# 9

Magician
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"Hae! No one is around! Can I do it?"

Donghae places the bag of apples in the shopping cart. Nods. Hyukjae gives the cart a push. Lifts his feet. Holds on to it as it wheels away. Giggles. Donghae jogs after it. Holds the back of Hyukjae's shirt to stop it.

"Hae, quick, your turn! No one's here!"

"Hyukkie..." Donghae says.

"Just a little bit," Hyukjae says. Moves aside. "You get on and I'll push you! It's fun!"

Donghae throws a quick glance around. Steps onto the bottom. Hyukjae squeals quietly. Pushes his back. Then speeds up.

"Hyukkie," Donghae warns. "Mangoes up front."

Hyukjae holds his waist to slow him. Donghae places his foot down. Right in time. There's a woman coming from the side. She's wheeling her cart. Hyukjae grabs Donghae's arm. The cart.

"Sorry," he whispers. To Donghae.

"It's alright," Donghae says. Laughs.

It is... fun. As most things are with Hyukjae. Even when he's silly. Or embarrassing.

"Can I take over the cart now?" Donghae says.

"Okay," Hyukjae says. "I'll go get my cherry tomatoes! And your avocado! And broccoli! And eggs and--"

Hyukjae pulls out a tiny notepad. From his fanny pack. He flips it open. Checks his list. His expression's so serious.

"Oh, Hae, you need more coffee! We need milk, and we're low on sugar, and we're out of laundry detergent and that thing that makes clothes soft and smell nice!"

"Oh, I didn't know that," Donghae says. Hyukjae's made himself in charge of many chores. More than Donghae sometimes realizes. "Thanks for always keeping note, baby."

Hyukjae beams. Proud. Slips his notepad back into his fanny pack. "You're welcome, baby!" Then he blinks. Pulls out his phone.

"What's wrong?" Donghae says.

"Oh, nothing! It's just our groupchat!" Hyukjae smiles. Holds up his phone. Donghae gets a quick glance of Park House. Before Hyukjae's put it in his fanny pack again. Hyukjae points at the cart. "Do I take that now?"

There's an empty basket in their shopping cart. Donghae's learned to always grab one now. Hyukjae has too much fun otherwise. He wheels around the entire store. Just because he can. So Donghae has to take the shopping cart from him. Eventually. Make him fetch what they need.

"Yeah, sure," Donghae says. But takes Hyukjae's arm. "Wait, babe. W-What groupchat?"

"Ohh, with me, Teukkie, Papa Park and Mama Park!"

"You guys have a... groupchat?"

"Yeah, because sometimes I'd get the same message from Papa Park and Teukkie, so Mama Park said to just add me to the family chat! Mama Saeron's not in the chat though..." Hyukjae pouts a little.

Donghae tries not to say anything.

He smiles at Hyukjae. "I-I see. Okay, babe, you go grab the vegetables, and I'll get the other stuff. I'll meet you..." Donghae scans the aisle numbers. "Oh, why don't we meet in aisle fourteen? That's where the cleaning supplies are."

"Okay!" Hyukjae says. He kisses Donghae. Skips away. Donghae chuckles after him.

Hyukjae's quite confident with grocery shopping. Here, especially. It's probably because they come often. Hyukjae likes the convenience store too. It's close to their place. Hyukjae's first alone trip was there. So it makes sense.

Donghae gets eggs. Milk. He heads for the sugar next. Then coffee. He picks up some cookies. Chocolate chips. Marshmallows. He thinks about how to... not feel bothered. Left out. He's not. They're just making it easier to communicate. With each other. Donghae finds out whatever's happening. Because Hyukjae can talk endlessly.

But... Hyukjae's not Park House. Donghae's not either. They live together. They should make their own groupchat--

Wait, that's... stupid.

Stop, he tells himself. You're just getting too sensitive about this again. Yes, he's been... doing everything for Hyukjae. With Hyukjae. Since he started coming alive. But he doesn't have to anymore. He shouldn't. Hyukjae needs other people too.

Is Donghae feeling entitled? He's told himself. Not to feel that way.

Donghae hears hurried footsteps. He turns to see Hyukjae. Just scurrying past the aisle. It makes Donghae laugh. He looked so focused. Determined. Donghae slowly follows after him. Gets to the cleaning supplies.

Hyukjae's crouched. He's reading the labels of containers.

"Find what we need?" Donghae asks.

Hyukjae jumps to his feet. "Hae! Do you know which one would smell nice?"

"You don't like the one we had?"

"I do, but what if there's something nicer? Look at these fabric softeners! They have so many scents! And colours!"

Donghae crouches down too. Joins him in the hunt.


----


Somehow, Donghae feels super excited too now. About laundry. He forgets about the groupchat.

"Our clothes are gonna smell sooo good, Hae!" Hyukjae says. He's placing milk in the fridge. "Can I wash all the towels today? Please? When did we wash them last?"

Donghae doesn't remember. He just... knows when clothes should be washed. But Hyukjae's been doing that too. Like he's been doing a lot of... everything else.

What is it that Donghae does? He cooks. Shops. Takes Hyukjae where he needs to go. And... oh, yes. Garbage and recycling. Well, because Hyukjae still gets a bit confused with those. Once he doesn't anymore... he'll probably do that too.

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Author's Thoughts
sujul33
Wanted to add some Hyukjae POV.
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OdetteSwan 930 streak #1
Chapter 19: He's trying to find his purpose now that he isn't restrained.
Thank you so much for the update.
yanHae15 141 streak #2
Chapter 19: Oh! Hi! It's been a while! I miss them!
But Hyukkie is sad and struggling. I hope he doesn't see what they're doing for him as something negative. They do it with pur intentions and so, if there's any problem, it will be better to communicate. He shouldn't keep everything to himself 🥹🥹
fullofwish 1540 streak #3
Chapter 19: Hyukjae is struggling with so much. Seems like he feels bad whether he keeps it to himself or shares it, so it's understandable he's not sure what the best thing to do is. He and Donghae are really so considerate of each other, to a fault. Half of the issue is that they just want to please the other person at the possible expense of what they themselves want. Not sharing the things that are unpleasant. Hyuk now has more awareness and is worried that's what Donghae is always doing, but he is doing it too by not really sharing his true concerns. Worried Donghae will feel more responsible or burdened to find a solution for him.

Still think they can work through things best together, though. At least, Hyukjae seems more lost and afloat when he retreats into his lonely mind and the insidious draw of more powerful magic between the difficult memories and realizations. Even though Hyuk is better at self-regulating than he was when he would literally transform to protect himself whenever overwhelmed or threatened, he still needs trustworthy people to keep him grounded and remind him to tread safely, and Donghae has been that constant person he needed for a while. Maybe Hyukkie needs to express the things he needs that are different now, if that's the case. Like Donghae being more open with his own wants and needs instead of only prioritizing Hyukjae.
HelenDamnation #4
Chapter 19: Well from the sound of it, it may be the only parenting he got growing up was the time with Hazel. The rest of the time there's a whole lot of trauma he needs to recover from on top of his entire world basically having disappeared.

He's very helpful and considerate. He seems to be having trouble that realizing that is actually worth a lot. But he's at the age, isn't he, based on your notes, to be thinking that if he doesn't do something big then none of it counts. It would probably help if somebody explained to everyone in this story that constantly treating someone like they're fragile and about to break into a million pieces is going to be destructive to their mental health, even when you mean in the best way possible. :-)
ldh2013 #5
Chapter 19: Everytime Hyukjae felt threatened, he retreated into becoming a mannequin. It's no wonder that everyone, especially Donghae, has been trying really hard to make sure he feels safe. Being constantly worried over can be trying and Hyukjae appears to be feeling guilty about it. Adapting to the current world isn't that easy. Technically, Hyukjae doesn't have that much experience living (not being a manniquin). I think his only "work" experience was ever as a helper but the people around him now don't really "need" him to help them.
HelenDamnation #6
Chapter 18: So Hyukjae feels like he doesn't belong where he is, which is natural to have to process...but then in MM&YxMagician, he finds out there are DonghaexHyukjae couples everywhere he looks...so maybe that'll help? Help him feel he's where he's supposed to be?

Edit: I really, really like how you're showing some things many people experience that rarely get talked about in fiction, if ever. Like the sense of grief and loss when you get old enough to realize that you can't actually read all the books there are or learn all the things, much less do them fast enough. Or the fact that there's a lot to do with where you really can't fully imagine how it feels until you try it, which can create some shocks, both good and bad ones -- I've never seen that covered in conventional publishing (or at least only the ic surprises, never the reverse). I've been reading fanfiction for less than two years, but I'm constantly impressed at how fanfiction authors just go right ahead and cover what is missing from print media that really needs to be said and portrayed.
kiwicolada 1601 streak #7
Chapter 18: And here I'm sitting and thought that Hyukkie already coped amazingly with his past. I really thought he was fine living in the present, with Donghae and the Parks. That he's still suffering inside and feels lost in place is sad to read. Thinking about it, he lost so many time while he was surviving as mannequin during the centuries. And when we think twice there must be a century old between him and Hae. No wonder he feels out of time. But he did so well and everyone made sure to tell him this. But sometimes it's normal to feel this way, not belonging to this place and time when we think where Hyukjae's coming from.

I'm amazed that Hyukkie could feel Hae's biggest fear. That he could turn into a mannequin again. This shows how strong their bond is. Even the century old . A deep and strong love. As if they're destined to each other. Like it was his fate to sleep as mannequin until he could meet Donghae. Aside from all the horrible experiences Hyukkie did in the former century, I like the idea that Hyukkie and Hae were meant to be. But the deep sadness in Hyukkie is hard to handle for Donghae. The thing is Donghae can do what he wants, he can't heal Hyukjae from this sadness. Not alone. And deep inside there will always be a tiny piece of sadness that will reminds Hyukkie's that he's a surprise from another century.

It's been a while a chapter went so deep. Thank you for writing and sharing this ❤️
fullofwish 1540 streak #8
Chapter 18: So curious (worried) about what Teukie is worried about. Hope it is just because Hyuk sent him some possibly weird or sad texts before and not anything more.

The way Hyukkie's feeling is understandable. He's always so bright and energetic, but the more he grows and learns the more he comes to terms with reality. How could he not feel out of place? He's literally from the past, with magic no one else (that we know of) has, and has a lot of uncertainty still. It must feel so lonely and hard, no matter much Donghae and the Parks love and take care of him. It's no one's fault. It will just take time and patience for Hyukjae to figure things out and really find his place. To not be so harsh on himself for not being good at everything right away. As much as it breaks Donghae's heart to see him upset and struggling, it's a relief he's opening up about this.

♡
Kethryveris #9
Chapter 18: Hyuk, s'inquiète et se sent mal, j'espère que Hae va vite lui rendre sa joie de vivre. Merci 💙
kiwicolada 1601 streak #10
Chapter 17: Hyukkie is such a sweetheart. All concerned about the safety of Donghae's work. Even kisses have no priority in that moment. What a cute weatherman. And Donghae is all happy and forgot about that horrible night before. This is how their trip should be. I like this chapter a lot ❤️ Thank you for sharing and a belated happy new year ^^
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