By the time Ryeowook awoke, the air outside had begun to cool and the sun was already slowly disappearing beyond the horizon. When he realized exactly what time it was, he shot into the air, letting out a strangled cry that pulled Jongwoon from sleep as well.

“Mmm…what is it…?” the human murmured groggily, looking around and trying to figure out what had caused his little pixie friend to look so alarmed.

“It’s late!” Ryeowook squeaked out. “I was supposed to be home by now! Jungsoo hyung is going to know that I’ve been here now; we’re all supposed to go back to the house before night falls because the woods can be a dangerous place for a pixie at night. Not all animals exactly like us, you know. I had a run-in with a bat once when I had snuck out to the pond for a bit after my brothers were asleep and it did not end well. My wing was so badly damaged that I couldn’t fly for a month! And don’t get me started on faeries because they’re just obnoxious little creatures and if you accidentally enter their terrain at night, they will hurt you. They’re actually really territorial beings and they come out mostly at night, which, I mean, you wouldn’t expect, but they do, and they really don’t like other things being in their spaces. Except some animals; they have a soft spot for some animals, but those are generally the animals that pixies try to stay away from, so you know why they favor them. Oh no; what if my brothers are out looking for me and Jungsoo sees me flying home from this direction? Because then he’ll know that I was here for sure and he will murder me. I guess I could take the longer way home, but then it really will be dark by the time I get there and he won’t be happy about that either and—”

Jongwoon, who’d watched the other ramble in both amusement and amazement, finally cut him off with a gentle smile. “It’s not even that dark at the moment. I’m sure if you left now you could get home before the sun set all the way. Then you won’t have to deal with animals or faeries or your brothers looking for you.”

Ryeowook blinked once, then smiled gratefully. “You’re right! Okay! I’ll be going then!” he chirped, perching on the windowsill and waiting as patiently as he could as Jongwoon opened the window.

“Will you be back tomorrow?”

Ryeowook shook his head slightly at the question, looking depressed at the thought. “Can’t. If I came every day, Jungsoo hyung would get really suspicious. Either that or I’d slip and let him know where I was going. But I’ll be back in a day or two!”

Jongwoon nodded, waving as the pixie hopped out of the window and spread his wings quickly, riding the slight breeze toward the forest. He heard a soft “bye hyung!” float back through the window and he flopped back on his bed, yawning. He was awfully tired today, so maybe he’d just take another nap before he found a little something to eat…

---

When Ryeowook entered his room, he found Jungsoo pacing back in forth across the space, looking beyond-worried. He immediately bowed, folding his wings against his back quickly.

“I’m so sorry, hyung, I didn’t mean to be so late today.”

The silence in the room nearly suffocated him but suddenly he felt a pair of strong arms around him and heard his hyung’s soft voice in his ear.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought you’d been hurt or eaten or something; I nearly had the others go out looking for you but I was worried they’d get hurt in the process and I couldn’t bear to lose them either and don’t you ever do this again, okay?”

Ryeowook nodded slowly, hugging Jungsoo back almost hesitantly.

“Where were you, Ryeowook?” the older pixie asked after a few minutes, pulling back so he could see his dongsaeng’s face.

The younger immediately tensed up and he bit his lip. “Um, I was over on the other side of the woods. I was, um, looking for a specific herb that would be good in some dishes I wanted to try to make.” He tried to smile, but it ended up as more of a grimace, and he knew that there was no way he was going to get through this visit without telling the truth. He began to wish he’d just stayed with Jongwoon.

Jungsoo frowned slightly, sitting down on the bed and dragging Ryeowook with him. “You can tell me, Wook. You know that. Whatever you’re up to, whatever’s bothering you, you can tell me.”

“Yeah…I know…” Ryeowook’s voice was soft and he stared at his bedspread, drawing various swirls on it with the tip of his finger. When he didn’t elaborate, Jungsoo sighed and stood, getting ready to leave.

“Well, at least you’re safe. That’s all that really matters, right? I’ll go tell the others that you’re fine.” He took a step forward, but stopped when he felt someone pulling on the back of his shirt; he turned around to find Ryeowook looking up at him shyly.

“Hyung…you’re going to be mad at me.”

Jungsoo sat back down, his brow furrowing in confusion. “What?”

“Please don’t hate me, hyung. I never meant for this to happen, honest.”

“I could never hate you, Wook, I promise. You’re practically my blood-brother anyway; I could never hate you. Now, tell me what’s wrong, okay?”

So Ryeowook did. He started at the beginning, back before Jongwoon had even moved in. He told Jungsoo how he and Henry liked to play in the old house by the woods and how, one day, someone had moved into the house. He told him about his conversations with Heechul and how he’d foolishly let himself be seen. He told him about spending time with Jongwoon and how nice of a person he was, how he would never hurt them. When he finally finished, he just sat there, staring at his bedspread, quite honestly convinced by the silence that filled the room that his hyung despised him. He was surprised when he heard a quiet sigh and felt an arm wrap around his shoulders.

“Ryeowook…”

“I’m so sorry, hyung! About everything! I know that you don’t like humans and that you say we should never, ever let them see us and I know I broke that rule and I’m so sorry!” The younger pixie turned, throwing his arms around his hyung and burying his face in his chest, trying to hold back tears.

“Wook…” Jungsoo sighed, rubbing his hand up and down his dongsaeng’s back. “A while ago…before I met you, Sungmin, and Henry…I was actually friends with a human too. He was…sweet and kind and one of the most wonderful people I knew and I thought that nothing could ever go wrong. But one of his friends found out about me and his friend wasn’t so kind. His friend tried to capture me, to sell me off to some scientist so that I could be studied and he could get a mint of money. Youngwoon managed to set me free before that happened, but I’ve never seen him since.” Jungsoo smiled a little, tears in his own eyes. “I’ve never told anyone that, you know. That’s where my distrust of humans comes from. I know what they can do; I’ve experienced it firsthand. But…even worse than that…is getting attached to someone and then never being able to see them again. I just didn’t want that to happen to any of you. I’m your hyung; I’m supposed to protect you from things like that.” He took a deep breath. “But, at the same time, I can’t protect you forever. You know the risks. If you choose to be friends with this human – with Jongwoon – then I honestly won’t stop you. I’ll always be here for you, never forget that. If something happens, then we’ll all move together. Don’t cry, Wook. Everything will be alright.”

Ryeowook clutched his hyung’s t-shirt tightly, just muttering “I’m so sorry” over and over again until, exhausted, he’d drifted off to sleep. Jungsoo gently picked him up, placing him on the bed and pulling the comforter over his frail body. Before he left the room, he turned to look at Ryeowook one last time.

“I just want you to be happy, Wook. If he’s the one who brings you happiness, then I won’t stop you. Just…please…be careful.”

---

When Jongwoon woke up, it was nearly midnight and, though he wasn’t very hungry, he was determined to eat a little bit of something so that he wouldn’t be starved in the morning. Yawning, he slid off the bed, stumbling a bit as he made his way toward the door. He paused at the top of the stairs; his head was spinning and his vision kept blurring randomly, much to his displeasure, making it harder to walk than he would have liked. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed hold of the railing, slowly but surely feeling his way down the stairs, one step at a time. By the time he reached the bottom, he was breathing heavily and he collapsed on the nearest chair, groaning a little.

“Dammit,” he muttered, letting his eyes slip shut.

Looks like he would have to call the doctor after all.

---

Ryeowook spent the next couple of days spending time with his brothers, explaining everything in detail once again when all three of them were present. They all decided that, for now, everything seemed okay and that they would keep a careful watch on Jongwoon; if it seemed like their lives were going to be endangered in any way, then they would leave immediately. Feeling much better and happy to not have to lie anymore to his brothers, Ryeowook made his way back to the house three days later, humming as he swirled through the air.

When he got to the house, however, he found it vacant. He searched every room he could manage to get into – including the attic – but couldn’t find Jongwoon anywhere. He fluttered out to the garden; still no Jongwoon. Then he noticed that the car in the driveway wasn’t there; the human must have gone out for a bit. Sighing, he flopped down on the couch, curling up against a pillow, planning on taking a nap until the human got back.

It wasn’t long before he heard the crunch of gravel as a car pulled up the drive and the jingle to keys as the front door was unlocked. He shot into the air, hovering anxiously above the couch as Jongwoon appeared in his view.

The human didn’t look good.

His skin was paler than it had been and there was no hiding the dark circles under his eyes. He was carrying a small bag of some sort, which he dropped, along with his keys, unceremoniously on the table in the hall. He ran a hand through his unruly black hair, blinking rapidly. After a moment, he turned, intending to fall onto the couch, and saw the small figure floating before him; a smile immediately spread across his face.

“Ryeowook!”

“Hyung, you don’t look so good.” The pixie floated closer to him, and the worry etched into his small features became clearly evident.

“Just a little tired, that’s all. I haven’t really been sleeping well recently.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. He may have been sleeping a lot, but he hadn’t been sleeping well at all. He was almost always either plagued by nightmares or headaches, and sometimes both. “How have you been?”

“Alright, I guess. I told Jungsoo hyung I met you.” Ryeowook followed Jongwoon as he sat down on the couch, perching on the coffee table across from him.

“Ah? I’m assuming he wasn’t as upset as you thought he’d be, considering you’re here.”

“Well…no,” the pixie admitted. “But he still wasn’t entirely happy about it. Where’d you go earlier today?”

“I went into town for a bit. I had to go to the doc—to the grocery store and I had to get a new jacket because mine’s kind of worn out.” Jongwoon found that, for some reason, he didn’t want the younger man to know about his illness. He didn’t want the pixie to worry about him. He wasn’t really anyone worth worrying about, anyway. His parents had made that clear enough for the past twenty five years of his life. Ryeowook accepted the story without a fuss, stretching his wings a little as he leaned back on his palms.

“Well, what do you want to do today?”

Jongwoon didn’t answer immediately; after a second, he glanced down at his friend with pleading eyes. “Ryeowook? I really hate to ask this, but would you mind if I just slept for an hour or so? I’m really exhausted.”

Ryeowook shook his head slowly. “I don’t mind, hyung. You look like you need it.”

“Do you want to come with me? You can sleep in the sunbeam on my bed.”

The pixie giggled at the question, but nodded. “Sure!”

Jongwoon held out his hand; Ryeowook immediately hopped onto his palm, holding onto his thumb tightly when the human stood and began to make his way up the stairs. When they reached the bedroom, Jongwoon nearly collapsed on the bed, asleep almost instantly. Ryeowook curled up in his favorite spot on the comforter, watching his hyung sleep for a minute before closing his eyes as well.

It was only as he was drifting off to sleep that he realized he hadn’t seen Jongwoon bring in any bags.

---

Jongwoon woke to a loud thump from downstairs and he shot out of bed, nearly tripping over his own feet as he hurried to the door. He really didn’t think not locking his doors was going to be a problem out here by the edge of the forest; after all, no one else lived close by and not a lot of people came up to the forest on holiday anymore. He scrambled down the stairs and toward the kitchen. We he got there, it took a second for him to register what was happening but, when it finally clicked, he burst out laughing, pure joy radiating across his face.

Ryeowook had apparently woken up earlier than he had and had made his way down to the kitchen. The pixie had been planning on making some warm soup and cookies for his human friend, but that was proving to be a little difficult because all of the cooking utensils were at least twice as big as he was. The thump Jongwoon had heard must have been the lid of the flour jar falling onto the counter. Ryeowook, however, seemed to have fallen in the jar; his head, completely covered in flour, popped over the edge a second later and he scowled at the human.

“Ryeowook…what are you doing?”

“I was trying to make you something good to eat since you’re a hopeless cook and you looked like you didn’t feel well, but…” he trailed off, the anger on his face fading away to embarrassment. “Cooking with human-sized utensils is a lot harder when you’re only five inches tall.”

Jongwoon just smiled, filling a small bowl with water before placing it on the counter. “Why don’t you rinse yourself off and then I can help you? You can tell me what to do and we’ll make something together, okay?”

Ryeowook nodded, slowly climbing out of the jar (he almost flew, but realized just in time that fluttering his wings would only get flour everywhere and he really didn’t want to mess up Jongwoon’s kitchen more than he already had). He padded over to the bowl, leaning over the edge and dunking his entire head in the water, twisting it around for a second before pulling it out and shaking some of the water from his hair. He giggled a little as he began to wash his arms off before hopping onto the towel that Jongwoon had placed next to the bowl and dusting off the rest of the flour.

“Okay!” he chirped when he was mostly clean. “Let’s get started!”

---

After quite a few mishaps and near-disasters, the pair finally managed to make a presentable pot of soup and only very slightly burnt chocolate chip cookies. Jongwoon carefully carried a bowl of soup, a couple of cookies, and some water to the table and sat down, watching Ryeowook nibble on the edge of a cookie before he began eating himself.

“Sorry I’m not a better cook,” he said, blushing a little.

Ryeowook giggled. “It’s okay! Together we make a pretty good team!” He hopped up from his place, skipping toward the bowl of soup and looking up at Jongwoon expectantly. The human immediately understood what he wanted and held out a spoonful of the soup; Ryeowook leaned forward, sipping a little bit of the broth before smiling at him. “Besides, the soup still tastes delicious!”

Jongwoon grinned. “Hey, I’m going grocery shopping on Friday; want to come? You can help me pick out a bunch of ingredients and we can experiment with some more dishes.”

Ryeowook blinked. “I thought you said you’d gone grocery shopping today.”

The human’s face flushed a slight red when he realized he’d been caught in his lie, but he quickly tried to cover it up. “I-I did, but I didn’t get everything I needed and…”

“Well, I’ll have to talk to Jungsoo hyung about it first,” Ryeowook stated, cutting him off. “I mean, being around you is one thing, but going into town is another. But I’ll ask and see what he says, okay? I do think it’d be fun!”

Jongwoon nodded dumbly.

“I should head back home so I can cook dinner for my own brothers,” Ryeowook giggled, fluttering up to Jongwoon’s eye level and waving slightly. “I’ll see you later, hyung!” He turned, flying through the backdoor and out of sight.

“Bye Ryeowook,” Jongwoon muttered, pushing away the bowl of soup, not feeling like eating anymore. With a sigh, he got started cleaning the kitchen, trying to ignore the wave of fatigue that washed over him.

Eeee, okay, so I had posted this and then it vanished and if it reappears and there are two chapter fives up, then I'll delete this one ^^;;;

love&hugs,

afallingstar