read a comic book with ghosts and then drew pictures of random people while bored. His imagination and magic had combined the two and bam: Ghostified witches and Familiars. The fact that it only happened to magical beings had been a sign that it was fiction story related. Felix's friend Jisung had recognized the theme and pointed them in the right direction.

As for Minho's memories...

Jeongin took a deep breath before he began reading the spell. He'd trained with Crhis for a year before he'd even considered attempting this.
Minho shivered as the spell took effect.
They waited expectantly as he blinked a few times.
"Well," Changbin said impatiently.
"Binnie," Chris hissed.
He looked a little apologetic.
Minho swallowed... and swallowed again. "I have a mom and a dad and..." His eyes widened. "Children."
"Children?" Chris squeaked.

The children were Sooni, Doongi, and Doori, his cats. Since he's a cat Familiar they are even more like his children than a boring human could claim.
His parents are overjoyed to be reunited and Chris is relieved that there are no actual children involved.
They don't know why only he'd lost his memories and no one cared.
It was all resolved and because Jeongin was now trained, it wouldn't be happening again.
Jeongin would be joining them in two years when he turned twenty. They'd still visit.
For now, they basked in the sun, minded their own business, and grew as a found family.
They couldn't be happier.

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Thank you for reading,

Demitria_Teague (Author ;)

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