[M] bewitched; body and soul (1/1)

Memories grow thickly in the woods, much like the tightly woven emerald pines canopying the wilderness. Its savage beauty is rich in life, yet few people venture into the woods; it's somewhere people go when they never want to be seen again. In the surrounding villages, there are stories of encounters with preternatural beings, no less than the stuff of fairy tales. And in the woods, people have stories of their own.  Luhan was told never to talk to strangers, especially ones that roamed the woods at night. He was also told that he should help those in need whenever he could. These two tenets peacefully coexisted until one night, the boy heard a cry for help while gathering ingredients in the woods.  He clutched the burlap sack of nuts and berries closer to his body and jogged in the direction of the cries. It was only evening, but everything seemed so much darker in the woods. All around him was a pervasive blue dusk, so that Luhan could only see dark figures in the dim light and his own puffs of breath in the cold.  "Is somebody out there? Help me, please." The voice cracked, and Luhan quickened his feet, yelling in response, "I'm coming!" He saw a figure sitting by the base of a tree with his back against the trunk, clutching onto a lantern. By the warm lamplight, Luhan could see that the figure was a boy. He looked a few years younger than Luhan, barely out of childhood. "T-thank goodness you're here," the boy sniffled. He wiped his nose on his sleeve, which Luhan suddenly noticed was embroidered white silk. "I fell off my horse, and he ran away. My leg hurts, I can hardly stand. Can you help me walk?" "Y-yes, yes, of course, give me your hand." Luhan crouched down and helped the boy stand, allowing him to lean on his shoulder for support. He wrapped his arm around the boy's slim waist, holding him closer.  “My name is Luhan, are you okay?” Luhan inquired.  “I-I think I need a hug.” Luhan held the poor, scared little thing close to his chest, warming his chilly fingers with his own. “There, there,” he whispered, rocking gently from side to side. The boy hiccuped gratefully, resting his cheek on Luhan’s shoulder and letting the coarse fabric of Luhan’s shirt absorb his tears. "Where do you live?" Luhan asked once the boy quieted down. "I'm running away from home," the boy admitted faintly. Then, with more confidence, "My brother and I got into an argument, so I asked my mother if I could run away to feel independent for awhile." "Oh, um, where do you plan on staying?" "I don't know, I didn't really plan that far ahead..." Then the boy turned to Luhan with a hopeful grin, though his cheeks were still shiny with tears. "Could I stay with you?" "Um, I don't know—" Luhan was interrupted by the crescendoing clops and whinnies of horses approaching.  "Joonmyun?" a man's voice called out. "Joonmyun, where are you?" The calls drew closer and the boy, Joonmyun, hid behind Luhan in an attempt to shield himself from whoever was coming for him. Lamplight slanted across the forest floor, swaying from side to side until it came to a halt before Luhan's feet.  "Excuse me," said a man sitting atop a dark-maned mare. "Please step away from the prince, so he can return to the castle." Luhan turned around to look at Joonmyun in shock. This sniveling boy was a prince? But Joonmyun was trembling, clutching fearfully onto the hem of Luhan's tunic, and Luhan held himself higher, trying to be brave for Joonmyun’s sake. "Why should I listen to you?" Luhan demanded in a rare moment of courage.  The man rolled his eyes. "Because I'm his older brother, and our mother says it's time to come home now." He gracefully descended from his horse and reached around Luhan to grab his younger brother by the scruff of his neck like a disobedient puppy. Joonmyun hissed a little in pain when his injured leg was jostled while trying to climb onto the mare's back. He looked at Luhan with apology in his eyes before giving him a little wave as the horse trotted off into the darkness.  Luhan thought about the prince every now and then. He hoped that Joonmyun was getting along with his brother, that he never felt the need to run away again. But he also kind of hoped that the prince would find his way back in the woods somehow.  And he did, but it was a number of years after their first encounter. Joonmyun's face had thinned out after losing his baby fat, but his cheeks still retained a boyish roundness when he smiled. Joonmyun had first learned how to shoot a bow and arrow in the sparsely verdant palace hunting grounds, where the rabbits and partridges were fat and lazy, bred for game. The prince had heard of a place with more exotic animals to hunt, a darker forest with an irresistible scent of danger. He had never been expressly forbidden from returning to the woods, though he knew it was a bad idea.  For so long, he had been too afraid to return to the woods. But, when boredom became his biggest complaint and he felt the urge to prove he was no longer a child, Joonmyun knew he had to hunt there immediately.  There were no rules in the woods, nothing that said Luhan couldn't keep a pet deer. And so he did, naming her Bo. Not once did it cross Luhan's mind that Bo would ever be in danger. People living in the woods knew better than to harm the creatures sharing their own home. And most outsiders knew better than to enter the woods in the first place.  Luhan was kneeling by the creek, splashing water onto his face as Bo lapped up drops of water next to him. Suddenly, he heard an unfamiliar, but unmistakable fwip of an arrow whizzing past.  “Bo?!” He almost snapped his neck in twisting around to look at his deer, but she seemed unharmed, just scared. He stood up and saw a figure holding a bow and arrow across the creek, a distance away from him. An unusual sight in these woods, but Luhan was too consumed with anger to think on it. “What do you think you’re doing?!” Luhan hollered. “Put that thing down!” The hunter slowly lowered his weapon, and Luhan gave Bo a gentle pat on the head, murmuring, “Go home, Bo, I’ll deal with this and see you later, okay?” The animal trotted away, and Luhan steeled himself for confronting the savage who had just tried to kill his pet deer. As he advanced closer, the hunter’s features came into clearer focus. Luhan noticed skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as ebony. The hunter’s dark eyes blinked up at him in surprise, and soon afterwards, a softly dazzling smile graced his lips. “It’s you,” the hunter breathed, and Luhan halted in surprise. The young man paced closer until they were face-to-face, and Luhan’s words died in his throat. “I’ve been looking for you,” the hunter said in an excited rush. “Years, now. I didn’t think you actually lived here, in the woods. I didn’t know that people really lived in the woods, I’ve only heard stories of fairies and goblins living here, but I guess that’s silly, right?” Luhan didn’t get a chance to respond before the young man, whom Luhan realized was the prince he had met years earlier, placed a gentle hand on Luhan’s cheek. He brushed the soft skin with his thumb, carefully as though he was handling a delicate treasure. “I can’t believe it’s you,” Joonmyun said in awe. “You look exactly the same as you did years ago. Although–" he frowned, "you're still taller than me.” His other hand found its way onto Luhan’s hip, and Luhan’s heart jumped up to his throat, because the prince had grown so very handsome since they last met.  “I searched every village for you,” Joonmyun gushed earnestly. “I thought it would be easy to find a boy with sandy hair and doe eyes, but I was so wrong. I thought of going back into the woods, but I was always too scared to, and everyone told me that I was more likely to find a wizard living here than a single person. Are you sure you’re actually a human? Because you’ve truly bewitched me.” “Cute,” Luhan laughed softly. It made Joonmyun grin even wider, revealing a set of large, white teeth that gleamed in the gauzy light peeking through the treetops. Billowing with sudden confidence, Luhan turned his head to kiss the prince’s thumb, which rested close to the corner of Luhan’s mouth. The kiss was the barest brush of lips against skin, but it still made Joonmyun gasp a little. Luhan’s chest filled with warm triumph before realizing with cold, dripping dread that it was not something he should have done.  Slightly dazed, Joonmyun whispered, “I always thought of you as my first love. Isn’t that strange? We only met for a few minutes, and yet…” He shook his head, as though loosening the thoughts from his mind. “Strange, so very strange.” Wordlessly, Luhan took Joonmyun’s hand from his cheek and just held it in his own. This was precarious territory. He was sure that there were laws against princes falling in love with peasants, especially ones that lived in the woods. He didn’t want to encourage the prince, but he didn’t want to discourage him either, especially since Luhan found himself craving Joonmyun’s firm warmth.  “M-may I kiss you?” Joonmyun asked meekly. Luhan said nothing either way, and Joonmyun leaned in and put his lips on Luhan’s. It lasted no more than a second before Joonmyun pulled away and blinked at him. “I’ve always dreamed about kissing you,” the prince whispered roughly. “Ever since I was a boy, up until now. You were so beautiful in the darkness, and you’re even more beautiful now in the sunlight.” He held Luhan closer for another kiss, an open-mouthed one this time, and Luhan tasted the prince’s lips, inhaled deeply the scent of his skin. Joonmyun’s lips were slightly chapped, but still full and soft between Luhan’s lips. His flavor was warm and racy, and Luhan could feel Joonmyun’s heart pounding in his chest. His own heart was also shaking in its cage, swelling as their tongues found each other in a warm, dark place. Before long, Luhan found himself pressed up against a nearby tree, rough bark digging grooved patterns into his skin. Joonmyun kissed the hollow of Luhan’s throat and looked up at him with his dark brown eyes almost black with his pupils blown wide.  “If you don’t like something…” he began to say, but Luhan cut him off. “I understand,” he said with a smile. “Go ahead.” And then the prince was on his knees, wrinkling his expensive hunting clothes. His fingers fumbled with Luhan’s garments, and then his lips wrapped around Luhan’s erection. Luhan closed his eyes, overwhelmed by the warm sensations, only peeking down to see Joonmyun’s brow furrowed adorably in concentration. He grabbed Joonmyun’s hand as he reached his climax, and for several minutes afterwards, they just sat in the grass together, breathing heavily and holding hands. Luhan noticed Joonmyun’s arousal tenting his pants, and he gently lowered the prince onto his back. “May I?” he asked. A smile played at his lips when he saw the wide-eyed, eager nod Joonmyun gave him in response. The prince couldn’t tear his eyes away from Luhan, who crawled between his thighs and dragged his tongue along his length. His stomach caved when Luhan reached a hand up his shirt, palming at the soft, sheltered skin there. Eventually, Joonmyun’s breathy puffs and whimpers died away, and the only sounds in the air were the chirps of birds in the distance and the hushed rustle of leaves in the wind. Joonmyun’s head rested in Luhan’s lap, who played with strands of the prince’s hair. Suddenly, Joonmyun sat up and clambered away from Luhan on all fours. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized furiously, standing up. “I shouldn’t have done that. I-I don’t know what came over me, that was… I don’t know, I shouldn’t even be here right now." He sprinted away back to his white stallion, who was still fastened to another tree by the creek. Luhan watched, letting out a shaky exhale, as the horse galloped away and his prince disappeared through the trees. He should have known that it was too much to possibly even hope for securing the love of a prince, especially one as handsome and charming as Joonmyun.

Joonmyun fell to the ground, once again, and felt the blunt tip of a wooden blade pressing into the side of his neck. He groaned and rolled over. Yifan had beaten him for the sixth time today. “Hey, are you alright, Joonmyun?” the other prince asked. “I didn’t travel an entire day just to push you around. I mean, not that I wouldn’t have beaten you anyways. But you normally put up a better fight when we duel.” Joonmyun, the younger of the two, just sat up and tucked his knees into his chest. He pouted without looking at Yifan, who heaved a long-suffering sigh and sat down in the dirt next to his occasionally childish best friend.  “Do you want to talk about it?” Yifan asked, slinging an arm around Joonmyun, who shook his head stubbornly. “How about this, I’ll ask you yes or no questions, and you can just nod or shake your head.” A nod.  “Are you tired or ill?” Joonmyun shook his head. “Is there something you can’t stop thinking about?” A nod. “Did someone wrong you in some way?” Joonmyun shook his head furiously. “Did...you wrong someone?” He nodded. “Did you do something you weren’t supposed to?” Another nod. “With someone you weren’t supposed to?” Joonmyun nodded again, and stared into his lap. Yifan teased, “What, did you steal a kiss from your chambermaid?” Forgetting to keep up his dramatic silence, Joonmyun shoved Yifan in the stomach and said, “I don’t even like girls, idiot.” “Then who?” “Someone I met a long time ago,” Joonmyun sighed. “I almost thought that he was only a creature of my imagination, because I couldn’t find him for years, no matter where I looked. But it turned out he actually lived in the woods.” “Wait...him? You found him?”  Yifan had been told about the boy Joonmyun met in the woods, but had assumed that it was just another childish tall tale. From how Joonmyun described him, Luhan seemed too unearthly to be real. Joonmyun had fallen in love with the boy’s ethereal beauty at first sight, and his eyes took on a dreamy quality every time he boasted of how kind and gentle Luhan was to him. Joonmyun nodded. “I saw him again, and I just couldn’t resist. I knew I shouldn’t have been in the woods, but as soon as I recognized him, it was like I couldn’t control myself anymore. Something about being in the woods and seeing him there just made me...not myself. I kissed him, Yifan, and I know that I shouldn’t have.” Yifan knew all about wanting to kiss people he shouldn’t. For years, Yifan had wanted to kiss Joonmyun’s unhappy little pouts away, but he had resolved to comforting his best friend through his words and hugs. Being a prince himself, Yifan understood that there was an exterior Joonmyun had to maintain, people he needed to impress with his charm and composure. But Joonmyun was always completely honest with Yifan, allowing him to see both the best and the worst in him. He trusted Yifan enough to speak (and whine) freely about anything, and Yifan cherished that trust. They were kindred souls, bearing similar burdens and facing the same struggles.  “Did he not want you to kiss him?” Yifan asked with bated breath. “No, no, he definitely wanted me to kiss him.” Yifan’s heart breaks a little more because the boy who seemed to only be a fairy tale, was real. And Joonmyun had kissed him and done who else knows what, severing any chance Yifan had of being more than friends with Joonmyun. But he shouldn’t mind. He treasured Joonmyun’s happiness too much to let unrequited love get in the way of their friendship. “Then what’s the problem?” Yifan asked gently. “You’ve been in love with him for so long, and he doesn’t seem to mind you, so what’s making you so upset? Is it because he’s not royalty?” “No, absolutely not!” Joonmyun denied vehemently. “That has nothing to do with it. I mean, we live in two separate worlds. There’s just something strange about the woods, like things aren’t quite what they seem. I don’t know if the people there would take kindly to an intruder like me.” “Why don’t you just bring him here, then? It’s as simple as that.” “You think so, Yifan?” Joonmyun beamed up at him with admiration sparkling in his eyes, and Yifan couldn’t resist tapping him lightly on the nose. “I think he’ll love it here.”

Seeing Joonmyun riding atop his stallion in return for Luhan was undoubtedly the most enchanting moment of Luhan’s life. Luhan stood up with shaky legs, and Joonmyun held onto his hands, smiling at him with the kind of dazzling confidence only a prince could have.  “I-I missed you,” Joonmyun confessed, stammering over his breath. Luhan chuckled quietly, because no matter how dashing Joonmyun had become, he still had a long way to go in other regards. “It’s only been one nightfall since we last saw each other.” “But it was over a thousand nightfalls between our first meeting and our last, and I won’t ever let that happen again,” the prince vowed solemnly.  “So you’re not going to abandon me again like last night?” Luhan asked with the faintest hint of an accusation in his voice. Joonmyun shook his head so hard that he made himself dizzy. Luhan laughed again and kissed him, but it only made him dizzier. Luhan’s beauty was even more stunning, more otherworldly than Yifan had imagined from Joonmyun’s descriptions of him. He watched Joonmyun emerge from the dark forest with Luhan’s arms wrapped around his waist and his delicate chin rested atop Joonmyun’s shoulder. The sight made Yifan’s heart pulse with a tender ache. But Joonmyun looked happy, and that was all that mattered. Even though Yifan told Joonmyun it would probably be best if Yifan returned to his own castle, Joonmyun insisted on having Yifan stay so he and Luhan could become acquainted. It was difficult to believe that such a dainty, nymph-like being could have survived in the rugged wilderness of the woods. Luhan was soft and delicate in all the ways that Yifan was rough and coarse. While Yifan felt like he could adequately protect Joonmyun, Luhan seemed like the type who could nurture him and take care of him.  Yifan was gentle to Joonmyun when he needed to be, but otherwise, they were rough-and-tumble with each other, teasing and tussling with one another. Luhan, however, doted on Joonmyun, and the young prince loved it, quite shamelessly so. The oldest of the three watched on with amusement as Yifan carried Joonmyun over his shoulder when the younger prince got especially exasperating. And then Luhan chided Joonmyun gently afterwards, telling him that it was not nice of him to call Yifan a “great big oaf.” Joonmyun pouted, accusing the other two of conspiring against him, and Yifan and Luhan shared a wily smile, unseen to Joonmyun. Yifan decided that having Luhan around might not be too bad, after all. It was not long before Yifan found himself alone with Luhan. Joonmyun had stomped off to take a bath while grumbling about how it was unfair that he was being picked on by the older two, leaving Yifan and Luhan sitting awkwardly together in the salon.  “So, where are you from, again?” Yifan asked, breaking the silence. “I lived in the woods.” Luhan gestured towards the window, where the edge of the dark forest could be seen. “This is actually my first time leaving the woods.” “Is that right? Why haven’t you gone out before, if I may ask?” “I’ve never had a reason to,” Luhan shrugged. He added, “And I’ve always been told that it’s dangerous to leave the woods.” The corner of Yifan’s stern mouth lifts up at the irony. “That’s funny, we’ve always been told the other way around. That it’s too dangerous for us to go into the woods.” “I guess it depends on your perspective.” “Ah, but of course. So is it, um, a lot different out here?” “I’ve never seen so many people in one place in my life,” Luhan admitted. “It’s so strange and exciting. All these new faces, new foods, new sights. I feel like I’m in a dream.” That dream soon turned into a nightmare when Luhan fell ill overnight.  There was nothing Joonmyun could do. None of the doctors could ebb Luhan’s fever, no medicine in any of the apothecaries could cease his coughs. Yifan even hurried back to his own castle to retrieve the best doctors from his own kingdom, but by then it was too late for them to be of any help. Luhan’s sallowness had faded even further into a deathly pallor by then. When Yifan returned, Joonmyun’s eyes were bloodshot and his voice was raspy from staying up all night by Luhan’s bedside. “Yifan,” Joonmyun whispered. Yifan recognized the strain in his voice that indicated that Joonmyun was close to tears. “Luhan said that he wants go back into the woods.” Knowing Joonmyun, there must have truly been no other option if he was willing to let Luhan go again. Yifan followed on his own black stallion as Joonmyun rode back into the woods with Luhan draped limply over his back. He had asked if Joonmyun wanted him to be there, and Joonmyun had nodded, biting on his lip. He didn’t want to ride back to the castle alone.  A light wheeze came out of Luhan’s lungs as they approached a creek, and Joonmyun stopped. Yifan helped lift Luhan from Joonmyun’s stallion and then gave him to Joonmyun. Even though Luhan was taller, he was light in Joonmyun’s arms. Yifan watched from a distance while Joonmyun carried him to a tree with long, slender branches that bent down to brush the grass below. He sat down in its shade and hugged Luhan close to his body. Though he didn’t make a sound, Yifan could see light sobs shaking Joonmyun’s shoulders. He turned away, giving them privacy. Warm droplets splashed against Luhan’s face. These tears were different from the first time they met. Joonmyun was no longer the little boy who got lost in the woods. He had become a young man who had loved and then lost. His tears were of anguish, of mourning, of something deep and dark like the heart of the woods. Luhan could feel the pain in Joonmyun’s tears as they rained upon his skin.  “Hey,” Luhan said in a voice fainter than a whisper. “Why are you crying? I’m not dead.” When Yifan turned back around, it was no longer Joonmyun holding Luhan in his lap, but Luhan holding Joonmyun, whose face was buried in his neck. Luhan’s skin had regained its color, and his hair was lustrous once again. He was laughing, rubbing his hand across Joonmyun’s back and nosing at the young prince’s neck.  Yifan approached closer in bewilderment and saw that, despite Luhan’s smile, his face was also streaked with tears. Joonmyun mumbled something, and Luhan’s smile faltered. He wiped his face with the cuff of his sleeve and rested his cheek against Joonmyun’s forehead. When he looked up to see Yifan standing nearby, Luhan disentangled himself from Joonmyun, stood up, and held Joonmyun at arms’ length by the shoulders. He pressed a kiss to Joonmyun’s forehead and murmured, “Goodbye, my sweet prince. Be brave,” before fading into the darkness, disappearing right before their eyes. Yifan learned that night of the existence of powers beyond his comprehension, of the unearthly link between the woods and its inhabitants. It was a completely different world, after all—a living, breathing place protective of its creatures. Before parting ways, Joonmyun and Luhan had quietly agreed to stay within their own worlds. Joonmyun had fallen lovesick upon entering the woods, but Luhan had fallen mortally ill upon exiting it. Joonmyun would never belong in the woods, and Luhan would not be able to live if he left. Though he longed for Luhan every now and then, Joonmyun understood that part of it was the woods’ power, drawing him in. The further he stayed away, the less suggestible he became, and he was eventually able to resist the temptation of returning altogether. Luhan would always occupy a special place in his heart, but keeping Luhan only in memory allowed Joonmyun to open his eyes to someone else who had always been by his side for as long as he could remember. Someone who loved him in the best of times and in the worst of times.  The soil is rich with stories in the woods. Seeds are scattered by the wind and watered with raindrops and the tears of lovers lost and found. They say that each tree has a soul, listening to the stories carried on the breeze, reaching up to the sky to get closer to the stars. Except for one tree, who loved the earth too much. Its branches kissed the ground, caressing the earth like lips against a lover’s forehead. This tree heard the cries of a scared little boy alone at night and then the soft sobs of the same boy years later. If a tree could want, this tree wanted nothing more than to dry the tears of the boy who it felt had a kind, generous soul. And so it gave up the last few rings around its trunk to the other boy in his arms, a child of the woods. The weeping boy never returned, but his eyes eventually regained their sparkle once more. And the child of the woods remained in his forest home, and eventually he, too, learned to love again. But that’s another story.

A/N: (luhan is a tree spirit btw)