*

                “Undress…” Key said in a nagging manner. “I’ll wash your clothes.” He added quickly, not wanting to imply anything that might be interpreted the wrong way.
                “But….” He glanced over at what the other one was doing and quickly turned around once he saw. “Jonghyun! Keep your undergarments on!” he scolded as Jonghyun had attempted to undress until he was stark .
 
The hunter smirked and handed Key his dirty clothes. The maiden just turned his head away in disgust, as a failed attempt to not get the smell up his nose. “You really do smell” he started again and took the clothes down to the small lake. Jonghyun was already in the water by the time Key had gotten over his disgust and down by the lake. The maiden focused on washing the clothes, he didn’t spare Jonghyun even a glance.

Key successfully washed the clothes, removing any unwanted odor with a strange, unknown substance. Jonghyun proudly came out of the water after washing. He was lean again and feeling better about himself than before. He glanced over at Key, who was too absorbed in his work. He snuck up behind the other and without thinking he hugged Key. The male knew he was practically asking to get hit, he knew the maiden didn’t like to be touched, much less startled, but neither happened. Key froze.
 
                “I’m all clean now Key!” he said happily. Key just grumbled, he wasn’t too fond of touching. He had never been the person who would hug anyone for no apparent reason.
                “Let me go human” Key hissed and the other complied to that request by slowly letting go of the other.
                “But I do smell better, right?” he tried to get on Key’s good side. The maiden just sighed in response and nodded. “Yes you do” He said in an affirmative manner. Jonghyun was delighted just by the fact that the other acknowledged he had done a good job cleaning himself.  The maiden turned around and gave the hunter a stern look.
                “But you stay there until you’re all dried up and don’t you dare touching me again” he nagged and hung the clothes out to dry.
 
Jonghyun did as he was told and sat down on the little moss that was still present on the ground. It was getting quite cold already, winter was drawing close fast and it was quite evident that Jonghyun couldn’t tolerate quite as much as Key could.

The maiden had been quite ignorant to the weather, mostly because he wasn’t really affected by it. He was only noticing the weather once the first snow would fall from the skies.  Key knew that humans had more troubles with the weather, mostly because they always wore far more clothing during winter, but then again Key hadn’t experienced that first hand up until now.

He noticed that the human was shivering, so he went up and got a blanket. It only took a matter of minutes to get it, but once he returned he noticed the change on Jonghyun’s face. His skin was paler and his lips were starting to get blue.

Key wasn’t completely heartless and wrapped the blanket around the hunter. “Here…sorry, I didn’t notice it was that cold for you…” He did feel sorry for the other.
“It’s ok Key…it’s better now” Jonghyun said with a goofy smile plastered on his face. The maiden stood up again and put his hands on his hips. “Well get yourself dried off and get upstairs, I will make a small fire so your clothes can dry. Once they’re dry you can return to your village before the night falls.” He stated and tried to shoo Jonghyun to the tree house, but failed as the other interrupted his actions.
 
                “Why don’t you come to my village, with me?” Jonghyun proposed, he did think it was an excellent idea. The tree house was comfortable enough to live in, but he figured that being together was more pleasant than living alone. With that he also hoped to cure that loneliness that was ever present in Key’s eyes.

Key merely shook his hand in response. “No, you’re already too close to me for comfort as it is.” Jonghyun didn’t quite catch on what was so seemingly negative about being close, but decided not to argue over Key’s decision. He did feel a slight pang in his heart, he was rejected in a way. Jonghyun couldn’t quite handle that well enough yet.

The younger male went up to the tree house and made a small fire in the fireplace.  He hung the clothes by it and waited for Jonghyun to come up as well and when he did, Key was quick to sit him down where he wanted the other to sit.

                “Stay there and don’t cause trouble” the male walked off to get Jonghyun an apple. He figured that the human might have consumed a bit too much energy while bathing, an apple would help.  Key handed the apple over to Jonghyun and gave a weak smile before walking off again, deep in his own thoughts.

Jonghyun took a bite and stared at Key, wondering why he was becoming so sad. He wondered whether something was wrong. Suddenly he got startled by a soft clank. Jonghyun leaned over for a better view and saw how Key’s shackle was hitting the floor every now and then. The shackles were more visible than last time and the time before that, it started to worry the hunter.  He didn’t know whether he had the heart to ask, he didn’t want to upset the other again.

Key walked back to the fireplace, light footed as always. He checked the other’s clothes and determined that they were dry enough to keep the hunter warm again. “Here” he offered the now dry clothes to Jonghyun, who accepted them with a small smile. “Thank you Key.” He just rose from his place and dropped the blanket that was wrapped around him.

The maiden turned around. It was too fast for Jonghyun to see whether the other had a blush on his cheeks or not. In his mind there was a blush, it brought a smile to his face.
                “I’m done now, so you can turn around again” He announced once all his clothes were back again. Key did so and stared at the other for a moment. “You can go back now, you can easily make it before dark” he stated and clearly said that he wanted Jonghyun to leave him alone now.

The hunter smiled and nodded. “Yes I will take my leave now then” he said and grabbed his bow from next to the fireplace. He offered Key a friendly smile and thanked him before leaving.
The male climbed down from the tree house and hoped that Key would wave at him as a goodbye, but that proved to be wishful thinking. He looked back once and was slightly disappointed that Key hadn’t come to one of the windows.

Jonghyun carried on, he needed to keep a certain pace to make it to the village on time. He had his bow and if he were to be lucky, he might get some prey as well. It had been around 3 days since he had left the village, he was quite sure most of the village people would scold him for being on his own too long.

His brain was starting to calm down from all the impressions he had had over the past few days. He was quite sure that he had more than just affection for Key, he would call it love in his heart but his mind wasn’t up for that yet. Jonghyun sighed and almost tripped over some tree branches. He cursed and looked back to see which branch it was that made him trip and kicked it like the mature man he was.   

 His mind wondered off again as he continued his journey. He wanted to help Key, he was surer of that than he had been previous. He was glad he was given a somewhat forced break. His feet took him where he needed to be as if his body was on auto-pilot. The male didn’t pay too much attention to his surroundings, mostly because it was still dark.

Jonghyun walked back, taking the exact same route as the will-o-wisps had shown him before to get to Key. He didn’t notice that, but the will-o-wisps had a nasty habit of taking a detour, meaning the hunter was taking the long way back. Key had not foreseen that he would take that path, so the chances were high he wouldn’t make it back before dusk.

The male sighed again and looked around, he noticed that the few animals he could spot, were walking the opposite direction of his own. He lifted an eyebrow but didn’t think anything of it just yet. It was only dusk and he assumed he would be home quick enough to not have fear of the creature that had passed him and Key before. Jonghyun kept up his pace and ignored the sign the animals gave him. 

Jonghyun started to notice a distortion in the sounds around him. He panicked, knowing it was bad news. There was no other option for him but to run, even though it was cold, he had to, in order to get as far away from it as possible, but the sound distortion never stopped. As the darkness took over the woods, Jonghyun’s breath ran short. He was conscious enough to not run in the direction of the tree house and headed for the other side of the lake.

The distortion grew stronger. He couldn’t avoid it anymore. In his head Jonghyun apologized to Key, he was quite sure that the monster would kill him, so he wouldn’t be able to visit anymore. The male took a few deep breaths and sought his refuge behind the largest tree in sight, waiting for his end.

His ears hurt and his head wouldn’t stop spinning, then he saw it, that monster Key had warned him of.  It was a giant black wolf that could actually walk on his back paws. Jonghyun was in too much pain to stay awake, his breathing hitched, but he noticed that his glance met with the monster’s. He was sure he would die that moment since everything went black.

There was light again as Jonghyun woke up. His body was aching, every muscle was stiff and it took him a while to fully wake up. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. The male wondered if he was in the next world, because if that were to be true, then it looked a lot like the world he died in. He took a good look at his hands, since he figured those had to be about the same.

Jonghyun was shocked to find a small mark on his wrist, like a birthmark that hadn’t been there before the encounter with the wolf like creature. Its shape was odd and resembled a moon, a half one. The mark didn’t hurt but it was quite visible. It made him wonder why he had it. His thoughts were shrugged off the moment he heard voices, he knew those voices, they belonged to some of the hunters from the village.

One of them went out to explore and spotted Jonghyun.
                “Boy, where were you? We’ve been worried sick”

To that Jonghyun could only reply with a goofy smile, he knew he needed some advice regarding his current relationship with Key, but these men weren’t the people to talk about when it came down to that.

                “I’ve been busy though” he laughed and seemed to be in good condition to the hunters so they just shook their heads. They could have figured out on their own that Jonghyun had been through a lot.

                “Come on kid, let’s get you home” one of the men offered his hand and Jonghyun took it, it was time for him to return to the village for now. The journey back was fun for the young hunter, he was told of all the things that had happened in the village while he was gone. Time flew by and before he could realize it, his mother had pulled him into one of het infamous tight hugs.

                “Mom….I’m ok” he said with a small hint of pain in his voice, but the woman just shook her head.
“You got us scared to death, not showing up for days and you expect me to be calm?!” she was slightly insulted. “I am still your mother Jonghyun!” the woman scolded.

She reluctantly let her son go, but pulled him to her house and sat him down. “You stay there and I will make you some food, I’m sure you haven’t had anything decent since you left” the woman was fussing over every little thing.

                “Mom it’s ok, but there is something I want to talk to you about” he confessed, this grabbed her attention immediately. Her son never asked for advise and he never really shared much either. So the woman sat down on the chair on the other side of the table.

                “What is it then Jonghyun?” she sounded curious, rather than concerned. Jonghyun just smiled and liked the new atmosphere between the two of them, it was comfortable.

                “I met someone, but you have to let me finish speaking before responding ok” his mother nodded and listened to what her son had to tell.
                “He’s a maiden, I saw him singing at first and lost sight of him, but later on the will-o-wisps brought me back to him. He lives in a tree house that’s in a willow and his name is Key. I got to know him over the past few days, I really like him, but I don’t quite understand him…” His mother threw him a questioning look, but didn’t speak yet since Jonghyun wasn’t done telling his side of the story.

“He’s really cold at times, but then sometimes it’s as if he does want me to be around. He pushes me away, but always has these lonely and sad looks in his eyes.  I want to cure that mom, I want him to be happy, to smile, but I don’t know how or what to do” The male sounded desperate.

The woman sighed and had to think for a while, it wasn’t easy for her to respond to all of that.
“Jonghyun…” She started. “You do know that there are no male maidens…You told me about him before, I found it odd, but if he would have had bad intentions with you, you would have been dead long ago.” She pointed out and Jonghyun nodded in agreement.

                “So this maiden, as you call it, you love him don’t you?” Jonghyun nodded at his mother’s words onve again. The woman sighed with a weak smile on her lips. This was the first time she had seen her son like this. She was actually somewhat thankful to Key for that.

                 “But Mom, when I asked him to come with me he refused…” He said with a sad frown on his face. The woman could only laugh.

                “Isn’t that normal Jonghyun, how would you feel leaving home and everything behind.” She wondered whether Key didn’t want or wasn’t able to leave.
 
                “Jonghyun have you even told him that you love him yet?” The woman smiled, she didn’t quite care that her son was in love with another male, it wasn’t like Key was human of any sort. To her it seemed that her son was just in the middle of a fairytale.

                “No I haven’t…”

                “Go do that then”



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So that's this Chapter! next one comming up soon, I wanted to thank you all for commenting and subscribing, it warms my heart. Also a big thanks to the people who upvoted this story, I'm very touched.

ALSO, this chapter is the halfway point in this story! And about the poll I held two chapters back, Green was for Key and Red was for Jonghyun, what I will do with those votes, well I'll explain that some other time.

Thanks for reading~!

<3<3<3