Hakyeon was lost.

He had been wandering through the woods for hours, but he just seemed to be going in a circle, always coming back to a huge oak tree in the middle of a grassy clearing. He slid to the ground with his back against the trunk, pulling his knees up to his chest and dropping his head into his hands. He had grown up wandering through these woods, so he never thought he would be able to get lost in them, but apparently he had finally wandered too far.

He was exhausted and sweat had pasted his hair to his forehead. The sun was sinking low behind tree line and he knew that he only had a few minutes of light left before darkness filled the woods.

He hated the dark. He was beginning to get a prickling feeling on the back of his neck like he was being watched. He lifted his head and looked around him. Wolves hunted in these woods and if he ran into a pack he knew that he wouldn’t be able to fight them off or outrun them.

He rocked himself back and forth, hugging his arms around him.

“Scared, scared, scared,” he chanted softly to himself, whimpering as darkness stole into the clearing, chasing away the remaining daylight.

“Then why don’t you go home?”

Hakyeon let loose a shrill shriek as he leapt to his feet and spun around toward the soft voice that had spoken directly behind him.

Leaning against the tree trunk of the oak tree, inches away from where Hakyeon had been sitting seconds before, was a man with long hair that fell in a wavy, dark curtain down to his shoulders. He was wearing dark pants and a sleeveless black shirt that showed off his broad shoulders. His arms were crossed and he was staring at Hakyeon with a blank expression.

“Wh- who. . . What?” Hakyeon stammered, clutching at his wildly beating heart as he stumbled to his feet.

“If you’re scared, why don’t you go home?” the man repeated, his voice as soft as satin.

“I’m lost,” Hakyeon muttered. “Who are you? Are you lost too?”

The man shook his head slowly without saying anything. He hadn’t moved from his place beside the tree and Hakyeon let himself relax slightly as they watched each other.

“Who are you?” Hakyeon repeated.

“Taekwoon,” the man replied.

“I’m Hakyeon-” Hakyeon started to reply, but Taekwoon cut him off.

“I know,” he said.

“You know?” Hakyeon repeated blankly. “Um. How?”

“You’ve lived here for a long time.” Hakyeon waited for Taekwoon to say more, but it soon became apparent that he had finished speaking.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Hakyeon finally asked.

“I’ve seen you walking here before. You’ve never made it to my tree before though.” The way Taekwoon said it was almost like a question.

“No, I’ve never made it this far,” Hakyeon agreed. “I had a lot on my mind today and wasn’t paying attention to where I was I going. Wait, why am I even telling you this? I don’t know you. And why have you been watching me? That’s creepy.”

Taekwoon was silent for a minute, watching him with a piercing gaze that made Hakyeon squirm under its weight.

“You’ve never gotten lost before,” Taekwoon said, ignoring Hakyeon’s questions. Hakyeon sensed, rather than heard, disappointment in Taekwoon’s tone, like the strange man was disappointed with Hakyeon for getting lost in his own woods.

“I didn’t mean to!” For some reason he found himself tripping over his words as he rushed to explain to Taekwoon that he really did know where he was going. “I know these woods, even if I haven’t made it this far before. I knew how to get back, but I just kept finding myself going in a big circle and ending back here,” he gestured around him at the clearing for emphasis.

Taekwoon’s expression cleared. “The pixies were playing with you.”

“What?” Hakyeon asked blankly, not sure if he had heard Teakwoon correctly.

“The pixies. They like messing with peoples’ senses of direction.”

“But. . . Pixies are real?”

Taekwoon stared at him silently.

“Are. . .” Hakyeon hesitated before plunging forward with his question. “Are you a pixie?”

Taekwoon shook his head slowly.

“But you’re not human?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“What are you?”

“A dryad.”

Hakyeon blinked at Taekwoon in surprise. “Like a tree spirit?”

Another nod.

“Is this your tree?”

“Mm.” That seemed to mean ‘yes’.

“Wow,” Hakyeon breathed. “That’s so cool!” He moved forward, grinning, all fear of being lost forgotten. Taekwoon watched him, a slightly alarmed look in his dark eyes as Hakyeon stopped right in front of him.

“Can you make trees grow? Or control plants or something? Do you have super strength?” He looked closely at Taekwoon’s muscular arms. “I bet you have super strength.”

Taekwoon looked down at him, slightly bemused.  “I’m stronger than humans,” he replied softly. He was watching Hakyeon with a strange expression, like he hadn’t seen anything quite like him before. “You’re curious, for a human.”

Hakyeon stopped his examination of Taekwoon and took a step back, confused. “You’ve met humans before?”

“Mm.”

“Weren’t they curious about you?”

Taekwoon shook his head.

A thought hit Hakyeon and he asked hesitantly. “Were they scared of you?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“Well, I’m not scared,” Hakyeon grinned. “This is so cool!”

Even though his expression didn’t change, Hakyeon sensed that Taekwoon was pleased.

“You should get home,” he said softly. “It’s dangerous for humans to be this deep in the woods at night.”

“But I want to talk to you!” A few minutes ago he had wanted nothing more than to be out of the woods, but now all he wanted was to stay and talk to Taekwoon. He wanted to find out about what it was like to be a dryad, but more than that he wanted to know find out about Taekwoon himself. What he was like, what he hated and what he enjoyed. There was something strangely compelling about his stoic silence and Hakyeon felt himself drawn to it.

Taekwoon shook his head. “It’s too dangerous,” he repeated.

“Why? Are pixies dangerous?”

“Not pixies,” Leo said. “Werewolves.”

Hakyeon’s didn’t have time to reply before a piercing howl ripped through the still night air. It was answered by several other howls that were, Hakyeon noted with a pang of fear, growing increasing closer.

Taekwoon shrugged off the tree and moved forward, his step was smooth and gliding. It was so unhuman that Hakyeon almost found himself distracted from the sounds of the wolves getting closer to them. His distraction was cut short as another howl tore through the air, even closer than before.

He stumbled after Taekwoon, who was making his way to the middle of the clearing. “We need to leave,” Hakyeon said. “We need to run!”

Taekwoon shook his head. “They’re almost here, we can’t outrun them.”

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, a pack of huge grey wolves raced into the clearing. They split up, forming a circle around Taekwoon and Hakyeon.

Takewoon didn’t move, watching the wolves around him with a stony expression as Hakyeon unconsciously pressed closer to the dryad’s comforting warmth.

The biggest wolf stepped forward, only stopping when he was a few yards from Taekwoon and Hakyeon. His body started to tremble and he began to straighten up, standing on his hind legs as his body morphed and twisted. When he stopped moving, the wolf was gone and in its place was a tall, stocky man with greying hair and sharp teeth that he bared in a snarl at Taekwoon.

“You found yourself a toy, dryad,” he said, his voice gravely and harsh. Hakyeon winced at the noise and the werewolf’s eyes shifted to him. Hakyeon shrunk back as the man’s red eyes glinted cruelly at him. “Why don’t you share him with me?”

Hakyeon was surprised when Taekwoon shifted his weight slightly, stepping in front of Hakyeon to block the man’s view of him. “Leave,” he said softly.

The werewolf began laughing, loud and brash. “Come on, leaf-head, don’t be like that. You know how much fun humans are. They make the funniest noises when you play with them.” He leaned to the side to leer at Hakyeon around Taekwoon.

Hakyeon froze as Taekwoon reached back and, without looking around, put his arm around Hakyeon’s shoulders. “Let me make this very clear- he’s not yours. He’s under my protection.”

The werewolf raised an eyebrow. “So is this the boy you’ve been going on about for years?”

He laughed again when Taekwoon didn’t reply. “He’s been watching over you and protecting you for years,” he said to Hakyeon, smirking. “He told the entire woods to leave you alone. What makes this kid so special then?” he asked Taekwoon. “You’ve never cared about a human before.”

“That’s not your concern,” Taekwoon replied darkly. “I’ve told you before that he’s off limits to you and your pack. If you touch, or even go anywhere near him, I will take you apart piece by miserable piece.”

The smile slid off of the werewolf’s face. “You’re threatening me, dryad? Do you think that’s wise?” His words were echoed by snarls from the rest of the pack that was circling them.

“I think we both know that I’m more powerful than you and your pack put together. I’m only going to say it one more time,” Taekwoon took a step forward, drawling Hakyeon closer to him. “Leave.”

The werewolf snarled, his red eyes glinting. Taekwoon raised his hand. An electric power crackled through the air, filling the clearing and circling around Taekwoon and Hakyeon like a protective bubble. The werewolf stumbled back several steps with a yelp. The rest of his pack backed away with whimpers and yelps.

Taekwoon raised his hand higher as he glared at the pack leader. The werewolf snarled and morphed back into a wolf. He crouched down, his muscles coiling and Hakyeon thought he was going to spring at Taekwoon. But instead, the werewolf turned and raced back into the woods, followed closely by the rest of his pack.

Hakyeon looked up at Taekwoon. He began to shiver and was glad that the dryad had made no move to take his arm away from Hakyeon’s shoulder.

“What did you do to them?” Hakyeon whispered.

“Magic,” Taekwoon replied. “Werewolves are strong physically, but they’re useless when it comes to magic.”

Without another word, he began to walk slowly, pulling Hakyeon into the woods, and guiding him gently through the undergrowth. Hakyeon could barely see anything in the darkness of the trees, but Taekwoon seemed to know exactly where he was going. Neither of them spoke at all as they walked, Hakyeon pressing himself into Taekwoon’s side and flinching at the slightest noise.

Taekwoon finally stopped and, when he looked around, Hakyeon was surprised to find that they were at the edge of the woods. He could see his house in the distance, light from the windows glowing cheerfully.

“You’ll be safe from here,” Taekwoon said softly, taking his arm away from Hakyeon’s shoulder almost regretfully.

Hakyeon turned and looked up at the dryad. “He said you’ve been protecting me for years. Why? You don’t even know me.”

Taekwoon looked down at his feet and Hakyeon got the strangest feeling that he was embarrassed. “I’ve seen you walking in the woods for years,” he mumbled. “Most people will just walk through and trample everything in their path, but you’ve always been so careful to never hurt anything. I guess I just wanted to return the favor.”

Hakyeon smiled as he watched Taekwoon shuffle his feet nervously. “Thank you,” he said softly. Taekwoon looked up shyly, meeting his gaze. “You could come back to my house with me for awhile, if you wanted to,” Hakyeon suggested. “We could eat dinner, maybe?”

Taekwoon shook his head. “I’m a dryad. My life force is tied to the woods, so I can’t leave it. But,” he looked down at his feet again. “You can come back to see me, if you want,” he mumbled.

Hakyeon’s smile widened. “Really? Do you mean it? It would be okay for me to do that?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“I will then! I’ll come back tomorrow! I’ll come in the morning too, so I don’t get caught here after night. I think I can find your tree again.”

Taekwoon shook his head. “I’ll come get you. Even in the daytime it’s too dangerous for you to be by yourself, with the pack after you. I’ll meet you here.”

“Does anyone else know about these woods? That they’re magical, I mean?” Hakyeon asked.

“No.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Hakyeon promised.

“Mm.”

Hakyeon stood uncertainly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stand here and talk to Taekwoon. He wanted to see if he could get the dryad to smile or even laugh. He wondered what Taekwoon’s laugh sounded like and he found that his heart was squeezing in a confusing, but not unpleasant way, at the thought.

Before he could think of something to say, Taekwoon nudged him gently forward, toward his house. “I’ll wait for you,” Taekwoon said softly. Before Hakyeon could reply, Taekwoon had melted back into the shadows of the woods, disappearing into their embrace.

Hakyeon ran all the way to his house, his mind full of magic and thoughts of tomorrow.