Hakyeon didn't see the fairy for the next three days. A storm had come up, and he didn't leave the house; he liked being outside in almost every weather, yes, but a snow storm wasn't one of those weathers. Especially not if he didn't have his favourite cloak!

He smiled as his thoughts wandered to his cloak and who had it now, sipping on a cup of hot tea that emanated a soft pink light while watching the chaotic yet beautiful dance of the snowflakes outside his kitchen window. Wherever the fairy was out there, at least with his cloak it wasn't freezing.

His hopes that it had gotten itself a new cloak weren't entirely rooted in the wish to have his own back, though. For the umpteenth time, his eyes wandered to the moon calendar he had pinned to the door of the pantry.

It looked like a child had been given a pencil and drawn nothing but messy circles all over the parchment, doted here and there with some round ink blotches. In reality, it held a detailed representation of the position of various planets and stars in relation to the moon at any given time during this moon cycle. And if his calculations were right, considering the influence each of the astral bodies had on the ingredients of the spell he’d put on his cloak -and he knew they were, he never miscalculated these things- the fairy had until 4:27am until the spell started to vanish. By 8:13am, the spell would be gone completely, and while the fairy would still have a nice cloak to warm itself, it and its magic were no longer hidden.

Hakyeon chewed on his lip, wondering not for the first time where the fairy might be right now. Instinctively, he started to reach out, trying to locate his cloak and the fairy with his magic, but by the time his consciousness reached the front door he caught himself and retreated. He wouldn't go looking for the fairy. It was none of his business what it was doing at this time, or any other time, if it didn't invite him into said business.

With a sigh, he drank the cooling rest of his tea and refilled his cup -this time, it glowed in a soft green- and went to his library. He’d found an interesting book on dragons behind one of the book-cases, and out of curiosity had started reading through it. At the moment he was studying up on what precautions to take to successfully hatch a jungle-dragon’s egg, and he’d seen somewhere further ahead as he’d first thumbed through the book, there were detailed descriptions of which body regions the different dragon species liked to be pet on the most. That had been what had lured him into reading the book in the first place, and so far he had yet to be confronted with exploiting methods or anything similar. It was a nice book.

It was so nice that it lured him in completely and he missed the time passing, his tea cooling, and the first time it knocked on the door. Granted, it was a very soft knock, and so was the second, but that one finally had him snap out of his intense studying of desert-dragon manicure.

“Coming!” He shouted, before hoisting himself out of his desk chair and sending balls of light into the dark lanterns along the hallway.

The storm had lessened in the meantime, he realized, but he still only opened the door as little as possible so as not to let the cold in. He changed his mind immediately when he spotted who was standing on his front step, opening the door wide.

“Oh, it's you! Want to come inside?”

The fairy shook its head, lifting his hands to hold a bundle of fabric out to him.

“I just came to return your cloak to you. And to thank you for helping me; I never got the chance the other day. It's clean, by the way, and I didn't cut any holes in it.”

Hakyeon blushed a little as he accepted his cloak back.

“Ah, there was no need to… You didn't have to bring it all the way here.”

The fairy shook its head again.

“I thought it was only fair. Without it, and without your help, I would probably have never gotten one of the cloaks of my species back.”

It lifted the hem of the faint, whispy material falling from its shoulders, and to be honest, Hakyeon would never have seen it if the fairy hadn't pointed it out. His eyes widened in fascination, momentarily distracted from refusing the fairy's thanks.

“Whoa, that's what a fairy cloak looks like? I’ve never seen one before!”

The fairy chuckled.

“That is the whole point of them…”

Hakyeon laughed at that.

“Of course; my bad. It doesn't look very warm, though, to be honest…”

The fairy hummed.

“It is, though. It's as warm as I need it to be, and as cold as I need it to be. Also, it doesn't hinder my wings.” The fairy turned to the side, showing where it's wings seemed to pass right through the cloak.

Hakyeon was stunned.

“Whoa… It’s not made of a regular fabric, is it?”

Again, the fairy shook its head.

“No. It’s made of fairy magic; which is why you wouldn't be able to touch it, even if I put it in your hand, since you're not a fairy.”

A hint of disappointment flashed in Hakyeon's eyes.

“Ah, too bad. I would have loved to feel it's texture… But that means you are safe once again, right? It's going to hide you from the hunters should they come back?”

The fairy nodded.

“It will. Your cloak isn't bad, either, though. It saved my life twice on my journey to get this one.”

Again, Hakyeon felt a little flustered.

“Ah, I’m glad…”

The fairy cleared its throat, shifting a little nervously from one foot to the other.

“I… I owe you now, for your help…”

Hakyeon's head snapped up.

“What?! No! No, you don't! I told you I didn't want anything in return from you; I mean it! You don't owe me anything!”

The fairy almost took a step back, startled, and rubbed its nape awkwardly.

“But… How can I not? You saved my life, more than once. You healed my wings. Without your help, I wouldn't be anymore. Of course I owe you; I owe you everything! I owe you my life!”

Hakyeon shook his head rapidly, and his hands along with it as he took a step back.

“No, you don't! Even if I did-... that, you don't owe me. There is absolutely nothing you owe me, and I won't accept anything from you! You… you don't understand, and I can't explain it, but… Never mind. Just… just don't get caught, ok? Just stay safe, and live happily.”

The fairy looked confused, furrowing its brow.

“Are you sure about that?”

Hakyeon nodded firmly.

“I am.”

“But… Don't you have use for things like fairy dust in your spells? I don't mind giving you some of that, it’s not like it hurts or anything, and I have plenty…”

Again, Hakyeon shook his head vehemently.

“No, I don't want it. I swore I'd never use anything that comes from another magical creature ever again. And I won't. If I can't cast a spell with my own and natural magic, then I won't. I'm not meant to.”

The fairy tilted its head, clearly noticing Hakyeon's distress, and contemplated him for a moment.

“You are a strange sorcerer…” It eventually stated.

Hakyeon chuckled lightly, though there was no humour in it.

“I am, aren't I… Do you think it's bad?”

The fairy shrugged.

“I can't really bring myself to find a fault in you not wanting to cut my eyes out just to stop your aging process, so… I guess for now, I’m good with your strangeness.”

That time around, there was humour in Hakyeon's chuckle, though it was interrupted by a shiver running through him from the cold he was standing in. The fairy couldn't help but notice it, too, and cleared its throat.

“Uhm, I should get going, actually. I just came to thank you, after all, and bring your cloak back, and since there is nothing I can do for you… At least, I shouldn't keep you out here in the cold, I guess. So… Thanks again… And… Goodbye?”

Hakyeon wound his arms around his torso, holding his cloak to his chest as he shivered again, and nodded lightly.

“Goodbye, I guess…”

The fairy nodded and took a couple of steps back before turning around. It was already at the fence when Hakyeon called out again.

“Uhm, hey…!”

The fairy turned back around, seeing Hakyeon still standing in the open door, clutching the cloak.

“You never told me your name…”

The fairy grinned, showing a perfect set of dimples.

“You never asked! It's Hongbin… It, uhm, that's… I’m male.”

Considering all fairies were equally stunningly beautiful and didn't usually display any kind of gender dimorphism, that introduction made sense.

Hakyeon nodded, acknowledging it, and smiled softly.

“Be safe, Hongbin, the male fairy… Actually, is that the correct term?” He couldn't help but wonder.

Hongbin grinned, still, shaking his head.

“It's fae, in this case. But we’ve long given up caring when someone gets it wrong.”

Hakyeon hummed.

“Ah… I will still make sure to remember it.”

“What is your name?” Hongbin asked him in turn, leaning against the gate in the fence.

“Hakyeon.”

Hongbin nodded solemnly, but then a mischievous smile tugged on his lips again.

“Hakyeon… Well then, farewell, Hakyeon, the sorcerer who isn't as much of an as his peers!”

Hakyeon laughed loudly at that, his eyes crinkling from laughing so hard, but when he looked up, the fairy was gone.

Chuckling, still, he wiped the tears of laughter away and stepped back inside the house. His eyes wandered through the darkness one last time before he closed the door.

“Hongbin… You might as well be a poltergeist, with that big mouth of yours…!”

*#*#*#*

After the storm passed, the days got warmer. The sun came out more, and the snow started to melt in some places. It was one of Hakyeon's favourite times of the year, and he spent most of his time in the forest, watching out for the first signs of spring.

He gasped happily when he found a patch underneath an old fir where the snow had molten enough to show the heads of the first snow-flowers of the year peeking out.

He dropped to his knees in joy, cooing over the small plants.

“Ah, you cuties! You are so early, you’ll catch a cold if you're not careful! Let's hope it doesn't storm again so you can grow and bloom, hm?”

He stayed for a while, smiling over the six little sprouts.

“Did you really just admonish flowers to be careful not to catch a cold?”

Hakyeon jumped, landing on his and clutching his heart at the voice, and spotted Hongbin sitting on a low branch of a nearby beech.

“Hongbin, for Origin’s sake! You scared the life out of me!”

The fae chuckled, swinging his legs through the air happily.

“Oh, you look very alive from here, still. You were so focused, though, I didn't see a way to come up to you without startling you.”

Hakyeon huffed, getting up from where he’d fallen and brushed dirt and snow off his clothes.

“Look at that, you made me crush one!” Hakyeon ignored the fae, pouting as he inspected the crushed plant. He vaguely noticed Hongbin jumping off the branch and landing elegantly on the ground out of the corner of his eye, but looked up when he saw him approaching him.

“Let me see that…” He motioned for Hakyeon to move, and Hakyeon did, curious what the other would do.

He watched in fascination as Hongbin hovered his hand over the bent plant, and golden and green dust rained lightly from it, forming ribbons that wrapped around the stem and straightened it up. As soon as the plant was standing again, the dust glowed brightly, and then disappeared. The snow-flower stood as if nothing had ever happened.

“Whoaah~! I had no idea you could do something like that!!” Hakyeon's jaw dropped as he looked from Hongbin to the plant and back.

Hongbin shrugged.

“There is a whole lot of more impressive and useful things I can do with the dust than this. I'm really not as useless as everyone seems to think!”

Hakyeon shook his head.

“I never said anything about how useful or not I think you are. I'm just starting to realize that I might actually know nothing about fairies after all…”

Hongbin huffed.

“It's not like we go around showing off what our dust is good for and what we can do… Not like we need to give your pals more reasons to hunt us…”

It was Hakyeon's turn to huff, though much less offended than Hongbin.

“They are most certainly not my pals… But I guess you're right. Why did you want to come up to me, by the way?”

Hongbin shrugged.

“No specific reason. I was bored.”

“You were bored?”

Hongbin rolled his eyes.

“Yes, as in I had nothing to do and didn't know what to do to pass my time. Then I saw you and thought hey, why not chat for a bit. By then you were already chatting with the flowers, though.”

Hakyeon chuckled.

“Oh, were you jealous?”

Again, Hongbin rolled his eyes.

“Terribly so. How dare you talk to the greenery instead of someone you can't see and don’t know is even there. How inconsiderate of you!”

Hakyeon placed his hand over his heart, bowing deeply.

“You are right; how could I! I am so sorry!” He played along, but couldn't hide a wide grin when he stood up straight again.

Hongbin nodded at the flowers.

“But really, what were you doing with the flowers?”

Hakyeon shrugged.

“I was just happy to see them and wanted to see how many there were. They are early, and I was wondering if that means we’ll get an early spring this year. Not that I’d mind; I’m starting to run really low on supplies.”

“Aah~” Hongbin nodded pensively. “What supplies do you need?”

Hakyeon made a wide gesture, encompassing everything around them.

“All the spring and summer flowers, basically. Flowers, leaves, roots… Also, sun-dried white clay. But I really don't fancy jumping into the pond when it's this cold… and covered in ice. Aside from that, I just really miss the warmth. I'm quite over having cold feet.”

Hongbin chuckled at that.

“That's something I wholeheartedly agree on with you. At least you have a house with a fireplace to warm them up again!”

Hakyeon tilted his head curiously at that, frowning a little.

“You don't?”

Hongbin shook his head no.

“Nah. That's too hard to hide from the hunters; and a trap, at that. Last time they caught me it was because I had gotten a little too comfortable in the cave by the waterfall. I'm not making that mistake again!”

Hakyeon stared at him in disbelief, then shook his head dejectedly.

“That is so wrong…”

Hongbin shrugged.

“It is how it is and has been for a long time. I don't even know it to be any different.”

Hakyeon grit his teeth.

“That doesn't make it any better or even right! You shouldn't have to hide somewhere outside and exposed to the elements all the time, with no place to call home, just because some greedy, vain s don't give a about others and think it's ok to exploit everyone for their own stupid purposes!”

Hongbin stared at him open-mouthed.

“Whoa… that's a lot of anger you have for your own species there…”

“Am I wrong, though? Do you think what they're doing is right? That it's ok that you can't have a home and have to live in fear because of them?”

Hongbin shifted on his feet, shrugging.

“Of course not… I just… got used to it. We all have. And I have a home; this forest is my home.”

Hakyeon exhaled slowly.

“That's not what I meant, and you know it. And being used to it doesn't make it right, either."

“I can't change it, though, so what choice do I have?”

Hakyeon eventually turned his back at Hongbin.

“You’re right. You can't. But someone needs to!”

He took a deep, calming breath, then faced Hongbin again, his voice and expression much softer now.

“Hongbin-ah… If you ever need a place to go, or want to warm up a little, or to sleep in a bed for a night, or anything… you can always come to my house. I will never turn you down.”

Hongbin’s eyes widened in disbelief, his jaw dropping as he stared at Hakyeon.

“Are you serious?!”

Hakyeon nodded grimly.

“Absolutely.”