He always wondered how falling asleep felt like closing and opening his eyes. He did feel refreshed, but it felt like blinking, especially since he never dreamed, or at least he never remembered dreaming. After he finally perished the sleep from his eyes Gi Kwang stood up eyeing the curtain. Well… the man sheltering him was nowhere to be found and he wondered what time of the day it was so he moved closer, his fingers slipping between the two curtains and lightly pulling one of them to the left, glimpsing only a little green showing from the crack. He pulled them a little more and his eyes came across a huge forest in front of his window, just about twenty meters from it, separated from the mansion with tall brick wall. The leaves were swaying lightly as the sun reflected on the morning dew covering the green sheets.

“I think I told you to never open them.” Came the mellow voice and Gi Kwang pulled his hand back like it was burned and turned to the door, finding a smirking man with silver eyes and dark reddish hair; his fairies’ light was dimmer and he was thankful he didn’t have to tell them to do it. Gi Kwang scratched his neck and smiled nervously as the Joker continued in the room, heading for the bookshelf and stopping right in front of it, gliding a finger on top of the book’s covers. Gi Kwang really wanted to see his face clearer: his expression right now and the very contours of his face. All he could see from the man’s face were his eyes and in what line his lips would go. It was actually a little frustrating.

“I’m sorry.” the boy said shifting from one leg to another and pouting.

“Mm?” a hum came in response in a questioning manner as the Joker picked out a book and skipped trough its pages.

“…about the curtain.”

“Oh, that. I don’t really mind if it’s only in one room and if you’ll be using the said room, since I won’t get in and disturb you. I may only need the books, but I can ask you for them anyway.” He turned to Gi Kwang and smirked, holding up the book he previously skimmed through. “I’ll be borrowing this one.”

“But… it’s yours.” Gi Kwang answered narrowing his eyes and tilting his head to the side.

“This will be your room, so it’s yours now, until you stay here.” The Joker answered, the smirk not leaving his lips. He put one of his hands in his pocket and pointed with the other one, which was holding the book, towards the wardrobe. “There are clothes there. The jeans may be a little long and baggy, but feel free to cut them. That idiot won’t mind anyway.”

“That idiot?” Gi Kwang asked heading to the bed and noticing how the Joker went furtherer away.

“He’s a friend of mine who visits every month. You may meet him soon if you stay longer.” The man answered stopping in front of one of the canvases in Gi Kwang’s room that the boy didn’t see yesterday. It was an autumn scene from a forest, the red and yellow blending nicely together and wrapped around the brown that the trunks of the trees were drawn with.

“May I stay longer?” the now sitting boy asked with a whisper.

“You may as long as you want. No one else lives here anyway.” The Joker turned around a smirk still on his lips and tilted his head to the right, slightly raising his eyebrows. “Do you want to?”

“I… For now I guess. I have nowhere to go. They probably want me dead.” Gi Kwang answered looking down. One of his fairies sat on his knee looking up at him and he smiled at her.

“Who, the town’s people?” asked the man heading to the door and.

“Yes. They chased me with so much hatred… Just because I’m something different, even if they knew me all their lives.” Gi Kwang’s heart clenched at the bitter memory and he fisted the sheets beneath his palms.

“Do you want to know what you are?” asked the man again and Gi Kwang looked up wide eyed. He saw the Joker leaning on the wall near the door and right in front of him, a book opened in his hands and eyes fixed on the pages.

“In my place, wouldn’t you?” the man’s lips were adored with a smirk yet again and they escaped a light short laugh.

“You’re not fully human. Though you’re not really some monster either…” he said, turning the page over. “How old are you anyway?”

“I turned nineteen this year.”

“Enjoy your remaining year, Gi Kwang.” He said lifting his eyes up and smiling at the boy. He was always smirking, so it was not hard to tell apart a smile from the usual smirk.

“What?!” the boy asked shocked, standing up and his fairies clinging to him.

“You won’t die, relax.” The man giggled and urged Gi Kwang to sit again. “I’m sorry I chose my words wrongly. You will just stop aging. You’re half elf and taking notice of how the town is placed: probably one from the woods.”

“I really don’t get it.” the boy whispered, blinking rapidly at the figure in front of him.

“Well… It’s not really something you can comprehend easy.” the man said falling in deep thought on how to explain. Then he closed his book and sighed before starting again: “Well, when an elf man and human woman mates their child is usually mostly human, but because of his elf blood, thanks to his father, the nature sends them guardians, usually fairies similar to yours, and they stop aging at twenty. So practically this is your last year as a human… probably. Aside from your guardians you have no powers and you’re like an immortal human. I’m not really sure.”

“So you have no idea what I am?”

“I know you’re not fully human and that you will stop aging when you reach twenty.”

At that Gi Kwang nodded and frowned. He really had no idea who his dad is and his mom never talked about him, but now that he found he was an elf it was… not what he expected when someone goes to him and tells him ‘Hey I know your dad!’ He felt one of the fairies pat his head, but he didn’t really register it. He just thought he was… well special, but still human. He lived with the thought that he will die someday like everyone else, now he had one more year before he stopped aging.

“There are beings more screwed than you, kid.” Said the man and left the room before Gi Kwang could lift his head up.

The rest of the afternoon Gi Kwang stayed lying in bed, the fairies pulling the curtains for him and letting sunlight in. After he stopped mopping around and came to his senses figuring that he won’t change what he is by staying in bed and sulking about it. Besides – what was there to sulk for? He would live long enough to maybe see humankind destroy itself. The wish of every human…

Gi Kwang ruffled his hair and stood from the bed, going for the wardrobe and swinging open its huge doors. Inside were shirts, sweaters, T-shirts with long and short sleeves, jeans, jackets, hats, scarves, pants, sneakers, more official shoes, even underwear. And Junhyung said no one lived here. He scrunched his lips in though and pulled out a pair of white jeans, which were really too long for him, and white long sleeved V-necked shirt along with white and light gray sneakers. After he was done changing he looked to the door heading to the corridor and then he looked around, eyeing the other door, which he noticed while changing. He bit his lip in thought before he decided to check it too. He went to close the curtains, just in case, and went to the door, opening it and finding a big bathroom with something that should be a bathtub, but he first thought of as a small pool; there was a shower too and everything else a normal bathroom should have, along with wall-length drawer with a marble plot and a mirror half the size of the drawer and above it. This guy was rich, whoever he was.

The boy shrugged and exited, heading out of the room and exploring the mansion and all its rooms.  They were all different and unique in their own way, but similar too and even though the curtains were thick a little sunlight would still slip from them and make the place just a little bit lighter. He really had no idea why the Joker hated the sun, but he thought it’s not his place to ask, so he decided to accept it. The man let him live here, didn’t harm him, gave him clothes. Why cross the line?

He got to the first floor and decided to enter one of the rooms that were nearer to the end of the stairs, who were heading to the entrance hall of the mansion on the first floor, and as soon as his foot stepped in he felt like turning around and leaving, but a warm mellow voice stopped him and told him to stay.

“If I’m interrupting I will leave.” The boy answered a little nervous but still made a few more steps in. His fairies had dimmed their light and he could see no furtherer than a meter away, so all he saw from the man was that he was sitting and holding a book, along with a shake of his head indicating that Gi Kwang’s presence was fine. “How do you read in the dark?” he heard a light chuckle then the ruffling of papers and he saw the figure in the dark shifting in his seat.

“Well, unlike you, I can see just perfectly fine in the dark, and actually I can’t see a thing when it’s bright.” The man answered and Gi Kwang nodded, seating himself on the Victorian couch.

“How do you know I can’t see a thing in the dark?” he asked, legs crossed at his ankles curious eyes fixed on the shadowed figure.

“A person this clumsy doesn’t exist.”

“Oh, right…” the boy remembered the night the Joker saved him and scratched his nose in embarrassment. And speaking of ‘Joker’… “What’s your real name?” he asked. Calling him Joker was really… well – weird in Gi Kwang’s opinion, so he thought of asking.

“Don’t you like Joker?” the man asked in a mocking manner, and then another shift of paper was heard. Gi Kwang thought he was changing pages.

“No, not really – It’s weird.” For a while there was a still. It felt like nothing in the room moved and the man vanished into thin air, before a laugh was heard and Gi Kwang raised his eyebrows in confusion.

“The person I told you about earlier will come here in a month. I want you to tell him this.”

“Why?”

“He’s the person who put the tattoo on my face, which says ‘Joker’ by the way. He thought it funny because I was the least funny person he knew.”

“That’s really mean.” Answered the boy giggling and before he knew it he saw one of his fairies near the Joker. Her light was barely visible, but he still saw her and he froze. What was she really doing? He tried calling her, but she continued on and landed on the edge of the book that was in the man’s hands. She bended forward slightly and titled her head, making her long hair fall from her shoulder. Gi Kwang could bet she was smiling too. He then looked up to the Jokers face and his vision was fixed again on those silver eyes, which were shining from the fairy’s light. Then Gi Kwang took notice of the man’s face which was now clearly visible thanks to his little fairy. He didn’t have the chance to examine it well yesterday night or earlier today, since the man was always in the shadows. It was pale white, with pink heart shaped lips, high cheekbones… frankly speaking he was like a masterpiece sculpture.

“Yong Junhyung. That’s my name.” he said, a smile placed on his lips and Gi Kwang watched as the boy extending his hand to the fairy, letting her step on his palm then gently placing her on the tall table next to his couch. “They’re really pretty.” He said eyes still fixed on the almost lightless fairy. Gi Kwang didn’t look at the fairy to see what expression the little being had while being complimented, because that face was something he couldn’t take his eyes off, not to mention the light playing in those eyes.

“They really are.” He finally whispered after drifting his gaze away.

The rest of the month passed in Gi Kwang roaming around and practically remembering the mansion by heart, staying in the living room to read, because he had more chances of meeting Junhyung this way, taking walks in the garden and once furtherer in the woods, but mostly in wanting to spend more time with Junhyung. And some days he was lucky, because he spent all his time with the boy: talking about books and Gi Kwang’s life in the town and Junhyung’s ‘stupid’ friend, as the man liked to call him; talking about music, Junhyung showing the boy his collection of disks, cassettes, gramophone records and discussing which gender they liked and what they found funny; about technologies, mostly computers and phones and how both of them hated those gadgets, because they found them unnecessary and how they couldn’t understand why people got so depended on them. Other days he was not that lucky and saw him only from evening to midnight, making small talks and having dinner together. While there were the few occasions of him being completely unlucky and not seeing Junhyung at all and that was actually in the past few days. It was not like he couldn’t go to his room or study and to bother him, but he really wasn’t that kind of person. If Junhyung wanted to spend some time with him, then he would go to him. After all Gi Kwang was still just a guest in the man’s home. And maybe he got tired of the boy lately so he let Junhyung take a rest from him.

Today was like the past three days. Gi Kwang was sitting on the couch, legs on top of the furniture, bended at the knees and a book rested on them, while he skipped trough the pages. He was just about to call it a day and retreat to his room, after all the sun probably set long ago, when he heard the main door being knocked. He stood up and cautiously went to the door leading to the hall peeking outside and eyeing the front door. There was yet another knock and Gi Kwang was just about to dash up the stairs when he heard footsteps and looked their way seeing Junhyung, in black jeans and white button up shirt that lay negligent on his torso, getting down and rushing to open the door. When the front door was opened there stood a man, taller than Junhyung, with black coat, denim jeans, black sneakers and jet black hair. He smiled widely seeing Junhyung and pulled him in a bear hug, before entering fully in the house. He then entered and as soon as his two feet were in the house he narrowed his eyes looking around and spotting Gi Kwang. The boy had no idea why he thought that this guy will hurt him at first, but as soon as the man broke in a wide smile those thoughts vanished into thin air.

“Well, who is this?” he asked and made a few steps towards Gi Kwang before stopping about a meter away from him, still screwing his eyes. Gi Kwang turned to the fairies and nodded at them, a sign for them to dim their light more, before turning to the man again.

“Is this the friend you told me about?” Gi Kwang asked Junhyung, still half hiding behind the door frame. Junhyung only smirked and nodded and Gi Kwang turned again to the newcomer. “Joker sounds weird.” At that the man laughed out loud and turned to Junhyung.

“First you don’t tell me you have a companion, and then you make him tell me this. Aren’t you my best friend?” he said in the same mocking manner Junhyung sometimes used when speaking. The silver eyed boy stepped to the newcomer and patted his back before looking at Gi Kwang.

“This is Doojoon: my pain in the , the person I can’t get rid of and my best friend.” the redhead boy said smiling. Then Doojoon turned to Junhyung furrowing his eyebrows and inhaling deeply.

“If you told me there was another half-elf I would’ve brought Dongwoon.” The man said with serious tone, arms in his pockets and his eyes stern.

“You know I hate it when he starts making flowers around the house.” Junhyung responded with a hint of irate and the taller man rolled his black eyes and turned back to Gi Kwang, smiling.

“What is your name?”

“Lee Gi Kwang.”

“Well, Lee Gi Kwang if you stay until next month I will bring you company to enjoy the sunlight with.” He smiled and stepped closer, almost closing his eyes and patting Gi Kwang’s head. As soon as Doojoon removed his hand the boy bowed, excusing himself, and dashed up the stairs, closing himself in his room. It was not that he was shy or he feared Doojoon, it was just that he thought the two men wanted to spend some time alone, and he kind of had no idea how to handle Doojoon. Junhyung kept the one-two meter radius, but apparently Doojoon had no problem breaking it and after a month having no close contact with anyone he felt… uncomfortable. Maybe it was because of what happened one month ago. But the man did mention bringing someone next month to enjoy the sunlight with and he mentioned ‘half-elf’ while he had no idea of Gi Kwang’s existence… was that person Doojoon talked about like him too?

“If I stay until next month…” whispered the boy to himself looking up at the fairy that was the fondest of Junhyung and in front of him, a sad smile on his lips and a worried expression on the fairy’s face. “Am I allowed to stay that long? I don’t know…”

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First: sorry this came late, due to AFF's moving servers and maitenance and sutff

Secondly: Doojoonies here! He's role is the most minor though... well not really, since he's the main reason for... well, you will see later ^^

Next update - tomorrow, more earlier than this ^^

(for me it's tomorrow, since now it's night time... maybe in 15 to 20 hours?)