The storm fell upon them before they could even make it back to the campsite, the rain coming down in thin sheets that quickly soaked them to the bone. Dongwan was waiting in the truck, the heater already on full blast and with clothes at the ready, not at all pleased at the state they were in as they clambered inside.

“What happened to you?!” he exclaimed, seeing the gash on Eric’s palm as he set Andy down in the back. “Did you meet a bear or something?”

“Don’t be stupid.” Eric grabbed one of the towels from the pile in the backseat and motioned Andy to come forward so he could towel him off.

“Hey! You’ll get blood on those!” Dongwan exclaimed, grabbing the towel and proceeding to dry Andy off himself. “Clean yourself up. The first aid kit is under your seat. Do you need a tetanus shot?”

Eric scoffed. “Not in a million years.”

“What the heck did you guys do? And it better be a good one.”

“It was a huge bird, Dongwan hyung!” Andy exclaimed, voice muffled as Dongwan rubbed his head.

“What?”

“There was a bird caught in a net, and Eric hyung freed it. It was cool!”

“A bird?” Although he wasn’t looking, Eric could feel as Dongwan gave him the stink eye. “Seriously?”

“Yep.” Eric hissed as the antiseptic made the wound sting and shook his hand to relieve it. “A raven, to be precise.”

“A raven? Like, ‘Nevermore’?”

“Yep, and there was a huuuuuuge owl too. And he went all crazy on Eric hyung—” Andy stopped as Eric gave a warning sound. Dongwan didn’t need to know the finer details; he already freaked out over general things to begin with. Thankfully, their cousin was too preoccupied to hear the last statement properly.

“Next time you guys decide to check out of chores early at a vacation you both had begged for, give me a heads up, because I’ll make sure not to come. I could have just spent my precious days off sleeping.” Dongwan huffed, looking peeved as he tugged Andy’s wet shirt off. “Eric, will you change—aaaargh!” He flailed as Eric swooped in to plant an affectionate kiss on his forehead, causing Andy to burst into giggles. “Gross! We’re too old for this!”

“No we’re not.” Eric reiterated, reaching out to pull Dongwan into another hug.

“HEY!”

“Me too! Me too!”

The truck shook as both he and Andy piled onto Dongwan, embracing him and showering him with kisses from either side as he squirmed and flailed. Eventually Dongwan gave in to his fate and let himself be cuddled, Andy still haplessly giggling as he sat on his lap.

“You’re both impossible,” he sighed, feigning a headache, although the corners of his lips were already curling up into a smile.

“You love us though,” Eric said.

“Not like I have a choice, cursed with family like you.”

“We love you too, Wannie.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

They stopped fooling around long enough to change into dry clothes and humored Dongwan as he insisted they take multivitamins to ward off colds. To make up for leaving him to tidy up their campsite by himself, Eric volunteered to be the driver back, and conceded to his cousin’s choice of music station. Andy had fallen asleep in his car seat even before they had even left Hammonton on the way back to New York, possibly exhausted from that day’s excitement and lulled to sleep by the pounding rain. To pass time on the drive, Eric and Dongwan took turns singing 90s pop songs in whispers as they sped through the I-95.

By the time they had gotten back to Brooklyn, it was already nightfall. Andy was still asleep and Eric and Dongwan played a quick game of rock-paper-scissors to determine who would be carrying what upstairs. Fate determined Eric would lug up all their things to their fourth floor walkup, while Dongwan carried Andy.

“Hey,” Eric wheezed the moment he stepped into their apartment, already smelling musty from the two days that they weren’t there. He unceremoniously dumped their supplies onto the floor of the foyer, already littered with Dongwan’s and Andy’s shoes. “Remind me again…why we didn’t…choose…a place…that had elevators?”

Dongwan appeared from Andy’s bedroom placed on one end of the narrow hallway. “Because you and you're cheap, and this is New York City, land of the perpetually expensive, old, and inconvenient.”

“You pay half the rent, jackass.”

“Yeah but I’m not the one complaining about the stairs.” He hit Eric upside the head, pointing at the mud tracks that he’d inadvertently made. “At least wipe your shoes before you come in, jeez!”

“OW! You don’t have to be violent!”

“You’re a child.” Dongwan complained. He clasped his hands together in a mock prayer position and looked up at the ceiling. “Aunties, uncle, it’s totally not my fault if Andy grows up into a slob…”

“HEY!” Eric yelled, resisting the urge to put Dongwan into a headlock. They already barely fit in the hallway as it was and risked breaking something if they roughhoused. Not like it would be the first time. “Pray to your own parents. Leave ours alone.”

“Mine don’t need any obviously because I’m awesome.”

Eric laughed and gave his cousin the finger.

“Anyway, move your . It’s 6:30. I’ll get dinner going. Make sure Andy is in pajamas. And clean up this mess on the floor, Jesus Christ, Mun Junghyuk.”

“Later. Don’t you dare do any of your experiments,” Eric warned as he made a beeline for Andy’s bedroom. “And none of that vegan crap.”

“Whatever. Hurry the hell up and don’t take all night. Don’t even try to sneak a nap in or I’m beating your head with a spoon.”

Prior to his brother’s sudden arrival a year back, Andy’s bedroom had originally been Dongwan’s, while Eric had the bedroom on the other end of the hall. Upon learning of the accident that had taken their father and Andy’s mother’s lives, Dongwan hadn’t even needed more than two seconds to nag Eric to obtain legal guardianship over his brother, more so give up his room for Andy to have his own private space once he moved in. Although there were times Eric could actually kill his only cousin, he did have to admit that he loved the smart-mouthed to death.

Certain that Dongwan was sufficiently distracted with dinner, Eric entered Andy’s room, smiling to himself. Andy was still sleeping soundly and curled up on the rumpled bedcovers like a cub, and so Eric sat on the bed and watched his baby brother for a quiet minute. Outside, the city was still abuzz with life: cars honking, screen doors slamming, people talking. It was a perpetual din that Andy had thankfully easily adapted to. He had to hand it to the kid; Crown Heights was a long way from Westchester county.

Eric glanced around the room, not having had the chance to look at it in a while. Lamplight bathed the walls in soft gold and illuminated the many signs that a small boy now inhabited it, rather than a thirty-two-year old bachelor who did God-knew-what-else in his spare time. Lego sets, Roald Dahl books, and Playmobil figures filled shelves. There was a small basketball hoop attached to the wall next to a framed Star Wars poster (that was actually Dongwan’s). On the windowsill sat a sock monkey Eric remembered from Andy’s babyhood, and three framed photos: one of Eric holding Andy as a baby, one of their father and his mother, and one of them as a complete family, taken two years ago at Christmas. It always brought a strange feeling to Eric, seeing the pictures, as though he could not fathom it had actually been him then. Things had already changed so much.

He cleared his throat, slowly ironing out his thoughts. It was no use dwelling on the past, he preferred keeping his mind in the present. He gently placed a hand on Andy’s back.

“Andy,” he said, lightly shaking the boy awake. Andy snuffled, rubbing his nose with his palm first before raising his hands to his face to rub the sleep out of his eyes. “C’mon, let’s get you dressed.”

“Dongwan hyung?” he asked sleepily.

“Dinner, and you’d better eat all of it.”

“’Kay.”

Eric got a pair of clean pajamas out of the chest of drawers as Andy sat and waited on the bed.

“Hyung, the bird was a magician.”

“Huh?”

“A magician,” Andy made gestures with his hands. “The big black one. He changes into a bird, but he’s a guy. And he has magic.”

“Hm.” Eric pulled the pajama top over his head and considered lowering Andy’s sugar intake. “Did you dream about it?”

“Yeah, he showed me too. It’s cool. Next time I see him, I’m going to say hi.”

“Ugh, Andy, next time, don’t even think of getting near a bird, okay? Especially pigeons. They’re dirty.” Eric showed him his palm. The blood flow had stopped but the wound still stung. “And they bite too. See? I probably have bird rabies now.”

Andy wrinkled his nose at him. “That’s silly.”

“I mean it. No approaching any animals at all. That’s enough wildlife for at least six more years.”

“He’s a guy, though.” Andy pouted. “He’s not really a bird.”

“Whatever. There. You’re done.” Not able to resist how cute he was, Eric kissed the crown of his brother’s head. He still smelled like a baby, like honeysuckle shampoo and clear spring water. For a second, he felt his heart twinge. Don’t grow up so fast…

“Ugh, hyung, you’re being mushy again,” Andy whined, pushing him off as his hug lasted too long. Eric laughed and let him go. “I’ll go check on what Dongwan hyung is cooking.”

“You do that. Make sure we can eat it. And Andy?” Andy stopped in mid-skip when Eric called his attention. “Don’t mention to Dongwan hyung about the birds anymore, okay? He’ll just freak.”

Andy giggled. “Okay, hyung,” he said then raced out the door before Eric could get another word in.

Brat, Eric thought affectionately as he started picking up the discarded clothes. He should at least start picking up his own weight around here. Bird magician… He chuckled. That’s it. No more TV until school starts…

He had just put the clothes into the hamper and was just about to leave when something caught his eye. A flurry of movement, a dark spot. Something stood out on the bed that he was absolutely sure had not been there a while ago.

He turned back towards the bed and saw the object almost immediately. On the bedcovers, right where Andy’s head had been resting: a long, perfectly-shaped feather, pure and glistening and so black it had a blue sheen where the light hit it.

A raven’s feather. But…how?

It was probably caught in Andy’s clothes, Eric found himself thinking. The clothes had been on the bed. There was no other explanation.

Hesitantly, he picked up the feather and rubbed his fingers against it, feeling the soft fibers against his skin. It was definitely there; it wasn’t a figment of his imagination. He gingerly brought it up to his nose and carefully sniffed it, putting aside the ading notion that it was probably something he shouldn’t do, taking into account the numerous diseases Dongwan was going to render him deaf with, but his curiosity prevailed. The feather had a peculiar scent to it, something that reminded Eric of lush forests and the height of an electric storm, sizzling lightning powerful enough to zap through the sky and burn down acres of earth.

Light, fire, power, a low unfamiliar voice in his head seemed to say. That’s me.

“Christ!” he exclaimed, startling and rubbing his arms. The wound in his palm was throbbing suddenly, achingly so. “What was that? Jesus, I need more sleep or something.”

Suddenly feeling the urge to not be alone, he grabbed a book from Andy’s desk and stuffed the feather between its pages. He gave the room one last once-over before leaving, to make sure the windows were shut and nothing else could have planted the feather there. There was, of course, nothing out of place but his heart, now beating twice as fast against his ribs.

Yep, it had definitely been on his clothes. It’s not something to panic about. Nope.

It was silent now, and everything seemed normal, but the back of his neck was prickling and the wound in his hand was throbbing, and Eric was not quite sure what had just happened. He briefly considered the idea of ghosts before he scoffed at his own runaway notions.

“Eric!” Dongwan suddenly called out from the kitchen, breaking him out of his reverie. “Where are you? You’d better not be napping!”

Dongwan’s voice quickly brought him back, grounding him to what was real and logical. “I’m not!” he yelled back. Although his voice was not as loud as he’d wanted, it did enough to make him feel more like himself. “I just put away some things.”

“Come out then. Dinner’s ready!”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Without bothering to look back, Eric stuffed the book in his jacket pocket and quickly left the room, ignoring the fact that even though the room was warm, he felt eerily cold.


tbc


Author's Notes
1. I made them American!!! OMG I don't know if this is a capital sin or what, but it suited them to be Korean-Americans in this fic more than Korean-based Koreans. It's also because I know next to nothing about Korean fairy tales. Although I'm not an expert, my childhood fairy tales were based on Western ones, i.e. English and Irish ones, then Shakespeare...Midsummer Night's Dream and all that.
2. American Deng, lol. It's hilarious even to me. 
3. 'Nevermore' = Edgar Allan Poe reference. You know, that line: "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'". The poem is literally called The Raven.
4. RicWanDy live in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which is where some of my family live! A lot of apartments there are walk-ups but it doesn't necessarily mean it's a poor area. It's just because a lot of buildings are old and the local government would prefer preserving it. Their apartment is a railroad type, which is essentially a long narrow hallway which feeds into rooms. In their case, it's two bedrooms at each end of the hallway, with the bathroom, kitchen-dining-living room in between. A lot of apartments in New York are like this and can cost around $1500-3500 depending on the area.
5. I'm enjoying writing Deng because he's so ridiculous. He's like the Mom friend, or in this case, the Mom cousin. I mean, it IS RicWanDy, and Andy is literally a child.

I hope you enjoyed the second update! Honestly, I still have no idea how this will go and am just making it up as I go along. Thank you for reading! :) Let me know your thoughts! Do you think I should have made them pure Korean still? What do you think of kid!Andy? Where are the other three? What do you think they are? Have you ever watched Labyrinth? Talk to me! :D I won't bite!