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Kai first saw him teetering close to the boundary. Multiple times.
A young man, maybe in his early twenties. Easy on the eyes, head in the clouds. Youthful and a little ditsy as Kai watched him wander around curiously, searching for something.
Kai wasn’t stupid. He knew what that young man was searching for.
Him.
Rumors that a beautiful, enchanting presence resided in the forest. Rumors that this beautiful, enchanting being could give anyone what they wanted. Could bring them to paradise.
It was funny because Kai’s job was to guard their idea of paradise which wasn't even paradise to him. And he was never nice to those who tried to trespass. Not only because he was easily angered when humans sought him out. But also because he relished in watching their expressions contort deliciously when they got up close to him and found out that no.
This was no paradise. And he was no angel.
He’d stayed at the boundary, watching and waiting, veiled vaguely by his magic. Time worked differently in his kingdom and on Earth. But in that tiny gap between the boundaries, Kai could see time pass in a blur from where he was. A little surreal, all things magical considered.
So he waited for the man to come back daily. And the one day he traversed close enough, Kai revealed himself and he observed with delight as the man stepped closer carefully, entranced by the pair of eyes which watched him closely.
And the moment the clueless human, too inquisitive for his own good, trampled upon the border, Kai felt his lips curl into a conniving grin. Pissed and pleased.
The color drains from the man’s face when Kai yanks him forcefully by the collar.
“Lovely one,” he coos, and the man’s confusion gives way to apprehension.
Sadly it isn’t fear he sees and Kai isn’t quite satisfied yet.
“Did you know time works differently here?” he drags a slender finger across the man’s chin. “When pretty humans like you cross the boundary and try to return back, they get old and wrinkly and die.”
Smiling, he drawls, “But if you stay, I won’t hesitate to kill you. Humans don’t belong here.”
Kai isn’t lying. He can’t actually lie. Everything he’s said is true. It’s just that the human hasn’t actually crossed the boundary. Merely stepped on it, giving him enough reason to be pissed. It's a personal gripe of his to have to find excuses to be mean to humans even though he doesn't actually have to. He could've gone right up to the human himself, but he had this thing for actually waiting for his prey.
And the panic adorning the human’s features makes his smile widen.
“You can go back alive,” - another truth. He just needs the human to respond the right way.
“What do you want from me?”
Hook. Line. Sinker. And the quiver in the voice makes it more fun.
He inches closer to the fearful human, staring right into the glassy eyes that meet his own glowing ones.
“Your firstborn. He’ll be mine and married to me at 21.”
-
Kai visits the human world to collect his trophy. In his world, 30 years is nothing. But it’s a little amusing how long that human tried to drag out having a kid and he wonders if he even still remembers their deal.
It doesn’t matter. Because Kai would never forget any pact made with him.
Frankly, it's not like he wants to get married to a human. He just wants to watch a human suffer while being victim to him and his ploys. It’s part of who he is. And even if he knows loneliness is a good look on him, he would still like a little source of entertainment with him back in the kingdom.
Of course, Kai hopes his king won’t be mad at him for bringing a human in without permission. He hasn’t exactly bothered listening to any rules, having been left to his own devices since forever. But it doesn’t matter, because if good ol’ King Soobin decides on forcing him to get rid of the human, it wouldn’t mean anything to Kai anyway.
So he comes to collect his trophy, brimming with glee when he knows what he’s about to see.
See the way an innocent human slowly gets hit by the realization that he’s losing his entire life in a flash.
Perhaps, if he’s lucky, he’ll even get a glimpse of the horrified expression the boy’s father will wear on realizing that what he saw years ago wasn’t just a figment of his wild imagination.
But he doesn’t get any of that.
Because he arrives as the clock strikes 12 – arrives to the sight of his trophy lying on his porch barely breathing.
The rotting wood creaks with every step and he finally discerns that the human isn’t dead when he pushes himself up with his elbows to assess Kai with searching eyes.
There’s a long beat of silence but the man’s face never gives way to any hint of fear. Kai vaguely entertains the possibility that he might not even know what his father had gotten him into 30 years ago.
“You’re the fae my dad talked about,” the human points out and Kai belatedly realizes that he’s pretty. Rough on the edges, weathered down by human life and perhaps a tinge of its cruelties. But pretty. A delicate type of beauty that didn’t quite match the bloodied tunic he sported. Didn’t match the bruises and cuts littering his skin.
Maybe he should’ve stuck around to find out what left his human so fucked up.
“You’re as beautiful as he described,” the man heaves and looks up properly at Kai, scrutinizing him intensely. “Enchanting indeed. I can see why he wanted you.”
The sight is a lot to take in. The human lies half propped up by his elbows, grinning lazily, as if he wasn’t physically injured, nearly at the brink of death and about to be forcibly married to an otherworldly being known for evil and trickery.
“The name is everything to fae right? That’s how you got my dad.”
It’s more of a statement but Kai still has to answer it. He raises an eyebrow, nodding, and he learns that the humans he’d messed with weren’t as foolish as he thought.
“The name is everything. But that is not how I got your dad.”
This human is already his. He knows that. But there will still be certain… Limits. With Kai unaware of his name. But it’d be fun to force it out of the human. He didn’t get to see him crumble on having his life ripped away, but maybe it’d be comparatively enjoyable to watch him guard his name and then have it expertly coerced out with a little trickery.
“Choi Beomgyu.”
Kai freezes, eyes widening.
“Choi Beomgyu’s my name. Take it.”
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Not at all.
“I’m all yours now, aren’t I?”
Beomgyu closes his eyes, succumbing to exhaustion as he stills, chest rising and falling weakly, and Kai can only stand there and gape.
I’m all yours now, aren’t I?
-
Kai wakes up to Beomgyu wandering around his large and rather empty room without an ounce of fear, even as his wounds gape disconcertingly. He isn’t new to blood and torture, but as the one usually inflicting things like that, he isn’t sure how he can help the human heal anyway.
He’s come across many humans, foolish and inferior, yet the way Beomgyu trots about, exploring the place, like he hasn’t nearly died – possibly twice in a row – is pretty odd.
“Am I your husband now?”
If Kai hadn’t been fully awake, he is now. And his confusion has only soared.
“Technically yes,” he answers after a long beat, “it is a pact for the human as much as it is for me.”
“Okay,” Beomgyu acknowledges from afar, having taken to sitting by the large windowsill, his legs crossed as he gazes out, skin tinted a soft yellow by the morning sun.
“What do I call you?” Kai isn’t falling for this, he’s the fae here, even if Beomgyu gave up his own name willingly.
“Hubby? Darling? Love?”
The fae chokes on his spit, shooting up from the couch where he had fallen asleep on, not having thought of arranging for a second bed to his quarters yet. It’d arouse a little too much suspicion on Soobin’s end too.
“What?”
Beomgyu turns to face him, an amused grin adorning his boyish features – jarring against the healing gash across his cheek.
“Sugar pie? Sweetie? Which one will it be?”
“Anything is fine,” and then he backtracks unsurely, “but love sounds more normal.” It gets hard to swallow after he mentions it. A little too much innocent affection he isn’t used to.
The human beams.
“Okay, hubby.”
Kai shakes his head resignedly and Beomgyu’s grin fades into a soft, sad smile as he turns back to the window.
“You have a garden here.”
Nodding, and still genuinely confused by the turn of events and the way Beomgyu is behaving, Kai pads over to the windowsill, carefully reaching over and pushing the latch.
The toasty breeze that hits them sends Beomgyu’s overgrown hair flowing in the wind and Kai feels something foreign twist in his chest when the human leans back to rest his head against his stomach.
“It’s just a bed of wildflowers, but I can take you there.”
Beomgyu doesn’t look up, smiling wistfully at the multitude of withering wildflowers ahead. Kai has never been one with green fingers after all. He's taken more lives than the other way round.
“Okay.”
-
“Why 21? Why didn’t you just take me when I was born? You could’ve made me your doll. Have me at your bidding,” Beomgyu wonders out loud, digging his fingers into the earth.
The words stir something in Kai and he steps forward slowly, eyeing Beomgyu who now has his fingers completely sunk in the soil.
Kai hadn’t known what to do with Beomgyu – his supposed husband who traversed his grounds without a hint of fear despite being a human vulnerable to being tortured and exploited at the whims of an otherwordly being.
So he’d left the human to his own devices for the past few days, and the man had seemed content hanging out around his sorry excuse of a withering garden, staying there for hours on end, even on days where Kai spent a fair amount of time away, disappearing quietly to head off and guard the boundary even when he wasn't needed.
“21’s the crown age for humans isn’t it?” he replies.
The ends of Beomgyu’s lips curl into a sardonic grin but he doesn’t look up, lazily keeping his attention on the ground.
Kai continues, “The age where you’re finally becoming an adult. Where life really starts and you should be venturing out, meeting new people, having connections with other humans.”
“I wanted to watch your face when I ripped that all from you.”
Kai can’t exactly lie, but contorting the truth and packaging it in a manner which pleases yet befuddles humans is the core of his very being. Yet he doesn’t feel that conniving urge when it comes to Beomgyu. Perhaps he’s more intrigued by Beomgyu. Occupied by the way he brings surprise after surprise despite the number of humans he has met – and fucked over – his entire life.
The human laughs hollowly.
“Were you disappointed? You didn’t get to see any of that.”
Kai shrugs.
“I told you, time works differently here. 30 human years go by in a flash. And I can also always wait for another foolish human to stumble close enough to the boundary.”
Beomgyu finally looks up, fingers stilling. And Kai straightens up under the hard gaze.
“Come here.”
Matching his icy stare, Beomgyu’s voice is dry and calm.
Kai still feels compelled to listen, padding over and crouching down after a pause.
“Until I cross the boundary and maybe turn old and wrinkly, I’ll operate on your time right?”
He nods, unsure what the human is getting at.
Beomgyu finally pulls his fingers out from the ground, dirt overflowing from where he has his hands cupped.
“Hands.” Kai takes a moment before he stretches his own hands out.
The soil carefully transferred to his hands settles warm and damp, a lone tiny yellow wildflower sitting small and sad in the middle of it all.
“From now till you decide to kill me, don’t talk about looking for any other human.”
Something dead stirs alive and starts shifting restlessly in Kai’s chest.
“Is that a command?”
“It’s a demand. From your husband.”
Beomgyu stares at him before breaking into an abrupt laugh, casually sweeping the dirt and tiny flower off Kai’s hands.
Chunks of soil fall back on the ground, the little flower disappearing in the heap. Beomgyu gets up, stepping right on the patch of messy dirt, trampling it flat on the ground with his foot.
He doesn’t look back, attention drawn to something else in the garden.
Kai looks down at the remnants of dirt settled in the little wrinkles on his hands before glancing back at the spot where Beomgyu’s footprint is still visible on the loosened soil.
A tiny tinge of yellow peeks out from the heap of dirt.
-
They don’t make much progress. In fact Kai has started to grow resigned to the fact that it will take a lot more brain power for him to decide what to do with Beomgyu.
Typically, he’d be open to tormenting a pathetic human, maybe enchant them till they went head over heels for him. Then he'd proceed to disappear and leave them to suffer in unrequited want till he got bored and finally got rid of them.
He doesn’t think he wants that anymore. Not with this particular human, because it haunts him to a certain extent – the way Beomgyu looked like he already had his entire life ripped apart before Kai even stepped in.
So he doesn’t talk much more to Beomgyu, spending more and more time guarding the boundary, even when there is no sign of human life in the vicinity calling for his attention.
Not until days later when Kai wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night, jolting awake when he spots Beomgyu crouched right in front of him, face right in front of his own.
He yelps a little and the other man merely stares at him for a long beat before bursting into boisterous laughter. It grates Kai’s nerves and he glares back annoyedly till he regains enough consciousness to observe how different Beomgyu looks, laughing so freely. A little boyish, a little more innocent, a little like a whole different human.
“What do you want?” he gruffs out, sitting up groggily.
Miming a zip to his mouth sheepishly, Beomgyu responds anyway, “Isn’t the couch uncomfortable?”
Kai doesn’t need his telepathic abilities to know what Beomgyu is getting at, and he can’t help the way his heart thuds just a little more heavily.
“It’s a big couch,” he mumbles back.
Beomgyu opens his mouth to retort but shuts up immediately after he does a visual sweep of the huge couch the fae is currently seated on. And once again, Kai truly can’t help the snort that leaves his mouth.
“Well,” the human drawls anyway, “Let’s not beat around the bush. I want you to sleep on the bed.”
Kai raises an eyebrow.
“With me.”
“I’m good on the couch.” Not a lie. Not totally.
“We’re married,” Beomgyu points out.
He lets out a resigned sigh finally when he realizes the human isn’t going to budge. “Yes we are.”
Beomgyu’s face lights up and he stands up, extending a hand towards the fae, “Is that a yes?”
Sighing once again, Kai takes the offered hand and for a moment, he realizes he’s long forgotten how warm someone else's touch could feel. It throws him off for a moment and he follows dumbly as Beomgyu drags him to the bed.
He settles awkwardly on his half of the bed while Beomgyu fluffs up his pillows and curls up into a ball, facing Kai who lies on his back, stiff as a board.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers suddenly, “I felt bad for taking your bed for so long.”
“It’s okay. It’s a big couch like I said.”
“Aren’t you supposed to torture me? Why’re you taking care of me instead?”
Kai can’t lie. He knows that. But he also knows how to twist the truth, this time to protect himself. Yet he finds it hard to even do so, especially when he can feel Beomgyu’s assessing gaze scrutinizing him so intensely.
“It's nothing. And you were already tortured enough without me doing anything,” he replies hesitantly. There’s a long beat of silence and he isn’t sure if his honesty has left the human upset. They haven’t interacted much, but he doesn’t know what things push Beomgyu’s buttons, what he’s like when he’s angry, or even what he’s like as a person.
More silence. And the steady breathing on his side nearly lulls him to sleep after long quiet minutes.
A dry chuckle rips him out of his groggy haze and the words that follow make his blood run cold for a good moment.
“How do you know I wasn’t tortured because of you?”
-
“What are married couples supposed to do?” Beomgyu asks offhandedly when they’re hanging out at the garden again. Kai’s kneeling in the overgrown grass, diligently trimming the withered plants as per his husband’s instructions and the question takes him aback.
It’s still a little weird that Beomgyu’s so open to calling him his husband. Not what the fae expected even though it had been his own pact in the first place. Frankly, he’d expected massive resistance which would allow him to consider tormenting his human partner to death.
Back to the present situation, Beomgyu had decided that reviving Kai’s garden was of paramount importance and begrudgingly, the latter agreed to help since it was. Well. His garden after all.
The sudden question surprises him and he actually thinks. Obediently thinks back about his own family. There hadn't been much love in his kingdom, none even till they were completely overthrown and massacred. Even till the end, they had been struggling to survive individually, throwing each other in the line of attack right until the very second their hearts were finally ripped out one by one. So honestly–
“I don’t know.”
“And I think most things married couples do, others can probably do too without strings attached,” he ponders aloud.
“So y’all just hold massive fae orgies here?”
Kai flings a bunch of withered grass at him. The shriveled, brown blades float pathetically in the air before falling into a scattered heap, eliciting a string of complaints from the human who has to bend down to pick it all up.
“Do you just randomly ask for people to give their firstborns up for marriage?”
“Nope,” Kai answers easily.
If he thinks harder, he can probably discern the fact that he’d been a little woozy back then, randomly spewing bullshit and getting him into the odd predicament he’s finding himself in today. Kneeling in fucking grass and cleaning the goddamned garden because a mere human told him so.
“You’re a weirdo.”
Kai narrows his eyes. “Stop talking as if you know what it’s like to be married either.”
Getting up after gathering the scattered grass blades in his palms, Beomgyu looks at Kai seriously.
“As a matter of fact, I do. For humans at least.”
He raises an eyebrow in challenge and Beomgyu simply places the withered grass in their dead plant heap.
Dusting his hands, he steps forward right into Kai’s face, close enough to touch. Momentarily, the fae thinks he’s the one being enchanted right now, enraptured by the way Beomgyu blinks prettily, overgrown burgundy hair framing his porcelain cheeks and cascading just shy off his shoulder blades in the light breeze.
He plants both hands on Kai’s shoulders, breath fanning against Kai’s lips when he speaks again, “They do stuff like this.”
Before he can process the meaning behind Beomgyu’s words, the human closes the distance pressing his lips gently against Kai’s. It’s barely a soft little brush, but it sends every fiber of Kai’s being into overdrive and he’s left gaping and frozen even as the human – his human – stalks away, grinning and returning back to plucking weeds.
Kai isn’t new to intimacy. But with Beomgyu, he thinks even the slightest touch can leave him a little dizzy.
And he isn’t sure he wants to let the human force his way into his uncertain heart.
Not when he doesn't yet believe in love.
Much less in being able to love a human.
-
For all the warped ideas Kai has had in humanity and humans, he thinks the worst thing to happen is having that tiny pinch of faith in one of them. Maybe it’d been more than faith. Kai doesn’t know what name to put to all the new emotions he’s developing towards Beomgyu.
Maybe it’s a soft spot, or maybe it’s a little hope that there’s somebody who is willing to stick with him for a while. All he knows is that he kind of trusts Beomgyu. Has a little bit of faith in him.
But it all disappears in a snap, even before anything concrete had been allowed to form, because Beomgyu gets caught by one of Soobin’s minion faes. He hadn’t just been caught. He’d been caught wandering out of Kai’s living area, right smack in the middle of the massive field which led to the boundary.
Kai hadn’t noticed, because well, he had been at the boundary itself, where a group of humans had been ambling in the vicinity. It was his job to guard the area after all, even if he spent most of his other time with Beomgyu when he could.
But he learns about it anyway. Worse. In the form of a message from Soobin’s minions. A low-form fae who spoke haughtily, yet mellowed down immediately when Kai’s rage burnt crimson in his eyes.
Soobin had demanded to see him, but only after he collected his human. And so he does, angrily stepping into the holding cell. Beomgyu pads up to him instantly, and despite his relief on seeing no new bruises or injuries on his skin, Kai spins around without a second glance, brisk walking their way back to his room as the human trails after him, struggling to keep up.
A mess of emotions burns wildly inside him, and Kai doesn’t know how to deal with them, or even Beomgyu at all, keeping silent until he flings his room door open, the door screeching at its hinges. His human stares back confusedly, taking in the way Kai’s behaving.
“Did you think you could get away with this?” he starts, breaking the silence with barely veiled frustration.
The way Beomgyu stares back innocently only makes his restrained rage tip dangerously.
“Get away with what?”
“You tried to escape!” he roars, and Beomgyu flinches. But his shock gives way to indignance.
“Don’t fucking yell at me,” he snaps back and Kai can quite literally feel his own irises burn fiery.
“You’re my human and I can take everything you have with a snap of my fingers,” he spits and hurt flashes across Beomgyu’s face before he shoves Kai out of his room – Kai’s own fucking quarters – and slams the door shut.
It takes all of his self-control to resist the dark, twisted urge to break the door down to teach Beomgyu a lesson, and he squeezes his eyes shut, breathing raggedly as he tries to calm down, one arm supporting himself against the door.
Betrayal.
Faith in humans always resulted in betrayal, and Choi Beomgyu was no different.
-
Meeting Soobin is something Kai doesn’t particularly enjoy. And if he’s being honest, such instances have also been far and few.
Soobin smirks at him the moment he settles in his chair, sullying his already very sullied mood, and he is instantly reminded why he hates meeting their King.
“What do you want?” he snaps impatiently the moment the last minion is excused from the court.
“Chill Kamal, I’m not going to take your human away. The guards took him, thinking he was a trespasser.”
“Riveting. Now can you please stop calling me that and get on with the punishment?”
Soobin simply laughs haughtily, fueling his annoyance, “I know you don’t attend kingdom meetings but I didn’t know you had no clue about our basic laws.”
He scrunches his face, continuing, “And it still feels weird to call you Huening after I personally wiped out every other Huening to exist. Now what should I call you?”
The way his family name rolls off his King’s tongue reminds him of the very day, thousands of human-years ago, a bloodied Soobin charged into his room to get rid of the final and last Huening, hungrily excited to take over the throne. Soobin had eyed him with the same playful smirk on his face when Kai offered no retaliation, or even horror on learning that his entire family had been brutally killed.
“Ah, the youngest Huening, not even putting up a fight,” the dark fae had crooned, tilting Kai’s chin up, “maybe I’ll keep you around.”
“Loneliness is a good look on you.”
He snaps back to reality and scowls at the other fae.
“You think you’re so slick, trying to get my full name? And you can always call me Huening,” Kai replies sickeningly sweetly with the fakest smile ever and Soobin narrows his eyes.
“Whatever. Anyway, I just wanted to find out about your deal with the human," - he takes in the blank look on Kai's face - "but I don’t think you even know that yourself yet.”
He swears he’s just about done with the fae king’s cryptic words. Not when the other half of his mind is still caught on the fact that Beomgyu had tried to escape. Choi Beomgyu, his human, his supposed husband had toyed with his heart cruelly by trying to escape after pretending to be sweet and shit.
Even worse. Kai had nearly believed him.
“Well there’s no punishment. I kept you around to guard the boundary. And you’re doing fine at that.”
Kai rolls his eyes, leaning back on his chair.
“But I’ll have to say, it’s new and a little weird to see anyone here take such a strong liking to a human and worry about their wellbeing.”
Kai has no idea where the other fae got that from and so he squints, ready to argue, but Soobin is quick to continue.
“Loneliness is a good look on you. I know I said that,” - he gets up to leave - “but happiness is a better look on you.”
He groans in frustration to seemingly no one since Soobin has already left to do god-knows-what.
Happiness is a far cry from what he’s feeling and he doesn’t know if he’s mad Beomgyu had tried to escape or that his Beomgyu had tried to escape.
-
“Open the door Choi Beomgyu.”
No response. He pounds on the door for the tenth time in the past twenty minutes. If Soobin saw this scene he’d have the best laugh of his lifetime. A fucking fae getting locked out of his room by a mere human.
“Open up before I tear the door down.”
Still no response. It’s not a lie. He’s this close to ripping the door off its hinges. Groaning tiredly he bangs on the door one more time.
“Open up or I’ll set the garden on fire,” he declares loudly one last time and the rustling on the other side of the door is music to his ears.
But he isn’t ready for a fuming Beomgyu to greet him the moment the door is flung open and the puffy, watery eyes that meet his own send a tiny pang to his heart.
“Did you cry because you failed to escape?” he spits mercilessly and Beomgyu curses back angrily.
“Go away fucker.”
“This is my home.”
Beomgyu pushes past him and for a second, his worry spikes when he considers the fact that his human might do the unthinkable and rush across the boundary. It’s inexplicable, the way he realizes belatedly that he isn’t worried about Beomgyu escaping anymore.
He’s worried about the consequences of Beomgyu crossing the boundary.
Worried about his human leaving him and returning back to whatever horrifying life he’d left behind.
Kai runs up to Beomgyu at lightspeed, gripping his wrist reflexively.
“Don’t.” The commanding note of finality in his voice makes Beomgyu freeze, though he resolutely elects not to turn around.
“I’m going to the garden. I don’t want to see you.”
Kai pulls Beomgyu to face him easily still, though his gaze remains deliberately averted.
“Is it that painful to be here? Why do you want to escape so badly?” His voice is small and vulnerable and his human looks up finally, softening.
“I don’t want to see you because I’m mad,” – Kai stares back cluelessly – “I’m mad you assumed I was escaping.”
“What?”
“I’m mad you didn’t have faith in me. I wasn’t escaping. And you didn’t even listen to my explanation before yelling at me.” Beomgyu kicks at his feet and Kai feels a little embarrassed on realizing the potential possibility that he’d made a big fuss out of nothing.
“I wanted to follow you to whatever place you were headed to everyday because I woke up and you weren’t around.”
Kai’s anger dissipates for a moment before it quickly gives way to utter shame.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles awkwardly, and Beomgyu shrugs.
“Now can you leave me alone? I’m still mad.”
Letting go reluctantly, Kai realizes that he misses the warmth under his fingertips. Misses it more when Beomgyu disappears into the garden.
It takes a great deal of trouble and utter embarrassment but Kai eventually makes his way to Soobin’s palace and trades a tiny fragment of diamond from the human world – something he’d found on his many ventures there in the past – for a single thing off his King’s lush garden.
But he thinks the little smile he manages to catch flitting across Beomgyu’s features when he finally returns back to their living quarters is worth all the judging and amused stares from Soobin. Because Beomgyu holds the delicate stalk of golden daisy gently in his hands, looking at it with such wonder in his eyes, a thought burns dangerously in Kai’s mind.
Happiness looks good on Beomgyu.
The thought keeps him awake for hours even as he lies at the other end of the bed beside Beomgyu. His husband must have thought he’d fallen asleep because he curls up on Kai’s side, barely touching him. Tracing a finger along Kai’s forearm before gently slotting his hand into his open palm, Beomgyu whispers softly, words floating into the quiet night.
Kai catches them anyway, heart pounding harder as he pretends to be asleep.
“Good night, love.”
-
Kai learns that he must usually sleep like a log because that very night, he lies awake for the first time, hyper aware of Beomgyu’s presence next to him, warm hand in his.
And that’s when he finds his human starting to shake like a leaf somewhere in the night, startling him. Beomgyu grips his hand tighter, palms growing clammy and for a moment Kai is bewildered, before he senses it.
Terror. Fear. Pain.
If it’d been a nightly thing, Kai hates that he’d missed it while sleeping like the dead – usually also scooting as far away from Beomgyu as possible despite sleeping on the same bed. But he also has no idea what to do and all he can do is shift awkwardly to pull Beomgyu into an embrace. His human clings to him like a lifeline with the change in position and he wraps his arms around him protectively on instinct.
“Shh. It’s okay. I’m here,” he murmurs softly, rubbing Beomgyu’s back tenderly till the trembling gradually calms down. And then, he finally registers the dampness on his chest. It breaks his heart and Kai knows he isn’t supposed to feel this way for a human. But it rings in his head.
What really fucked Beomgyu up so bad before he’d picked him up that day?
-
“Did you study about husband duties while I was mad or something?”
Kai furrows his eyebrows, forcing open his heavy eyelids. Grunting, it takes him a moment before he registers Beomgyu’s face inches away from him. Having only fallen asleep for a real brief time, he’s suddenly aware of the way he still has the smaller man wrapped tightly in his embrace.
But he makes no effort to move, because Beomgyu is right there. The beautiful human who’s more enchanting than any other fae he’s met is right there, pretty lips parted close enough for him to dive into.
“You were… Shaking in your sleep. Like you had a nightmare,” he replies hoarsely.
Beomgyu’s face darkens, teasing smile dropping instantly.
“Beomgyu,” – his husband stiffens on being addressed by his name – “what happened before I took you?”
For a moment, Beomgyu looks so upset, he thinks he might hightail right out.
“You happened.”
Kai stops breathing for a while.
“After my dad saw you, he was obsessed with finding you again. But after years of failing, he realized that he’d only see you again when you came to collect his firstborn.” Beomgyu averts his gaze.
Kai isn’t stupid. And gloomy foreboding fills him.
“At some point, he got tired of waiting and started believing you’d show up early if your little plaything was at the risk of getting damaged permanently.”
He doesn’t elaborate but Kai can easily guess what happened next.
“I was hoping you’d kill me when you finally came to collect me. I was happy you finally came. Because anywhere was better than where I was.”
“Where’s he now?” Kai can’t help the way anger surges in his veins and he’s sure it shows in his irises.
Beomgyu laughs, “Probably wallowing away because I blocked his last attempt at seeing you.”
“No better time to finally fight back,” he looks right into Kai’s eyes, “I wanted to see his face twist when he realized he couldn’t see the one thing he desperately fought to find for over 30 years. You would’ve enjoyed it. I had him locked up inside while I waited outside for you.”
The earnest way the smaller man recounts it without batting an eyelid has Kai completely thrown off.
“I didn’t enchant him,” he defends himself quietly and Beomgyu merely smiles.
“Do you hate me?”
Beomgyu huffs softly, turning away.
“No. He’s his own person.”
Sympathy and guilt isn’t something Kai should ever feel. Not when he’s a being known for his cruelty. But it makes his heart sink knowing Beomgyu may not be capable of feeling hate.
May not be capable of feeling anything anymore.
He leaves his human in the garden a couple of hours later, heading to the boundary to fulfill his duties.
And if Beomgyu notices the blood caked under Kai’s nails when he returns before sunset, he doesn’t say anything.
But if he does ask, Kai would be happy to tell him that even in his last moments, he hadn’t given the old man a chance to see his face again.
Ever again.
He thinks Beomgyu would be just as happy to hear that.
-
“Keep your grubby hands to yourself,” Kai warns and Soobin snickers.
Beomgyu lets out a little excited cheer as the kingdom’s designated gardener shows him a bed of rainbow tinted flowers in Soobin’s garden. Which actually looks like a garden – a fucking grand and flourishing one at that – unlike Kai’s pathetic excuse of a wildflower bed. But in his defense, those rainbow tinted flowers can’t possibly be real flowers. Kai’s all about natural authenticity. Definitely.
“Don’t worry, I’m not interested in touching your pretty husband.”
Husband. Husband.
It’s still a little hard for Kai to wrap his head around that, even though weeks have passed. Granted, apart from a single kiss, a peck in fact, they haven’t exactly done anything particularly husband-like.
He glares at Soobin as they trail after the pair in front, only to find him gazing fondly in Beomgyu’s direction. And then he realizes. Realizes and gags loudly, earning a rough shove on his shoulder. Beomgyu turns back curiously while the gardener peers over with his large orbs.
“What happened to your weekly fae orgies? Is this a monogamous thing?” he mocks after Beomgyu and the shorter gardener finally turn their attention back to the lush flower bed.
“There’s no ‘thing’. And those weren’t orgies, mind you.” Kai raises an eyebrow.
Soobin sighs, glancing contemplatively at the pair ahead of them. “He’s a changeling. Abandoned by his fae family and forced out from his human home in a witch hunt years back.”
“You took a changeling in?”
“You took a human in?” Soobin snaps back and Kai raises his hands in defeat before the fae king continues on.
“Yeonjun found him on one of his little trickery excursions. Almost dying. And apparently, he lost his name. He's been with me since.”
Kai winces.
“He doesn’t remember much and he’s a little lost too. You know how dire it is to have your name stolen.”
“Has being with you helped him?”
Kai isn’t that self-centered, even for a fae, but he also wants to know if his presence is honestly a good or bad thing for Beomgyu. Because time did move differently here. And if his human is better off back in his world, then time is of essence.
Beomgyu skips right up to Kai, presenting a single flower pot of bright yellow flowers ecstatically as the gardener follows behind, smiling bashfully and a little triumphantly.
Kai thinks he has his answer.
But some time later, when they’re preparing to leave, packets of seeds and gardening supplies in tow, Soobin pulls him aside swiftly.
“I don’t know what might even happen to him in future, and who even stole his name. I can only hope I’m helping him. But if he’s happy, that’s probably enough too.”
Kai smiles back, genuinely for once before an inquisitive Beomgyu shoots him a look, tilting his head.
“I’ll try my best too,” he promises and Soobin nods appreciatively, even though they both know the promise isn’t for any of them.
It’s Kai’s promise to Beomgyu.
A vow.
-
“Did you ever enchant me?”
The question is out of the blue, and it takes Kai by surprise. They’d been picking up the pretty fallen flowers across their now less-dead garden, when Beomgyu suggested making flower crowns purely because he thought it was a waste to throw those pretty flowers out. At least there are actually more healthy looking flowers than withering grass in his garden now.
“Even dying flowers are pretty, my lovely husband,” he’d said, and Kai had obediently proceeded to follow suit in attempting to make a terribly wonky flower crown. Mostly because Beomgyu pulled the precious husband card.
Kai’s fingers slacken around the vine in his hands and he looks down at Beomgyu who has settled in his lap, making the final touches to string up his arguably much more decent flower crown.
“No,” he breathes.
Beomgyu looks up, ethereal profile on full display with his soft hair splayed all over Kai’s thighs now.
He reaches up and rests his completed flower crown upon Kai’s head, and the latter can feel his jet black, overgrown hair fall over his eyes, obscuring a teeny bit of his vision.
“Yellow looks pretty on you,” Beomgyu mumbles, changing the topic quickly, and Kai has to resist the urge to lean right down and kiss the hell out of his husband.
Kai presents his own wonky crown, vines a little out of shape and flowers unevenly spaced as he dangles it in front of Beomgyu.
“Time to try yours out.”
His husband scoffs, sitting straight up and giving Kai’s creation the most judgemental stare ever. Kai carefully sets it upon his head anyway and his breath hitches instantly with the way the morning sun illuminates Beomgyu’s defined features, soft burgundy strands flowing in the breeze.
“Gorgeous as ever, my pretty little husband,” he finally manages, and a complementing pink tint graces Beomgyu’s ears as he coughs and slaps Kai in the shoulder.
“No thanks to you. Flowers can never do anything wrong, only men can,” he huffs haughtily, dramatically flicking his hair.
Their laughter dies down and Kai’s left gazing softly at his husband, mesmerized by the near angelic beauty shining back at him.
“I was wondering if you enchanted me, honestly,” Beomgyu starts, “because you’re making me want a lot of things.”
Kai draws a sharp breath.
“What things?” he murmurs. And his heart nearly jumps right out of his throat when Beomgyu comes dangerously close, climbing onto his lap and caging Kai’s waist with his thighs.
“Things like this,” he mutters softly before cupping Kai’s face in his hands and pressing his lips against his husband’s.
He pulls back after a moment and Kai’s brain short circuits.
Beomgyu may want things like that. But all Kai wants is Beomgyu. Choi Beomgyu, the human who suffered a life of numbing pain, yet still has the capacity to smile this beautifully in front of the very being that was the cause of his suffering.
And Kai’s sure at that moment, that he’d want Beomgyu no matter how fucked up and broken he may be. That he’d be there to protect his human, kiss every single wound, and do all he can to make sure his husband smiled genuinely.
So he grips a shyly retreating Beomgyu by the base of his neck, capturing his lips in another searing kiss. This time, it’s urgent, sincere, and Kai steals the opportunity to slip his tongue right in when Beomgyu gasps in surprise before melting right into the kiss and returning with matching fervor.
Swallowing every pretty noise Beomgyu makes, Kai pulls away for a second to lift Beomgyu up easily, the other man wrapping his legs around his waist securely and nipping on his ear as he steps urgently back to their room. Their home.
It’s the babbles that fall off Beomgyu’s lips when Kai’s presses impossibly close against Beomgyu, skin burning against his husband’s touch as he grinds down harshly, that distract him for a good moment. Incoherent babbles of ‘baby’ and what not that pull him out of his mental haze for a minute.
Kai stops all his movement, his husband looking up at him confusedly through damp lashes. Almost like he’s afraid he’s done something wrong. But he truly hasn’t.
“Kai,” he growls possessively and Beomgyu stares back puzzled.
“Huening Kamal Kai.” This time it’s serious and commanding.
Realization visibly dawns upon the beautiful man under him and his eyes grow dangerously watery.
“I’m all yours now.”
-
“You’re a noob Kai. Have you never learnt to dance?”
Kai jabs his waist ruthlessly, eliciting a loud yelp.
“I don’t know what a ‘noob’ is but watch your language,” he grunts though his reddening ears are a telltale sign that he is indeed a noob at dancing.
“Then! Keep! Up!” Beomgyu laughs, punctuating each word with a snap of his fingers.
“Okay twirl me like this,” he instructs and Kai fumbles with his limbs cumbersomely, halting his movements mid-twirl out of confusion.
Beomgyu ends up in an awkward position, neck bent backwards as he glares up at Kai because well, it would appear as though neither of them are, in fact, particularly skilled at couple dances. Despite all the bragging his husband has been on about.
Assessing Beomgyu’s grumpy expression, Kai barks out a laugh, letting go of his hand, grinning as he plants both hands to support his husband’s shoulders instead.
He bends down to plant a playful kiss and Beomgyu headbutts him swiftly in the chest, letting them fall in a heap on the grass.
Beomgyu slaps his chest even as they burst into boisterous guffaws.
“It was your idea to teach me to dance,” Kai chuckles, pulling the smaller man to lie on his lap.
“Well yeah, it’s the 365th sunrise I’ve seen with you. And well, our garden actually looks like a garden now. Celebrations always come with dances you know.”
“Humans count these things?” Kai muses, combing Beomgyu’s tousled hair with his fingers. He’d cut his long hair a while ago with the help of Yeonjun, another fae bestie of Soobin, who also called himself the only fae with a working sense of style. Now, the pretty burgundy strands only frame his breathtaking features more perfectly.
“Humans count all sorts of things. They call it anniversaries. But I’m gonna be serious. I don't actually know if I’ve seen 365 sunrises with you. Also, sometimes you really sleep like the dead.”
Kai snorts hard at that, bending down closer to look at Beomgyu directly.
“Doesn’t matter though,” his husband continues.
“As long as I see every single sunrise with you.”
Kai closes the distance.