CH. 5 Fairy Godmother and Myung Kitty

    For the next week, Sungjong repeatedly asked the mirror to show him the handsomest of the land. This perfect being has captured Sungjong’s heart, and the little fairy became utterly obsessed at this strange creature. Sungjong wanted Myungsoo for himself. He wanted him bad. If Sungjong didn’t get the title of being prettiest of the land, heck, he couldn’t even be the prettiest of the house, then Sungjong wanted the next best available option. He was determined to claim Myungsoo as his own to make up for his own pitiful void.

    Sungjong kept a close eye on Myungsoo. He watched the vampire from a far almost constantly everyday.

    “Aiish...what is he doing at this tree again? Why is he in the tree? Is this all that he does with his life?” Sungjong crept from across the streets of Sungyeol’s house. The mirror had shown where Myungsoo was.

    Sungjong saw Myungsoo perched on a large tree branch like a cat. And for as long as Sungjong was watching the dark figure, all Myungsoo did was look into the window of the house next to the tree. Sungjong saw nothing special about the window but that was what Myungsoo did all night. Every night. Perhaps...might Myungsoo be one of those boys Sungjong’s umma warned him about? You know, the ones who have a nice face, but they might be a little cuckoo? Nah, it couldn’t be that. The dark haired boy would sit for hours sighing breathlessly every few minutes and smile sheepishly to himself as he watch something inside the window. The more Sungjong watched him, the more his curiosity grew about the what made the boy sigh so hopelessly.
    Just then, Sungjong saw the light in the window turn on. Myungsoo did something that amazed the fairy that was watching him. The vampire teenager hissed and immediately shifted into the form of a cat, to which he continued to watch whatever that was in the window while flicking his tail in amusement. Sungjong was amazed as his eyes widened at the sight. He has to have Myungsoo. At that, he started moving closer and closer to the house and soon enough, the fairy found himself at a short distance directly behind the tree, staring at the cat’s backside. What was so interesting about this freaking window? The cat waved its tail more enthusiastically.

    At the cat’s change in response, Sungjong looked into the window and saw another figure looking out of it. His face was solemn, but he gave a slight smile as he looked at the cat on the branch.

    SUNG. YEOL. SUNG. FREAKING. YEOL. NO. No. noo. “This can’t be…” Sungjong thought to himself. That’s….he’s...the fairest of the land! It was Sungyeol, the fairest of the land! But wait, Myungsoo, just what is he doing here? Is this why he’s here all night and every night? WHY, just why are the good things in life so hard to get? Sungjong let out a gasp, then a bitter scoff accompanied by an astonished and appalled expression. His mouth hung open, lips curled in disgust. Why? Why Sungyeol, why can’t it be him? What does Myungsoo see in Sungyeol?! Life simply isn’t fair. Myungsoo belonged to Sungjong. He claimed him first, in the magical mirror. Sungyeol can’t have him. Just. No. With that, Sungjong’s blood boiled and he came up with a plan to win Myungsoo.

    “Hello? Is this Mr. Howon’s rat exterminating business?” Sungyeol said on the phone. There have been some kind of rodent problems happening in his house.

    Tiger hunting has been really bleak and just wasn’t cutting it for Hoya. He recently took up a similar job and moved to his own place down the hill not far from Gyu’s house to be closer to Dongwoo.  

    “Yes, yes, yes! This is Howon, how may I help you?” the voice on the other line seemed rather forced.

    “Hi, yeah, I think I have some rats in the attic because I keep hearing pat-pat-pat sounds on the roof. Can you come over and check it out?”

    “Sure! Can I please have your address?”

Sungyeol gave Hoya his address and appointment time. Hoya found that Sungyeol coincidentally lived right next door.

    “Oh that’s right next door!” Hoya exclaimed.

    “Ahjusshi? You’re the ahjusshi that just moved in?” Sungyeol spouted.

    “Heh...yeah….”

Hoya came over with his tools and traps the next evening and took care of what was needed to be taken care of. Sungyeol led him into his bedroom. “Here, this is where I hear the most noise. I think the rats might be running through the gutters and and getting into the house that way or something.”

The exterminator walked towards the window to do his inspection. The sun was quickly setting outside, so he had to do it fast.

    Myungsoo of course, woke up early to go to the tree, only tonight, he saw a strange silhouette in the window, a shorter and stockier shadow that was unlike Yeol’s slimmer figure. Curious, he decided to change into his cat form before darting up the tree and peering inside the window. Hoya ahjusshi?!?!!

    “EGUMONINA!” Hoya stumbled backwards as a black cat jumped onto the window sill and hissed at him before jumping off and back to the tree branch again.

Reflexively, Yeol asked, “Are you okay?!” and went over to the window to shut it in Myungsoo’s face. The latter was appalled and puffed his chest in anger.

Hoya assured that he was fine and was just a little surprised. He also said that there seemed to be nothing wrong with the gutters and didn’t see any signs of rats. It might just be that the wind was shaking them.

“Well, that’s it. It’s kind of abrupt that we have to meet as neighbors in this situation.” Hoya took his leave.

“No, no, that’s fine, we’ll do with the formal introductions later,” Sungyeol smiled cutely staring up at the handsome older man.

The rat hunter turn to make his leave but the young boy stops him abruptly.  

"Ah...ahjusshi wait, if it's not any trouble can we have dinner sometime? I mostly stay home alone...so some company would be nice." Sungyeol smiled softly, his beautiful radiance shining through as he held onto the Ahjusshi’s muscular arms.

"Oh... um.. sure hehe..." Hoya replies awkwardly feeling a bit sorry for the boy. Surely this boy was the fairest of them all, but in his heart he only had Dongwoo, and no Hoya didn't want to go on headlines as the Pedojusshi of the village (that’s reserved for Gyu). Sympathetically the older man patted Sungyeol on the head gently but awkwardly like he usually did to Myungsoo when the boy was being pitiful.

Meanwhile, Myungsoo was still watching from the branch in seething jealousy, his tail impatiently twitching at the tip, his eyes narrowed into thin slits. Hoya ahjusshi better stay away from Yeollie. How could Sungyeol shut the window on him like that?

Little did the three know that another someone was watching the whole scene unfold in a secluded corner of Sungyeol’s back yard. Sungjong waited the night with Myungsoo. After the cat left at dawn, Sungjong flew into Yeol’s window and perched himself beside the sleeping form and sneered down at him. “You smelly little rat. Not even pretty. NO one can be as pretty as me. Umma said so.” Sungyeol began to wake up and Sungjong didn’t move from his position.

Upon opening his eyes, they widened immediately at the stranger towering over his bed, but before Yeol could say anything, Sungjong let out a bright, cheery smile and chirped, “Hellooo! I am your fairy godmother, Sungjongiee!” He let out the cutest sounding giggle he could muster up. Yeol didn’t say anything, that is, Sungjong didn’t give him a chance to say anything.

“Honey, it’s that time in your life where I’m here to help you! Look at how much my baby has grown up, so handsome, so pretty, so fair.” He emphasized the word “fair”.

“Uh,” Sungyeol uttered and raised up a finger before getting cut off again.

“Look what I brought for you! Hoya Ahjusshi was waiting outside your doorstep this morning to give you this! But sleepyhead here couldn’t wake up early and ignored the doorbell…” Sungjong bonked Sungyeol’s head hard with his wand. “So I came and told Hoya Ahjusshi that I’ll take it to you! Here!” He shoved the package into Yeol’s lap.

"Wow... this is for me? F..from Hoya Ahjusshi?" Sungyeol blushed, cheeks turning rosey pink making him look even more adorable than usual.

“Toodleloo!” Sungjong struggled to climb out of the window before gracefully flying down to the ground again. He turned and started for home, his arms crossed as he walked sassily, swaying his hips with each step. He has long lost his bright smile; it was instead replaced with a bitter frown. “.” he muttered under his breath before continuing out of Sungyeol’s yard.”

           Sungyeol hastily but carefully unwrapped the package that was labeled “From: Hoya” written in purple letters with a curly font  with his long fingers. His heart beating wildly as he questioned what it could be that Hoya Ahjusshi had to go out of his way to to give him. As he opened the package, a strong odor started to fill his room.

    “Garlic-extract Hair Conditioning Mask,” the package read. On the back, it continued, “made from pure garlic extract to fortify hair with multiple vitamins and minerals. Directions: Lather cream into hair after shampooing. Leave in hair overnight. Do not rinse. Guaranteed to make your hair ten times softer and ier.”

    “Ohhh, so it’s a leave in conditioner.” Yeol was happy.

Myungsoo was pissed. After that incident, he went straight home, not even bothering to greet Woohyun in the kitchen when his mother offered him his favorite bat-blood juice box. And he never, ever said no to bat-blood juice boxes. He darted straight for his coffin, slamming the lid shut and curled up inside to brood about the night’s events. He didn’t visit Yeol the following night. That was how mad he was.

Of course, Myungsoo couldn’t stay mad for long. It was two nights after the incident and the sun had already set for a while now. Gyu was already long off to town. He was still holding a grudge about the other other night, but by now, he couldn’t bear to not see Yeol. It hurts him too much already not seeing his beautiful Yeolie for that long. He couldn’t keep up with this strike for any longer, so he set out to his nightly routine again.

           Arriving at the tree, he scaled up the trunk and took his usual seat on his special tree branch. That’s strange. Yeol wasn’t in his room. Could it be? His blood boiled. Hoya Ahjusshi?

No. It wasn’t. The window next to Sungyeol’s room lit up instead and he saw Sungyeol’s slim figure. He decided to move closer, only, he couldn’t watch from the safety of his tree anymore. He had to jump on the window sill in order to get close enough to the bathroom window just to see anything.

            Sungyeol returned to his room and pulled open his top drawer, the drawer that Myungsoo knew too well. The graceful boy pulled out a pink designer brand underwear and some owl pattern pjs. Sungyeol made his way to the bathroom.

             Myungsoo knew he shouldn’t do this, but he just couldn’t help it. He’s never been this close to Sungyeol before and his blood was absolutely intoxicating. After morally debating with himself, he decided it was fine to just stay in his cat form to not scare Sungyeol. And maybe, just maybe if he were lucky enough, Sungyeol would pet him! He grinned and a fuzzy warm feeling burst in his heart. Myungsoo internally giggled to himself believing that this was a good idea afterall, and he questioned why he didn't do this sooner. He was desperate to be closer to Sungyeol.  

    As Sungyeol started the shower, Myungsoo hopped onto the narrow open window and meowed. He caught Sungyeol’s attentioned and the latter turned and smiled at him!

             "Oh a kitty!" Sungyeol called out in surprise while the ruby eyed cat stared at him admiringly.

             “He smiled at me!!!!!!1111!!,” Myungsoo was beyond ecstatic. Sungyeol smiled at him! Senpai noticed him! After that, Sungyeol gave him a pat on the head.

    “Hey there buddy. Well aren't you precious?”

            Myungsoo’s heart was overjoyed and he melted into a puddle of cat-goo on the window’s ledge. He purred with a sly, fox-like erted grin on his face as he anticipated what was about to unfold next.

Meanwhile, Sungyeol wet his hair and shampooed it.

“Ughh, the smell of his shampoo…” Myungsoo was intoxicated as if he were on catnip.

Next, he rinsed his hair and picked up the round container of the Garlic hair mask.

Myungsoo gagged and put his paws over his nose. Oh shoot. Garlic. The smell was utterly horrible. It stung Myungsoo’s nose, but he held it in as much as he could just to enjoy this precious moment with Sungyeol.

    Sungyeol lathered his hair with the garlic hair mask before picking up a loofa stick and working soap onto his body. Oh goodness. Myungsoo’s nose began to get wet as little droplets of blood fell towards his paws. Myungsoo could barely watch, both out of an overwhelming feeling of excitement and the fact that he could barely see through the tears that were forming in his eyes. That was it. Even if his mind told him he could endure it, his body just couldn’t take it anymore. Myungsoo toppled off the window sill and fell into the bathtub in human (vampire) form. Flesh meets flesh as tangled limbs fumbles in chaos. Myungsoo was in utter panic waving his arms wildly as he fell on top of Sungyeol. He looked down at Sungyeol only to feel  his nose becoming wet and felt drops of liquid coming from it.

In his state of extreme panic, Sungyeol threw everything he could reach at Myungsoo. He whacked him with his loofa repeatedly, threw a bar of soap at his head. The last thing to throw was the garlic hair mask and that’s exactly what he did. He pelted the container at Myungsoo and turned his back to retreat to the furthest corner, facing a wall to hide the front of his body. Myungsoo dodged it and it hit the wall behind him, but in the time that the container was in the air, its contents splashed and sprayed everywhere, hitting Myungsoo right in the eyes. It was time for Myungsoo to scream now and he let out a loud, high pitched cry. The smell of garlic mixed with the steam caused the odor to become stronger, and Myungsoo’s eyes burned with the heat of being burned at the stake as he lost his balance on the slippery floor and reached out to find something to grab onto. He felt his hand briefly slapping and gripping onto something soft before it slipped and he landed face first on the bathtub floor.

           "AAAAACCKKK, ERT!!! GET OUT!!! GET OUT!!!" Sungyeol slapped the intruder repeatedly as he felt the stranger's hand over his bare bum. The ert even dared to give it a squeeze or two. Sungyeol screamed louder in a mix of rage and disgust. He never felt so violated in his entire life.

It was a quaint evening and Hoya was sitting in his own home skimming the newspapers again. Suddenly, he heard a high pitched scream, followed by another and a whole series of clanking and banging noises. He perked up. Were the rats finally showing themselves now? In not too much of a hurry, Hoya slipped into his boots and made his way over to Sungyeol’s house to see whether the boy was okay.

    Reaching the front door, the screaming and banging still aded. Anxious, the hunter pressed the doorbell even more and stopped only when he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. The door opened to a very frantic looking Sungyeol in a white bathrobe.

    “HOYA AHJUSSHI!” Sungyeol was crying hysterically running out wrapped in a towel and threw himself at Hoya, wrapping his arms around the hunter’s neck. He then managed to squeak out, “There’s a ert in my bathroom and he got into the bathtub an--and…!”

    Alarmed, Hoya immediately dashed up the stairs with Yeol trailing close behind. He got lost in the hallways upstairs, but Sungyeol quickly showed him the bathroom, jumping up and down in a fit of alarm, fear, and disgust.

    Hoya burst into the bathroom, ready to fight the intruder. The bathroom was clouded by steam mix with a strong odor of garlic fumes and shampoo. At first, he didn’t see anything until he approached the bathtub to see a black bottom slightly sticking up in the air. The ert was lying facedown on the bathtub with a pool of blood collecting at his face area. He was wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers. Hoya carefully turned the figure over and his blood pressure instantly skyrocketed.

    “KIM MYUNGSOO! YAHHHHHHHHH!” Hoya let out a scream of a tiger at the face looking up at him. Myungsoo’s nose was still bleeding and his eyes were puffed up, swelling a bright red and watering non-stop. His face began to crinkle, he sniffled, and began to cry.

    “Hoya ahjushiii….HOJUSSHIIIIWAAAHHHHHHH *HIC HIC HIC*” He cried in his deep, voice that resonated through the bathroom as he took his hands and covered his face in shame and turned away from the older male. The teenage boy hasn’t cried this much since he was a small vampire back in the days when Hoya spanked him that one time for killing the precious hoya plants that Dongwoo gave him by the window.

Yeol was still standing at the doorframe, a squeeze bottle of dish soap in his hands, ready to attack. He lowered it in astonishment, “Ahjusshi...you know this ert!???”.

Myungsoo’s image was now ruined. He cried even louder in a higher and more vainful pitch knowing that his chances with Sungyeol has dramatically plummeted.