Archive of Our Own ^beta

He blinks and sits up, looking around at the room he finds himself in.

The scene in front of him is one of chaos. He’s sat on the floor of what looks like someone’s living room, big enough to fit the numerous other occupants of the room, who are also laid out in various ungraceful positions across the floor. There’s a host of strewed furniture that’s been pushed back against walls and haphazardly positioned next to each other, as if someone particularly strong had been in and shoved everything back to make space in the middle of the room. Around him, the group of boys in their early twenties are picking themselves up from the floor, and he notices that everyone is positioned in a rough circle. In the middle is a blonde boy, who’s kneeling in the middle of the floor and crying his heart out, hands over his face and shoulders hunched in despair. His impulses tell him to comfort this boy, but he doesn’t know who these people are or where he is, so he lets a beautiful silver-haired man rush over instead and kneel beside the sobbing boy, taking his hands from his face and trying to comfort him.

“Seungkwan? It’s okay, Kwannie. Please try to calm down for me. I know you’re upset, but we’re here for you. We can fix this.”

He doesn’t hear what the silver-haired man says after that, because there’s a startled scream directly to his left. He jumps and looks over to try and identify it, but the guy next to him just stares right back at him, and then the panicked voice speaks up again.

“Where is my body? Where am I? Can anyone else see me? Oh God, I can’t see myself at all—”

The black-haired man across from him reaches out into the space between them, but is stopped by something invisible in between them. The voice yelps again.

“Soonyoung?” the black-haired man asks, as the imprints of invisible hands appear on his sleeves.

“Jihoon? Can you see me?”

“I can’t see you, but I can feel you, Soon. I think your vision might be fucked too? I’m not Jihoon, I’m Wonwoo.”

“You’re definitely Jihoon, Jihoon. Can anyone else see me? Or Jihoon?”

“Oh my God,” Not Jihoon says, staring across the room where another man is looking over at him in disbelief.

“What is it?” the invisible Soonyoung asks.

“Jihoon?” Not Jihoon says, and the man across the room nods.

“Wonwoo?” Jihoon asks tentatively, and Not Jihoon makes a distressed noise of affirmation.

“Have you two been body-swapped?” comes a voice from above them, and the four of them look up. There’s a boy floating above them, bobbing just below the ceiling, looking down on the scene with amusement.

“Chan!” says Invisible Soonyoung. “What are you doing on the ceiling?”

“What are you doing invisible, Hyung?” Chan replies, and Invisible Soonyoung doesn’t seem to have response to that.

“Guys!” The silver-haired man stands up by the blonde boy, Seungkwan, who is still teary but seems a lot less hysterical, prompting Silver-Hair to try to catch the attention of everyone else in the room. “Is everyone okay?”

“If you consider missing my body ‘okay’, then yeah, I’m peachy,” says Invisible Soonyoung.

“Thinking okay I am,” says a man emerging from behind an overturned sofa. He pauses and tries again. “Don’t sorry what know just I—” he stops again, and grabs his throat in alarm.

“Woof!” says a dog pushing between the TV and the table the TV presumably used to stand on, and by the way everyone looks at it, he thinks perhaps no one in the room owns this particular dog.

“Alright,” Silver-Hair says, looking around at the room. Seungkwan is still sat on the floor behind him, looking defeated and distant, his face blotchy from the crying. “I’m going to explain what just happened, and then I’m going to explain what we can do about it, so everyone listen up, alright?”

Just as he think this can’t get stranger, there’s a wail from a pile of cushions that sounds unmistakably like a baby. Silver-Hair jolts into action, striding over to the cushions and picking them up with caution. A moment later he gasps, and leans down to pick up an infant from between the cushions. As it’s lifted onto Jeonghan’s hip to view the room, the baby changes its mind about crying and instead looks around at the scene with wide-eyed curiosity. It’s wearing nothing apart from what appears to be an adult sized t-shirt, that slips from the baby’s shoulders and hides the rest of its body in its folds.

“Why are you holding a baby?” shouts a ruffled looking boy sat behind Seungkwan. He speaks with the character of an old man who can’t hear himself; too loud for the context, but unaware of it. “Also, it doesn’t look like anyone else has this problem, but I can’t hear anything.”

“Can you stop shouting?” A boy with a Chinese accent asks from next to him, though he doesn’t look at the ruffled boy. “I can’t see anything, but I can definitely hear you, Hansol. Do we have a baby in the room? Jeonghan, what the hell happened?”

“Okay,” Silver-Hair, or Jeonghan says, getting considerably more stressed by the minute. He helps the baby struggle to get an arm through the oversized sleeve. “So as you all know, Seungkwan has been having a hard time lately.” The Seungkwan in question lets out a little hiccup. “What just happened is what healer Witches call Hysterical Displacement. It’s when a witch, like Seungkwan, gets really stressed and upset, and they have a breakdown that results in their magic being forcefully expelled out of their body and onto other people.” Seungkwan is still staring ahead blankly, as if this conversation isn’t centred (literally, they’re all sat in a circle) around him.

“We can fix it by helping him solve what’s bothering him. As he gets better, the magic will return from your bodies back into his. A witch’s magic is unique to them, so it doesn’t work in other vessels, which is why the magic has manifested as side effects for you guys. Hey, can someone—Jihoon, can you write this down for Hansol?”

“I’m not Jihoon,” Wonwoo sighs, clearly resigned to saying that plenty in the near future, but he nonetheless grabs a pen and pad of paper from beside the upside-down coffee table and starts writing out Jeonghan’s words for Hansol.

“Let’s take stock, shall we? So: Hansol can’t hear, and Minghao can’t see. Seokmin, you seem to have some sort of—speech dissonance, right? Can you think clearly? Is it just your speech?”

“Talking hard yes. Okay thinking,” Seokmin says, with difficulty.

“Right. Then Jihoon, you are—”

Wonwoo looks up from his writing. “I’m Wonwoo. That’s Jihoon.”

Jihoon in Wonwoo’s body waves from the other side of the room, then starts looking at his hand with intense concern.

Jeonghan bumps the infant further up his hip, and it sticks a little fist in its mouth contemplatively. “Right. A body-swap. Could be worse.”

“I think my body is ignoring the law of gravity,” the boy on the ceiling says.

“Ah, there you are, Chan,” Jeonghan responds, craning his neck to see him. “Can someone pull him down from the ceiling? Won—I mean, Jihoon?”

Jihoon nods and stands, but then immediately wobbles on his feet and falls on his face. The room looks at him, and he frowns down at his legs. “These are very long.”

“I’ve got it,” Invisible Soonyoung says, and suddenly the sofa behind him is pushed so it flips back the right way up, and Jeonghan stage-whispers,

“Is Soonyoung invisible?”

“Yeah,” Wonwoo replies, still scribbling on the pad.

“Ah,” Jeonghan replies, as the imprints of feet appear on the sofa and Chan starts coming down from the ceiling, an invisible force pulling on his leg until he’s hovering over the sofa, unable to sit.

“Shall I sit on him?” Invisible Soonyoung asks.

“If that’ll keep him down,” Jeonghan replies. Chan then sits heavily on the sofa, legs squashed down by an unseen weight.

He notices Seungkwan finally seems present and aware, watching Chan come down from the ceiling and wiping the last of his tears on his sleeve. He reaches out to Jeonghan, indicating to the baby, and Jeonghan hands the infant over carefully.

“Is this Seungcheol?” he asks, his voice hoarse from the tears, clutching the baby in a gentle hold.

“I think so. He was wearing that shirt, right?” Jeonghan replies, voice soft.

Seungkwan nods and brings the baby in to rest against his shoulder. “What about you, Hyung?”

Jeonghan gives Seungkwan a small, reassuring smile. “My magic isn’t working. Yours and mine together has cancelled it out, I think.”

Seungkwan closes his eyes and lets out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, everyone.”

“It’s okay, Kwannie, it wasn’t your fault. I should’ve looked after you better. It shouldn’t have come this far. Besides, there’s no real damage done. Look, Mingyu is a dog. This was probably on his bucket list.”

This is all very overwhelming, he thinks, looking around at these strangers in this unfamiliar room with their odd ailments. The dog—Mingyu, apparently—comes over to him with his tongue hanging out in a happy pant, pawing at his legs excitedly. At least there’s a dog here, he thinks. Everything is better with dogs. He reaches out to scratch at his ears, which Mingyu seems to enjoy very much, padding over his legs to come closer and stand on his lap.

“Josh has come out without a scratch too, it looks like. You okay, Josh?”

The room is quiet, and he continues scratching the dog’s head as he waits to see what’s wrong with Josh. There’s an awful lot of people living in this house together, he thinks. Maybe they’re all friends who’d happened to be in the room when Seungkwan had his breakdown?

“Josh?” Jeonghan asks again, and he wonders if this Josh is mute or something. A hand grabs his arm, and he looks up at Jeonghan, who had crossed the room to come over to him and the dog without him noticing. Then he looks around the room to see every eye watching him, and something clicks.

“Am I Josh?”

Jeonghan gapes at him and sits back on his haunches. The dog whines.

“Wow,” Chan says from behind him. “Your magic must be really strong to erase memories, Hyung.”

Seungkwan doesn’t seem to think much of this compliment, as he bursts into tears again, which sets off the baby in his arms. Jeonghan rushes back over to take the baby from his hold and pass him to Seokmin, who says,

“It’s baby, okay,” as Jeonghan goes to bring Seungkwan into a hug, trying to hush him. Josh—for that seems to be his name—sits there awkwardly, continuing to stroke the dog, until the dog leaves him too, going over to lick Seungkwan’s face in comfort.

At that moment, the front door opens, and everyone turns to see another boy their age step through the front door and slam the door behind him.

“Does anyone know why I was just teleported down the street?” He speaks with a Chinese accent too, but he can barely get the sentence out before there’s a faint popping noise and he disappears, only to reappear at the other side of the room, almost standing on Jihoon. “Or why I keep doing that?” He sounds wearied, like it’s been a battle to try and get here. A few seconds later, he pops away again, only to reappear from what Josh presumes is the kitchen. Jeonghan sighs and buries his face in Seungkwan’s shoulder, who continues to cry softly.

“Helpfully, I’ve been writing everything down,” Wonwoo says, handing the pad over to the Chinese boy. He only just has time to grasp it before he disappears again, out of sight.

-

“Shua, I’m going to explain everything to you from scratch.”

It takes him a moment to register that Jeonghan is talking to him. Joshua is your name, he thinks. Try to remember it. Hold onto it; it’s all you have right now.

“Yes please,” he says, not sure what honourific he should use for Jeonghan, or any of the boys (and baby, and dog) in the room. Jeonghan has pulled out a white board from somewhere in the wreckage of the room, and starts writing down everyone’s names, various magic-meltdown issues, and then the names of various species besides that. By himself and Seungkwan, he puts Witch, which Josh had already gathered. By Hansol and Seungcheol he puts Werewolf; Seokmin and Jun have Fairy; Wonwoo and Minghao are Vampires. Various other magical species are put next to everyone’s names: Mingyu, Tree Nymph; Jihoon, Water Spirit; Soonyoung, Demon; Chan, Siren. By Joshua’s name, Jeonghan writes: Human.

“Do you know what a coven is, Joshua?”

“Yes,” he replies, truthfully. He can remember things that are common knowledge: he lives in a society of mixed humans and magical beings, though the two have a tense relationship. He knows witches need to live in covens of thirteen people in order to stabilise their magic, but that covens don’t need to be entirely witches: often they collaborate with fairies or vampires to form a coven. What that knowledge doesn’t explain is why he’s here, the lone human in a coven of magical beings. As far as he knows, it’s unusual for humans to even mingle with magical beings, never mind be magically bonded with them as part of a coven.

“Okay, great. Well, as you might’ve guessed, the thirteen of us are a coven, which is why we’ve been affected by Seungkwan’s magic so poignantly.”

“Even me?” Josh asks.

Jeonghan’s gaze turns soft. “Yeah, especially you. We’re like family.”

“Your being here does complicate things, though.” Josh gets the feeling that Jihoon is playing the bearer of bad news to Jeonghan’s placating presence, which is funny, considering he’s still struggling to stay upright. “It’s illegal for magical beings to use their abilities on humans without their express permission.”

Jeonghan sighs. “Yes. Usually, in an instance like this, we would take Seungkwan to get official help. Professionals would help him work through what caused his break. It could be sorted in a few hours. But our coven has always been scrutinised by the council. You faced difficulty trying to be legally recognised as part of it. They’d jump at the chance to prove that Human-Magical relations don’t work, and throw Seungkwan a sentence for using serious magic on a human.”

“I thought you said this was an accident, though?” Josh asks, his heart growing heavy as he comes to understand the situation he’s found himself in. With his memories gone, he has to trust these strangers to help him find them again; has to trust they’re being honest, and this isn’t an elaborate ruse to steal his mind and harvest his organs, or something.

“It is an accident. Seungkwan couldn’t have controlled this. But our area has a Human heavy population, and I have a suspicion the council wouldn’t be sympathetic with us. If they lock Seungkwan up, we’ll never get this sorted.”

Seungkwan is still sat in the middle of the room, now with Hansol on one side of him and Mingyu the dog on the other, Minghao at his back rubbing at tense muscles. He’s sitting very still, however, staring vacantly at the whiteboard beside Jeonghan. Jeonghan hurries on,

“Which is why we’re going to get it sorted ourselves, starting right now. Does anyone have any suggestions of things we can do to help Seungkwan out?”

“Meditation,” Minghao answers immediately. “And a good massage. You have so much tension, Seungkwannie.”

Seungkwan scoffs very gently, more like an exhale. “Yeah. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Let’s do something fun,” Soonyoung’s voice suggests. “It’s been ages since we did anything as a coven. We could go to karaoke?”

Jeonghan writes it on the board, beginning to run out of space under all the names.

“We should go and stay at my Ma’s house. I haven’t been there since…” Seungkwan trails off, and Josh gets the feeling that everyone in the room knows what he means, except him. He’s not sure how he can add to this discussion without knowing anything about Seungkwan or what he’s going through, so he sits and listens instead.

“Great,” Jeonghan says quietly. “This is a good start. I’ll call Minhyuk and get him to set up a portal for us tomorrow. For now, I think we all need a good night of sleep.”

Mingyu barks in agreement, startling the baby Seungcheol on Seokmin’s chest, who starts to whine. Seokmin tries to bounce him reassuringly. “Do what the baby about we do?” he asks anxiously.

“Give him here,” Jeonghan says, pulling the baby from Seokmin and into his arms. “I’ve looked after my baby cousins for years, this is no problem. Mingyu, can you make sure Seungkwan gets to bed? Chan…” Jeonghan trails off, stumped by Chan’s predicament. “Would you rather sleep on the ceiling or have Soonyoung—erm—sleep on top of you?”

Chan only giggles in response. “Don’t worry, Hyung. Soonyoung and I will work something out.”

Jeonghan sighs. “Alright. Minghao, Hansol, this might be asking a lot, but could you work together to show Josh to his room? Between you, you make a functioning human.”

Minghao sighs, but Hansol nods enthusiastically. Since Wonwoo had abandoned him to give Jihoon tips on managing his new body, Hansol had been attempting lip-reading to follow the conversation. Josh hopes he’s good at it.

“Yeah,” he replies, still talking a notch too loud for the level of the conversation. “C’mon, Hyung, lets practice our coven teamwork!” He takes Josh’s right arm, and Josh reaches out to guide Minghao to cling onto his left. They stand together, and Hansol guides them through to a long corridor with a dozen different doors, and deposits Josh in front of one halfway down the hall.

“This is mine?” he asks, not confident in their haphazard navigation skills.

Hansol just stares at him, not having caught what he’d said, but Minghao replies,

“Third from the left on the right-hand side of the hall?”

Josh does a quick count. “Yeah.”

“Then Hansol still has his brain intact. Goodnight, Hyung.” So Minghao is younger than him too, then. He’s trying to retain as much as he can, but twelve people is a lot to learn all at once.

“Goodnight.” He pushes open the door to his room, hoping Hansol will get the message and help Minghao to his room next.

He had been hoping that seeing his bedroom would mean something to him, would give him an indication of who he is and who these people really are, spark some sort of recognition. He walks in and sees a bedroom that looks like a bedroom, with a wardrobe and bed and an amount of cleanliness he hadn’t expected. There are some trinkets on the shelf that mean nothing to him, some manga books and textbooks that he doesn’t recognise. He catches himself in the mirror as he looks around, and his face doesn’t surprise him. He doesn’t remember it: it just looks like another face in the crowd, to him. He wonders what he thinks of his own face, usually; whether he likes it, or maybe he hates it. Objectively, he’s quite handsome, he thinks, but things always get distorted when you’re in your own head. On the bedside table are two picture frames: one shows him and the twelve other boys, at some sort of gathering. The other shows him with an older couple: his parents, he presumes. Maybe these guys aren’t lying, then. Maybe this really is his life.

It takes him some time to find his pyjamas, in the bottom drawer of the cabinet. He leaves the bedroom, makes a note of its location again, and wanders the house until he finds the bathroom. Distantly, he can hear the baby crying in one of the rooms, and Jeonghan attempting to calm him.

He meets Jihoon in the bathroom, who’s clutching onto the sink to maintain his balance. Helpfully, he points out which toothbrush is Joshua’s, which he appreciates. On his way back, he hears Seungkwan’s voice coming from one of the rooms and pauses in his tracks. He feels bad for the kid. He’d had a mental breakdown today, and everyone is so busy dealing with their own weird problems that Seungkwan had been left with the dog. Admittedly, a dog who used to be a person, but a dog nonetheless.

So he doesn’t think twice about it when he pushes open the door to the room he can hear the voice coming from. Seungkwan looks up at him from where he was murmuring something to Mingyu, mouth pushed into a frown.

“Hyung?” Another younger friend, then.

“Hi, Seungkwan. I didn’t really get a chance to speak to you back there. I wanted to check you’re okay.”

Seungkwan sways on the spot, even though he’s sat down on his bed. “You? Wanted to check on me?”

“Yeah.” Joshua looks at Seungkwan, who seems on the verge of tears again, and wonders if he’s made a faux-pas. Perhaps they’re not the closest members of the coven. “It seems like it’s been a big day for you.”

Seungkwan gives a strangled laugh. Mingyu curls up on his lap with a whine, and Seungkwan lets his hands rest in his fur. “You could say that. You currently don’t know who I am or what’s going on, though, and here you are, thinking about me.” He flops down onto his pillows and covers his face with his hands, voice shaking. “You should probably go to bed, Hyung. Relax.”

“I may not remember you, Seungkwan, but I am a quick learner. I understand that you’re having a hard time. I wanted to see if you needed anything.” He walks up to the bed and sits on the edge of the mattress, careful not to jostle Seungkwan.

Seungkwan drops his hands from his face and speaks in a wobbly voice. “I’m okay. Everyone’s going to try to fix me tomorrow, right? Fix Seungkwan, fix everyone. Don’t worry about it.”

Josh smiles softly. “That’s tomorrow. Things will be better then, but you should know that things can be better now, too. Be positive, and we’ll work through it together. Everyone here seems very caring. I hope you start to feel better.”

Seungkwan gives Josh a watery smile. “Thanks, Hyung,” he says, almost a whisper.

“Will you be okay in here on your own?”

“Woof!” barks Mingyu indignantly.

“Yeah, I know you’re here, but you’re not exactly about to offer comforting words, are you?” Josh replies.

“I’ll be fine,” Seungkwan says, with what seems to be a genuine smile at the exchange. “Mingyu is even more cuddly as a dog.”

Josh returns the smile and heads back towards the door. “Okay. Goodnight, Seungkwan.”

“Sleep well, Hyung.”

On his way out, he notices a photograph standing on Seungkwan’s dresser, amongst a clutter of hair products and makeup. It’s a picture of himself, Jeonghan and Seungkwan, sat together at a table, the remains of a meal in front of them. Josh is pushing his cheek against Seungkwan’s, Jeonghan doing the same on the other side of him, and they’re all smiling broadly, Seungkwan looking to be in the middle of a laugh. He has his arms around the blonde’s shoulders, Seungkwan’s hands resting in Jeonghan’s lap. They look intimate, close. He wishes he could remember the context.

-

That night, Josh has a strange dream. He’s laid in bed, naked, with someone else, but he can’t see them clearly. They’re warm and soft to hold, so he lays there and continues feeling sated, unbothered. He can hear singing coming from somewhere, sounding distant and close all at once, and he sits up to try and find the source. He realises he’s laid in Seungkwan’s room, on Seungkwan’s bed, but when he looks down the person is no longer beside him, replaced by Mingyu the dog, who morphs into Seungcheol the baby. The baby starts screaming and thrashing, so he goes to the door to call for Jeonghan, only when he opens the bedroom door, he’s in a different house. He looks back to see a wall instead of the doorway he had come through, so he ventures down the hallway. There, he sees the woman from the photograph—his mother—sat in the kitchen. She looks up at him, and shakes her head.

“Don’t come back here, Joshua.”

“But I’m happy,” Joshua finds himself replying, though he doesn’t know what either of them are talking about.

“It’ll kill you!” his mother screams, standing up, but as she does so, she transforms into the baby too, screaming and kicking on the floor. The screaming gets more distant, and Joshua feels like he’s being pulled back through a long, dark tunnel, and then he jolts awake, almost falling out of his bed. The sound of the real baby crying filters into his consciousness as hears Jeonghan walking down the corridor. He picks up his phone from the bedside table—he doesn’t know his passcode, so he can’t access it, but habit prompts him to pick it up—and sees that it’s just past four o’clock in the morning. He sighs, and slips out of bed, padding into the kitchen.

Jeonghan is standing in front of the humming microwave, trying to hush baby Seungcheol, who’s wailing pitifully. He looks around as he hears Josh come into the room, smiling wearily and patting the baby on the back.

“Sorry, did we wake you up?”

“Don’t worry about it. Do you need any help?”

“Yeah, actually—” Jeonghan makes to pass the baby over to Joshua, who takes him carefully, hoisting him up to rest in his arms as he cries. “Can you hold him while I sort out the milk? This would be so much easier if I still had magic, honestly.”

“No problem,” Josh replies, rubbing at baby Seungcheol’s back in small circles. He walks around the room, humming softly to the baby as Jeonghan hunts for a bottle. There are strange artefacts on every wall—some are normal group pictures, but there are more canvases with strange languages inscribed, and the jars in one cupboard glow as Jeonghan opens it, rooting around for the elusive baby bottle. Spices hang from the ceiling, some he recognises alongside bottles of things that look like nothing he knows, strange metals and various types of animal fur.

“It’s the full moon tomorrow,” Jeonghan explains. “Cheol and Hansol always get antsy when it comes around, so I suppose it’s no different for a baby wolf. Hopefully Seungcheol will be one of the first people to turn back, and we won’t have to put up with this for too long.”

Josh’s interest is piqued at the mention of their magical disaster. The knowledge he has doesn’t come close to explaining in this situation. “First to turn back? Do you think we’ll go back to normal in stages?”

“Aha!” Jeonghan finally pulls the bottle out from behind a sack of honeysuckle seeds. He rinses it out and pours the milk in. “Okay, I can have him back now.”

Joshua passes back the baby, and Jeonghan positions him in his arms, coaxing the distressed infant to drink. It doesn’t take long, and the kitchen is finally filled with blessed silence. Just as Joshua thinks his question will go unanswered, Jeonghan speaks up.

“The things that Seungkwan have been facing over these past few weeks have been heavy. They aren’t things that we can solve with some nice words and pats on the head. But by just giving him reassurance, being there and prompting him to face what’s weighing him down, it’ll create enough space in his body and mind to coax his magic back into him. My guess is that, after we get him a massage tomorrow, one or two of us will be reverted back to normal. Something as small as that can be a start. As we work through other things, each of us will be fixed. Seungkwan won’t be perfect, but as long as we can make things slightly better, or even just bearable for him, that will have a knock-on effect for his magic.”

Joshua nods his understanding. That makes sense. He can stay by Seungkwan, be a helpful presence, and even though that won’t fix all his problems, it’ll be enough to make a small impact.

“Is anyone going to tell me what these things are? That Seungkwan has been dealing with?” he asks, a little sulky. He’s lost all his memories, but no one seems to think about filling him in enough to let him help.

Jeonghan gives him a wearied smile. “I can’t tell you everything, Joshua. There’s some stuff the two of you should work through together.” Josh looks at him questioningly, but he can tell Jeonghan isn’t going to give him any more on that. “I suppose I should give you a heads up about going to Jeju, though. Seungkwan’s Ma died, nearly two weeks ago. He went to the service, stayed with his sisters and father for a few days, but refused to go back to her house, or visit her memorial. We all know it’s been hard for him. Things have been difficult since he came back to the coven.”

It all becomes clear to Joshua. No matter what else was going on in your life, the death of a parent (especially at Seungkwan’s young age) was viable reason to have a mental break, in his opinion. It also makes him realise the significance of Jeonghan’s words; grief isn’t something that can be fixed in a day. All they can do is be there, and try to help him relieve his stress.

“Like I said, though. You should talk to him. It might be exactly what he needs, being able to let his feelings out to a blank slate.”

“Did you just call me a blank slate?”

“A beautiful, brand new slate.” Jeonghan smiles at him. Baby Seungcheol has had enough of the milk and spits the teat of the bottle out of his mouth with a gurgle. Jeonghan places the bottle on the side and shifts the now sleepy baby to lay against his shoulder. “Are you okay, Shua? I know this must be a lot.”

Josh leans back against the kitchen counter, contemplative. “Yeah. I am okay. Even though I don’t know any of you, I don’t feel unsafe. Even though my memories are gone, I’m not panicked. I don’t know why, but I suppose my instincts are to trust you guys. I know Seungkwan will fix us if we fix him first.”

Jeonghan watches him with soft eyes, gives him a smile and a nod. “I’m glad you trust us. We’ll get your memories back, Shua. We’ll be okay.”

Joshua nods back and follows Jeonghan out of the kitchen, switching the lights off as he goes.

“Goodnight,” Jeonghan whispers, to avoid waking the baby.

“Goodnight, Jeonghan,” Josh whispers back, before closing the door on his cold, meaningless bedroom.

-

The next day, a man Josh assumes is Minhyuk comes by, peering around at them curiously as they file into the living room one by one, pulling various bags full of necessities for the trip into the room. The space made by the blast of Seungkwan’s magic has been left, providing a handy space for Minhyuk to set up the portal Jeonghan had mentioned. At first, the man seems amused, as Minghao stumbles in, feeling at the furniture for guidance, and Hansol shouts his side of every conversation. He strokes behind Mingyu’s ears and laughs at Wonwoo trying to reach the back of the top shelf of the fridge, helpfully grabbing out the jar of blood he’s reaching for. Josh watches him with some amusement, however, as he becomes progressively more confused when Jeonghan comes out, holding baby Seungcheol in his arms; when Chan comes floating into the room, being pulled along by his hand like a strange balloon, Soonyoung’s disembodied voice asking him what he’d like for breakfast, his expression is that of downright concern.

Josh sits patiently on the only upright sofa and waits for everyone to gather. Seungkwan emerges late, but he has a bag packed and a strong face on, sitting down next to Josh and watching at the last stragglers make their way into the living room.

“Good morning,” Josh extends politely.

“Good morning.” Seungkwan’s answer is steady.

“Are you feeling better this morning?”

That makes him look over at Joshua, flashing a quick smile. “Yes, thank you. Do you feel ready for today?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be for a trip through a magical portal with twelve near-strangers to find my memories again,” Josh shrugs. “Seems like it’s an occupational hazard of coven life, though.”

Seungkwan giggles, and Josh thinks his smile is pretty. He’d like to see him smile more.

“Alright, everyone, can we all be still for a minute? I need to do a headcount.” Jeonghan quickly numbers everyone he can see, careful not to count Jun twice when he pops into the other side of the room, and asking Soonyoung to speak up for his count.

“Has someone packed a bag for Mingyu? I picked up some of Cheol’s things,” he asks when he’s satisfied with the thirteen attendees.

“Clothes him packed for I some. Helped I Jun too,” Seokmin says, and Jeonghan seems to get the gist of it, as he nods proudly at Seokmin.

“Then I think we’re ready. Hyung, are you ready?” He turns to Minhyuk, who’s standing in the middle of the room, frowning at them.

“Jeonghan, what happened here? Where are you all going? Where are Mingyu and Seungcheol?”

Jeonghan grimaces and rolls his shoulders back in a sigh. “Believe me, Hyung, it’s better for us both if you don’t ask questions. Can you trust me for now? I promise I’ll tell you everything when it’s all over.”

Minhyuk eyes them up, looking around at the assortment of characters in front of him, before looking back at Jeonghan.

“I’ll be honest, the fact that you’ve called me here to do a portal rather than doing one yourself worries me. But if you say it’s important, I’ll trust you. Will you be able to make it back on your own?”

“If all goes well, Seungkwan or I should be able to bring us all back. Don’t worry about it.” Jeonghan smiles consolingly, and Josh gets the impression that this leadership role isn’t something Jeonghan inhabits often. He seems nervous, and Josh wants to tell him he shouldn’t be. Considering the twelve rowdy boys he has to manage, he’s doing an excellent job, he thinks.

“Alright, then. Get ready, everyone.” With that, Minhyuk throws some powder onto the strange shapes he’d drawn on the floor and does some sharp hand movements. A few seconds later, a huge purple fire roars up from the lino floor. Joshua goes to stand up, panicked, but Seungkwan’s hand shoots out and finds his thigh, holding him securely in place. Josh compels himself to trust Seungkwan and sit still, and as he watches the purple flames, he realises they aren’t spreading or setting anything alight. They just waver, tall as a man and as wide as a doorway, in the middle of the living room.

“Jun, you’d better go first, while you’re still with us,” Jeonghan prompts, and Jun strides forwards with his bag. Right when he’s in front of the fire, he pops away, and they can hear the sound of footsteps striding down the far hall. Jun bursts into the living room again, running to get through the portal before his body tears him away. This time, he makes it to the flames and runs right through, disappearing into them.

“Well, I hope that means he made it,” Wonwoo remarks.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Jeonghan says. “Would you like to go next?”

In ones and twos they proceed to walk, wobble, float, and be guided through the flames, each disappearing into the strange purple light, until four of them are left.

“Seungkwan and Joshua, go before me. I’ll be right behind you,” Jeonghan says, gripping baby Seungcheol firmly to him.

Seungkwan, who still has his hand on Joshua’s thigh, removes it and stands. Josh follows him, approaching the flames cautiously. Though he knows logically there must be no harm to them, this is the first instance of magic he’s seen (to his memory), and it’s at once fascinating and terrifying. He feels a little thrill as he approaches, thinking about how many humans have probably had the experience of something like this. Not many, he suspects.

“You ready?” Seungkwan asks. Joshua has the impulse to reach out and take his hand. Considering his instincts are all he has left of Joshua Hong, he decides to follow through and reach out for him. Seungkwan seems surprised, but he doesn’t pull away, squeezing Josh’s hand in his.

“I am now,” Joshua says. Wow, he thinks. I’m smooth, even without any idea of what I’m doing.

Seungkwan’s cheeks have blushed pink, but he nods and faces the fire. “Let’s go, then.”

Together they walk into the flames that lap against his skin (they’re strangely cold) and emerge out onto a quiet street lined with houses. A few moments later, Jeonghan appears after them, clutching the baby. The flames behind them lick upwards, growing thinner and taller before disappearing completely, leaving only black ash where the portal had once been. Through their connected hands, Josh can feel Seungkwan shiver, though it isn’t cold.

“Are we in the right place?” Minghao asks, staring at nothing, his arm linked firmly with Seokmin’s.

“Yeah,” Seungkwan answers, his hand sweaty in Joshua’s hold. “My Ma’s house is around the corner.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Jeonghan confirms. “You’re not going there right now, though.”

“I’m not?” Seungkwan looks at Jeonghan, puzzled. At that moment, a taxi comes swerving around the corner, and pulls up behind the group of boys. Jeonghan nods at it, pleased.

“You, Shua, Jihoon, Minghao and Wonwoo are getting in that cab. I’ve booked you all a session at a leisure centre: you’re going for a massage, then a spiritual cleansing session. This is step one of releasing your stress, before we move onto the important things.”

Seungkwan drops the small suitcase he’s holding in his other hand. “A massage? I thought that was a joke!”

“No, Seungkwan, it’s a legitimate form way to release tension from your body. Humans do it all the time, you know. The rest of us are going on ahead to the house. We need to get some food in, get things set up, find some baby shit. You know how it is.”

“I can’t believe you’re abandoning me with Josh and the three blind mice.” Seungkwan stamps his foot to display how cross he is with Jeonghan. Jeonghan doesn’t look fazed.

“Excuse me,” Jihoon pipes up. “My vision is perfectly fine!”

“Yet you walk like you’re recently blinded,” Seungkwan retorts.

“Actually, Seungkwan, I can walk in a mostly straight line, now,” Wonwoo announces proudly.

“I would like to put on record that I knew nothing about this,” Minghao says.

“I gave you the only members that aren’t massive giveaways about the current illegal situation we’ve got going on, Kwannie,” Jeonghan informs him smartly. “Are you going to resist this wonderful experience I’ve payed for? Or would you rather sit in a cold house with the moody baby?” Seungcheol picks that timing to start whining and beating his little hands against Jeonghan’s chest. Jeonghan looks at Seungkwan pointedly.

“Fine,” Seungkwan says, pouting like a child. “Wonwoo, Jihoon, I hope you’re adjusted to your new centre of gravity, because Jeonghan’s sending us all on an expedition.” He lets go of Joshua’s hand to retrieve Minghao from Seokmin’s side. Despite how sweaty he’d been, Josh misses the hold.

“We’ll see you back here in a few hours,” Jeonghan says, pleased. “Have fun!”

“Oh, I’ll have fun putting you in the ground, Yoon Jeonghan,” Seungkwan seethes as he marches past Josh to the taxi cab, pulling Minghao behind him. It makes Josh snort, and Seungkwan looks back to give him a side smile before Jeonghan calls over,

“What was that, Kwannie darling?”

“Nothing, dearest Hyung!”

-

The massage is amazing. Josh has no idea if he’s ever had one before, but it certainly feels like his body needs it. They’re laid out on a series of beds in a white, quiet room, attendants working at their muscles and asking them about their day. Wonwoo gets antsy when Jihoon starts stripping his shirt off, and the two of them spend the massage session passive aggressively swapping compliments, even as they’re laid faced down on the massage beds. Josh wonders if Jeonghan was truly confident these boys aren’t about to give the situation away, but the attendants seem unbothered.

After that, they’re given lunch, then brought into a room where they have thirty minutes to meditate before the next activity, which Josh spends the entirety of lying on the floor. He nearly falls asleep at one point, the soothing voice of the man at the front of the room sending him drifting away, only kept awake by the sounds of shuffling next to him. He opens his eyes to see Seungkwan, sitting up with his legs splayed out, biting at his nails.

“Hey.” Josh shuffles over to where Seungkwan is sat.

Seungkwan pulls his hand from his mouth quickly. “Hi.”

“We’re here to help you relax, you know,” Josh teases.

Seungkwan nods, looking at the floor. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m just nervous.”

“To go back to your Ma’s house?”

Seungkwan nods. “It’s not just her. It’s my childhood home. I have a lot of memories attached to that place. It made me emotional even before…” Seungkwan trails off again, then looks to Josh, uncertain.

“It’s okay. Jeonghan told me. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Seungkwan huffs. “What else did Jeonghan tell you?” He goes back to biting the nail on his thumb, but Josh puts his own hand on top of his, and gently pulls it away. Seungkwan lets him, watching their fingers rest together.

“That you need to talk to me about something. I’m here, whenever you’re ready for that, by the way. Not like I know where else I could go.”

Seungkwan looks at him, gaze intense. “Do you really remember nothing?”

“Nothing personal, no. Whoever Josh was, I don’t know him. I just know the past day of craziness you guys have put me through.”

Seungkwan gives him a small smile. “We must seem mad to you, huh?”

“Yeah, well. It’s been fun, so I can’t be too stressed about it. C’mon, rest before we have to go into whatever the ‘spiritual cleaning’ session is.”

He pulls Seungkwan down to lay on the floor with him, lets his whole body relax against the mat and listens to the sound of the man talking so smoothly, Seungkwan’s gentle breathing beside him.

-

The spiritual cleansing session turns out to be like yoga, but with more incense sticks and lead by a particularly flexible witch. With every new pose, she casts a spell to make them feel relaxed. Josh does downward dog and feels a refreshing breeze down his back; he does a bridge pose and the mat under his hands feels like soft grass; he does a high lunge, and she casts a spell to banish bad thoughts. Josh doesn’t benefit much from that one, but Seungkwan lets out a huge sigh in front of him. He’s glad Seungkwan is benefitting, at least, because Wonwoo and Jihoon are having a hard time doing much that requires any sort of balance, and Minghao is having to guess what every pose looks like from her spoken instructions alone, giving some interesting results.

After an hour of stretching his body in ways he suspects it has never before been stretched, he feels worn, but rejuvenated. The instructor congratulates them on their work, and other attendees start to leave, so Josh supposes it’s his duty to round up his friends and usher them out of the room. Back in the locker room, Seungkwan calls for a taxi, and the five of them pile in to head back to the house.

Seungkwan is quiet the whole drive back. On arrival, Jihoon and Wonwoo stumble out, managing to manoeuvre Minghao between them to get to the front door. As they go in, Jeonghan comes out and jogs up to the car, where Josh is sat with an apprehensive Seungkwan.

“Hey,” Jeonghan greets, sticking a hand out to Seungkwan. “Was it good?”

“I know you want me to say that you were right, and you’re always right, and that it was amazing,” Seungkwan pouts, taking Jeonghan’s hand and allowing himself to be pulled out of the car seat. Jeonghan raises an eyebrow and Seungkwan rolls his eyes. “I suppose it was pretty good.”

Jeonghan smiles, pleased. “Well, how nice of you to say, Seungkwannie. I already knew that it worked, though, because Jun has been cured of his space jumping thing. Hansol can hear now, too. You don’t know how much calmer things have been.”

Josh slides out of the taxi too, shutting the door behind him. “They’re back to normal?”

Jeonghan smiles at him. “Yeah. Good as new.” He looks back at Seungkwan. “Are you ready?”

Seungkwan nods, albeit uncertainly, and lets Jeonghan pull him into the house, still clutching onto his hand, Josh following close behind them.

Seungkwan is visibly shaking as he crosses the threshold, but he brightens up when he sees Mingyu the dog sitting by the baby Seungcheol, Jun happily playing with the both of them. The baby mashes one toy block on another with imprecise aggression, trying to get them to connect.

“Hyung! You’re back!” Seungkwan lets go of Jeonghan’s hand to run and hug Jun.

“I’m back! How do you feel?” Jun inquires, clutching onto Seungkwan tightly.

“Better, considering you’re properly here, and I can’t hear Hansol yelling anymore…”

“To be fair, nobody told me to be any quieter,” Hansol says apologetically as he enters the room. Seungkwan stands to go and hug him too, which Hansol reciprocates warmly.

“I’m sorry you guys had to experience all that.”

“Seungkwan, I’m implementing a new coven rule. You’re not allowed to apologise about this thing anymore,” Hansol says, pulling back from the hug to look at Seungkwan. “I was deaf and even I know you keep saying it. We all know it’s not your fault. We want you to feel better, not guiltier.”

Seungkwan sticks his tongue out at him. “What if apologising makes me feel better?”

“Then you’ve apologised enough already. Time for other feel-good tactics.”

Across the room, baby Seungcheol bursts into tears for no apparent reason, and Jeonghan sighs.

“When the full moon decides to fucking rise, hopefully we’ll all be able have a feel-good session with a baby wolf.” He goes over to lay the baby down. Someone has found baby clothes to dress him in, and Jeonghan starts undoing them to check on his diaper.

“Won’t he be out of control?” Josh asks.

Hansol shakes his head. “That’s a misconception. Only bitten wolves struggle to control themselves on a full moon, and bites are rare these days. He’s a hereditary wolf, so even as a baby he should be in control.”

“I can’t believe Seungcheol is a baby and I can’t see it. I hope the baby wolf comes to hug me,” Minghao whines from where Wonwoo and Jihoon have deposited him and themselves on the sofa.

“You can look after him while I make dinner if you like,” Jeonghan offers. “If anyone wants to help me cook, that would be great too, considering our main cook is out of commission.”

Mingyu whines and pads across the floor to sit at Minghao’s feet.

“I can help,” says Jun. Hansol walks into the kitchen and starts rifling through the fridge.

“I will too,” Josh offers.

“That’s okay, Josh. You’re probably going to be like a child trying to cook.” Jeonghan shoots him a cheeky smile. “Why don’t you go and unpack with Seungkwannie?”

Josh turns to find Seungkwan standing in the middle of the room, biting his nails again. He decides that nervousness doesn’t become him, and that he’s going to do everything in his power to pull the real Seungkwan out of his shell of grief, and accepts Jeonghan’s offer.

“Yeah. Let’s go, Seungkwannie.”

The home party have turned on lights and heaters and made the beds, but they can’t deck out a three-bedroom house fit for thirteen without squeezing sleep mats onto every available floor space. As they go past the master bedroom, they can hear Soonyoung, Seokmin and Chan talking together, and through the crack in the door he and Seungkwan watch them trying to untangle the invisible Soonyoung from one of the bedsheets. Eventually, Chan gives up, so Soonyoung accepts his fate and starts to act as a ghost, jumping up onto the bed and booing amidst a laugh. Chan finds this hilarious, and Seokmin throws a blanket over Chan too, who starts to copy Soonyoung from his place on the ceiling. Seokmin laughs loudly, bending over and slapping at his knees in delight.

“House this haunted is!”

Seungkwan tugs at his sleeve to catch his attention, urging him to move on down the corridor. Josh follows after him, allows himself to be led into a room that looks suspiciously like a teenager’s bedroom. It’s fascinating, to him—there’s textbooks on basic spells on the shelves alongside dusty jars containing the dregs of leaves, incense sticks and empty boxes of herbs scattered about.

“Jeonghan is taking the bed with the baby, so we’re on the floor mats. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course. It’s a full house.”

Seungkwan puts his bag on the floor and sits on the edge of the bed. “We don’t really need to unpack, to be honest. We’ll only be here until I can get all my shit sorted out—a few days at most. My sisters are coming over tomorrow so we can go through everything in the house. Clear it out and get ready to sell it.” His shoulders droop and he looks around the room, seeming a little lost.

Josh sits beside him, putting his own bag on the floor. “What about your dad?”

Seungkwan shrugs. “He hasn’t lived here for years. It’s more our house than his. If it were up to him, he’d have everything sold or given away, so we have to salvage what we can. It’ll be quick work with everyone helping, though.”

Josh puts a hand on Seungkwan’s back, who sighs, resting his head on Josh’s shoulder.

“I think Jeonghan is hoping to get his magic back soon—he could give Chan something to help with all the floating if he did. He thinks that seeing my sisters and sorting through the shit in the house will be therapeutic for me, or something.”

“And what do you think?”

Seungkwan shrugs. “I think he’s probably right. Just being here is a big step for me, so that’ll have a knock-on effect soon, I hope. I feel so stupid for having to be pushed this far to come here, though.”

“It’s not stupid. It’s clear you love your Ma very much. It’s hard to lose someone you love, young or old.”

Seungkwan nods and plays with the bedsheet, twisting it in his hands. “Do you miss your parents, Hyung?”

“I can’t remember them to miss them. But I have you guys. You’re looking after me well.”

Seungkwan pulls away from Josh’s shoulder to look him in the eye. “Can I be honest?”

“Of course.”

“I’m dreading you getting your memories back. You’re so calm right now, Josh. At peace. I don’t want to take that away from you.”

Josh looks back at him, a little surprised, and pauses for a moment before replying. “I can wait for you to be ready, Seungkwan, but not for too long. I don’t like being blank. I want to know who I am. I want to know who you are, and Jeonghan, and everyone else. Think about it from my point of view: I don’t even know what Mingyu or Seungcheol or Soonyoung look like. We’re supposed to be family, but I can’t feel like I belong here until I remember everything. The accident I can understand, but if you’re withholding something like my memories from me because you’re nervous, Seungkwan… you can see how that will only hurt me in the long run, right?”

Seungkwan looks into his eyes, searching for something. After a long moment, he nods.

“I’ll work hard so you can get them back, Hyung. Just because I’m scared doesn’t mean I’ll act selfishly. Not anymore.” He says the last part more to himself than anything. Not for the first time, Josh wonders what he and Jeonghan seem to know, what it is that they’re working through so ambiguously.

“Do you want to help me practise spells before dinner? I have a bit of magic back from Hansol and Jun, so I should be able to do small things. Light a candle, maybe, or float some pencils.”

Josh brightens instantly. After getting over his initial fear of the portal, he thought it was beautiful, and he’d jump at the chance to see more magic.

“Of course!” He stands and walks over to the shelf, picking up a candle with the wick mostly burned down. “Do you think you can light this?”

Seungkwan stares at the candle intensely, giving it his full attention. Josh cups it in his hands, sure to keep it still. As Seungkwan stares, the tips of his fingers begin to emit a soft blue light, barely there, but beautiful. Josh is so busy watching the light that he nearly jumps when a flame springs to life on the wick. Seungkwan lets out the breath he was holding, looking at Josh with pride. Josh looks right back, wide-eyed.

“That was amazing!”

Seungkwan gives him a genuine smile, and Josh feels light. “I can usually do much more, but this is a good sign. Honestly, I feel like a little baby witch again.”

“Well, I thought it was awesome. Though, I suppose I was born yesterday.”

Sometime after dinner the moon finally shows itself, and Hansol makes the transformation into a big, black wolf. He seems at ease, even as the sounds of his bones cracking and shifting into new positions fill the room and make Josh cringe. Baby Seungcheol has a more miserable time of it, screaming and wailing as he rolls around on the floor, Jeonghan trying to speak soothingly to him. He finally breaks out of it when wolf Hansol pads across the floor to nuzzle at his belly, triggering the baby’s little body to morph and shift too, his cries turning into pup yips. The process is over in under a minute, and then they have a sweet wolf pup in the room, much happier than the baby he had been. Much more mobile, too: he jumps up onto his four paws, in order to leap onto Jeonghan, nuzzle his face and pad all over him like an affectionate dog. It’s a big improvement from the crying, so Jeonghan doesn’t seem to mind.

Mingyu comes out from behind the sofa when baby Cheol’s shift is done, and approaches him carefully, sniffing around at him, wary that the baby wolf may not recognise him. On the contrary, the wolf is ecstatic at the prospect of a playmate, and leaps from Jeonghan to chase after him. Mingyu is a big dog, almost as big as Wolf Hansol, but he still allows the pup to race around after him, the two of them making excited circles of the room. Jeonghan lies back on the floor in relief.

“Finally, Mingyu’s turn to babysit. Do you think they’d survive if I went to bed now? I’m exhausted.”

“They’ll probably be up all night, Hyung. Hansol will watch out for them, though. You can go to bed. You’ve worked hard today,” Minghao says. He’s starting to get the hang of being blind, facing in vaguely the right direction to smile at Jeonghan.

“Okay, I’m turning in then. Goodnight all!” Jeonghan address the room, met in return by a chorus of goodnight’s (and one nightgood from Seokmin). Josh watches him walk through to Seungkwan’s bedroom, sliding the door shut behind him.

“We should probably go too, so we don’t disturb him later,” Josh prompts, nudging Seungkwan, who jolts a little and nods too quickly.

“Mmh. Sure, let’s go.”

They bid the group a goodnight too, and follow Jeonghan into the bedroom, where he’s already curled up under the covers. Josh goes to search his bag for his pyjamas.

The room is quiet as Seungkwan does the same in his own bag. Awkwardly quiet. He can feel Jeonghan and Seungkwan exchanging looks behind his back, and itches to turn around and catch them in the act. He doesn’t—figures that whatever is going on is probably isn’t just about him. Instead, he picks up his clothes and washbag, and goes through to the bathroom.

On his return, he can hear Seungkwan and Jeonghan whispering to each other. He shouldn’t stop and eavesdrop, but he knows they’re talking about him, and he’s starting to get desperate for information.

“He needs to know at some point or another,” Jeonghan is saying.

“Believe it or not, I’m not thrilled to have him hate me.”

“He won’t hate you. You know that.”

“I hope not. I’m working up to it. I was stupid, I know. I’m dealing with it.”

There’s silence for a few seconds, and Josh is about to announce his presence, when Jeonghan speaks again.

“I love you, Seungkwan. He does too, even now. Let us be there for you.”

“I love you too. I’m working on it.”

He can hear someone from the living room making their way to the bathroom, so he ducks into the bedroom, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. Seungkwan quickly moves away from beside Jeonghan towards his sleep mat.

“Shall I turn the lights off?” he offers, trying not to show his feelings on his face. He must succeed, because Seungkwan only nods half-heartedly. Josh hits the light switch and starts feeling his way through the room to his floor mat.

“Do you guys want to sleep here?” Jeonghan’s voice says into the dark.

“Hm?”

“Cheol probably won’t sleep until morning, so I don’t need the whole bed to myself. The three of us can fit on if we squeeze,” Jeonghan says lightly.

Josh is more confused than ever. Jeonghan seems to think Seungkwan is pushing them away, but wants to share a bed with them, and Seungkwan is already climbing up into the bed with Jeonghan, accepting his offer and guiding Josh with him. They’d said they loved each other just now, so perhaps this was some normal coven bonding, sharing a bed together. That must be it. Maybe he does have a close friendship with Seungkwan, after all. With that thought he slides under the covers, squashing between the other two boys. Jeonghan rolls over and throws his arm over the both of them, and he can feel Seungkwan’s leg against his own, and Josh feels safe, warm. Lulled by the muted noise of conversation in the living room, it’s surprisingly easy to slip into sleep.

-

Waking up is a little less comfortable. He can feel Seungkwan’s head buried into his back, and when he opens his eyes, his face is an inch from Jeonghan’s, and he self-consciously tries not to breathe on him too much. He’s too warm, trapped between these two bodies, but he doesn’t want to move: he’s got a great view of Jeonghan’s face, and it’s an excellent sight. He doesn’t drool or snore breathe loudly in his sleep like a normal person, but looks like a piece of artwork, hair fanning around his head like a halo. Josh makes a mental note to ask him if he has Angel blood in him. Seungkwan shifts in his sleep, wrapping his arm around Joshua and latching on. He’s being progressively pressed more between the two of them, so he thinks it’s best he makes his escape now, before it becomes hard to breathe, or he gets caught watching Jeonghan in his sleep. He’s not sure if this contact is standard coven cuddling, but he doesn’t want Seungkwan to be embarrassed by it, just in case.

After some struggling and sweating, he manages to break free from Seungkwan’s hold and wriggle from the bed without waking either of the boys. He tip-toes into the living room to find Hansol, Mingyu and Seungcheol curled up on the rug, a puppy pile of increasing size, sleeping away a long night of playing together. He can hear voices through the kitchen, arguing in low tones, and goes to investigate.

“You’re tired because you haven’t fed yet, Jihoon! My body needs nutrition!”

“Then I will deal with it for another day or two until Seungkwan pulls himself back together. You can’t make me drink that stuff, Wonwoo, I live on a diet of fish!” Neither of the boys pay attention to Josh, who moves around them, listening and digging in cupboards for cereal.

“Not when you’re in my body, you don’t. You have my taste buds, so it’ll taste good, I swear.”

Jihoon scoffs. “I have your taste buds, but my own mind. I can’t drink blood.”

“I can put it in Seungcheol’s baby bottle if that helps,” Wonwoo drawls.

“Fuck off. I’ll drink it when you agree to take a swim.”

“I can’t swim!” Wonwoo hisses. Josh raises his eyebrows at their predicament while searching for the milk to put in his cereal.

“You don’t need to actually swim! You just need to walk into the ocean and be submerged for a little while. My skin will start to peel if you don’t; I’m not suited to live on land permanently.”

“I don’t like water,” Wonwoo grumbles.

“Well you’re in my body,” Jihoon says, mimicking Wonwoo’s words from earlier, “so you’ll love it, I swear.”

Wonwoo stares him down, and Jihoon does the same. Josh sits on a barstool with his breakfast and waits to see who will break first.

“Fine,” Wonwoo says eventually. “Bring the blood with you. You’re going to drink it while I sit in the goddamn ocean.”

The corner of Jihoon’s mouth quirks up in victory, though he looks at the jar of blood sitting on the table with disgust. “Fine. As soon as you get in the water, I’ll chug the stuff.”

“Good,” says Wonwoo, and with that, marches from the room to find swimming trunks.

Jihoon looks at Josh and shakes his head. Josh just smiles at him around a mouthful of cereal and indicates his head at the jar.

“Let me know if it’s tasty.”

Jihoon makes a face at him before swiping the jar from the tabletop with contempt. “If I make it back without committing a murder, I’ll let you know.”

“Would that be homicide? Or suicide?” Josh ponders, and Jihoon rolls his eyes at him as he leaves the room.

He hears Wonwoo and Jihoon leave the house as he’s finishing his bowl of cereal. The door slamming after them must wake up the baby, as he starts to hear a human wailing coming from the living room. Sure enough, he goes through to see baby Seungcheol lying next to wolf Hansol, being licked at by an attentive Mingyu.

“Come here,” Josh says placatingly, picking up the infant. Seungcheol continues to cry, probably hungry, so Josh goes back through to the kitchen and begins warming up some milk.

Jeonghan comes shuffling in as Josh is trying to find the bottle. Helpfully, he’s holding it in his hand.

“Good morning,” he says, coming over to sort the milk out for him.

“Good morning,” Josh replies, cooing baby Seungcheol. It feels domestic, quiet.

“It was nice to have one night of peace, at least,” Jeonghan sighs, screwing the lid on the bottle and offering it to the baby. Baby Seungcheol takes it greedily, so Jeonghan stands there, so close to Josh, feeding the baby in his arms for a few minutes.

“When are Seungkwan’s sisters arriving?” he asks, mostly to fill the intimate silence.

Jeonghan looks up at him, and then over at the clock on the wall. “Shit, in about twenty minutes. Can you take over?”

Josh takes the bottle from him and continues to let Seungcheol feed as Jeonghan jogs from the room. Josh can hear him banging on every door, ordering the others to get up or face his wrath. He heads into Seungkwan’s bedroom with purpose, and Josh can hear Seungkwan groaning in complaint. He smiles to himself and focuses on baby Seungcheol, who has his little fists balled in the thrill of feeding, and wonders if this is the normal daily life of Joshua Hong. Without the baby, he thinks it might just be. He feels so lucky for it.

-

Sojeong and Jinseol don’t have to introduce themselves for Josh to know who they are. The Boo resemblance is striking, and the siblings greet each other with an old familiarity, despite the cloud of grief hanging over each of them.

They quickly sort out a system. The coven empty wardrobes and cupboards, organise shelves and bookcases, becomes a production line of clutter organisation. Obvious trash can be binned; essentials they’ll need for living in the house another few days are sorted into one box; everything else goes into a pile for the Boo siblings and Jeonghan to sort through. Josh is also given the honour of being in the sorting party, which makes sense, considering the amount of pure stuff they have to work through. He asks Seungkwan about most of it, not wanting to throw away anything precious, but a lot of it is going to charity, so he gets into a rhythm quickly enough. Minghao is on baby duty, everyone else lugging boxes around the house: Chan is particularly useful for getting to high shelves.

Seungkwan bursts into tears at one point, holding a locket that has pictures of both parents inside. It’s nothing close to the hysteria he was in two days ago, and Sojeong calms him easily, though Josh notices him slip the locket around his neck. Other than that, it goes smoothly, boxes piling up around them so quickly that Jun and the (now human) Hansol take a load ahead to the charity, just to make space in the living room. Seungkwan had been truthful when he’d said he’d spent his whole childhood here: they dig out boxes full of children’s clothes and drawings, broken furniture and miscellaneous Witch tools. Most magical items are saved and split between the siblings. It still takes them the entire day, but when the job is done Josh feels productive and accomplished, even if the house around them feels bare now.

“We can let the agency deal with the rest of the furniture. Most of it is so old it wouldn’t sell for much anyway,” Jinseol suggests, and her siblings agree.

“I’ll call up the agency and see when they can come and survey the place,” Sojeong says, rubbing at her forehead.

“I can’t believe it’s all done,” Seungkwan says.

“Yeah. Our lives here, sorted away just like that.” Sojeong smiles at her younger brother sadly. “At least we have parts of it to take away with us.”

“At least we still have each other,” Jinseol says, and Seungkwan nods in agreement before bringing his sisters into a hug.

Seungkwan is teary as they say their goodbyes, waving his sisters down the street as the sun sets behind them. He’s barely shut the front door behind him, however, when Jihoon and Wonwoo come bursting in, and Josh notices the differences in them immediately.

“Seungkwannie!” Wonwoo says, though by the way he’s walking confidently, a spring in his step, Josh suspects that this is perhaps Not Wonwoo, but rather the original inhibitor of Jihoon’s body. “We’re back!”

The real Wonwoo shuts the door behind them, looking weary. Seungkwan however, perks up at the news.

“Oh? You’ve swapped back?” Jeonghan asks.

“Yeah! Thank God I’d already finished the blood,” Jihoon shudders. “I wouldn’t have liked to try that in the wrong body.”

“Lucky for you. My soul was flung through the ocean to return to my body. I swear, I felt it flying through the waves.”

Jihoon rolls his eyes at Joshua, as if to say it’ll definitely be considered homicide now.

-

They’re settled in for a cosy evening, huddled around some TV show unknown to Josh, when the doorbell rings. Jihoon, newly rejuvenated by being returned to his body, gets up to answer it, but is stopped by Hansol.

“Hyung, wait!” He says it with such urgency that everyone’s attention is drawn from the TV to where he’s sat at Seungkwan’s feet.

Jihoon stops in his tracks in front of the door. “What is it?”

Hansol’s nose twitches. “They’re humans. Don’t smell friendly.”

“Woof!” Mingyu barks in agreement, ears up and alert, staying in the corner of the room to watch the door.

Josh looks over at the door. “Do you want me to answer it?”

Jihoon shakes his head. “They’re probably just salesmen or something. I’ll deal with them.”

Jeonghan straightens up in his seat, trying not to jostle baby Seungcheol awake. “Soonyoung, you’d better not move from that goddamn seat. Everyone behave normally, alright? We don’t need to call attention to ourselves right now.”

“What did I do?” Soonyoung grumbles from his seemingly permanent residence on Chan’s lap.

Another knock comes at the door. The people at the door must be able to hear them talking. Jihoon goes over and opens the door while everyone pretends to be watching the TV as they listen in. Minghao is looking slightly too far to the right, and even Mingyu the dog is pretending to be engaged.

“Can I help you?” Jihoon asks.

“Are you a member of the Boo family?” one of two the men at the door asks, sounding stiff and disinterested.

“I am,” Seungkwan calls, standing up from the sofa to join Jihoon at the doorway.

“Boo Seungkwan?”

“That’s me.”

“We’re from Connection Homes and Services, the agency dealing with the sale of this house. Is it alright if we come in to take some details?”

Seungkwan pauses for a moment before answering. “Is it urgent?”

“The quicker we can get it done, the quicker we can sell the house. I’m afraid we have a long waiting list, otherwise.”

“It’s okay, Seungkwannie,” Jeonghan calls to him sweetly. “We’re not doing much anyway.”

Seungkwan reluctantly steps aside to let two burly men in through the front door. The men eye up the occupants of the living room before passing through to the kitchen without a word.

“What estate agency works at eight in the evening?” Josh whispers to Jeonghan.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. If Sojeong told them a coven is staying here, they might have questions for us. Human-run companies tend to be rather suspicious of our kind,” he whispers back.

“Then why let them in?”

“Like I said. No strange behaviour. We don’t want any human officials turning up out of suspicion.”

The group continues to watch the show with growing unease, hearing the two men go from room to room. They’re muttering measurements to each other, and the snap of a camera goes off intermittently. Eventually they come back into the living room and start taking the dimensions of the walls and floors there too.

“Is the furniture currently in the house remaining here for sale?” the burlier of the two men asks Seungkwan.

“Yes, more or less,” Seungkwan answers warily.

“In that case, could you all stand? We need to have pictures of all the remaining furniture.”

Josh tries not to glance over to Chan and the invisible Soonyoung in the armchair, but his mind is whirring, trying to come up with an excuse for them. After a moment, no one has moved, and the two men are standing there staring at them expectantly. Jeonghan is the first to react.

“Of course we can! Josh, could you please help Channie?” He stands and turns to face the men. “He has muscle problems. You know how it is.”

“Oh, yes!” Chan contributes. “Can’t walk at all right now. My Hyungs are so helpful.”

Josh stands and walks over to the armchair Chan and Soonyoung are sat in. They’ll have to time this right—Josh can’t lift both boys, but if Soonyoung moves away too early, Chan will start noticeably floating away. He sees Chan subtly dig his heels into the chair and grip one of the arms, discreetly patting Soonyoung with the other hand. Josh digs his arms under Chan’s legs and around his back, and feels his weight shift as Soonyoung slides from his lap. He lifts Chan a little too quickly, keeping a firm grip on his legs, and Invisible Soonyoung’s feet make a thud against the floor as he presumably stands, which makes Josh flinch. But then it’s done, and he has a hold on Chan, who’s arms are clutching onto Josh’s neck to resist his body’s pull against gravity. Josh smiles at him, then looks around the room to see everyone had been watching them pull off this feat, with the men looking around at the group, bewildered. Seokmin looks to be on the verge of an applause, but instead just beams at them, standing up quickly. Josh takes a step and bumps into Invisible Soonyoung, who yelps and scurries away. Josh coughs to cover the noise, but thankfully, the men don’t seem to have noticed.

When they’ve all moved away from the chairs, the men take the pictures and give a gruff thanks.

“Will that be all?” Seungkwan asks, sounding strung out.

“We’re done with the rooms, yes. We have a few questions, though.”

Josh carefully manoeuvres Chan back into the chair, feeling the weight of Invisible Soonyoung sliding onto his legs just in time, and letting go of him with relief. He wipes sweat from his hairline as he takes his seat again.

“Your family are a witch family, correct?” the taller of the two asks Seungkwan, pen poised at his notebook.

“Correct,” Seungkwan answers shortly. Jeonghan shifts the baby into one arm to rub at Seungkwan’s back soothingly.

“Are there any wards, spells, curses, or otherwise magical remnants left on this house by Mrs. Boo Jwayoung or any other witch who has resided here?”

Seungkwan swallows at the mention of his mother. “There were standard protection wards and spells, but they would have dissolved when she passed. All her equipment has been distributed between me and my sisters. There’s nothing left here but an empty house.”

The tall man scribbles away at his notepad as the burly one looks around the room, his eyes narrowed at Chan. Chan beams back at him politely, making confident eye contact.

“Are you staying here with your coven, Mr. Boo?” Tall Man asks, and his tone of barely masked contempt makes Josh’s skin crawl.

“Is that any of your business?” Seungkwan snaps.

The burly man shifts his weight between his feet in displeasure, but Seungkwan’s words are effective: it pulls his attention away from Chan to eye at Seungkwan instead. “If you’ve been sleeping here overnight, I’m afraid we need to take a note of everyone’s species. Customers often ask about previous tenants of the house.”

Josh can feel Seungkwan about to explode next to him, but Jeonghan puts a hand on his leg in reassurance and takes over. “Of course, I’ll start. I’m a witch, like Seungkwan.” The man scribbles away, then turns to Josh.

“I’m a human.”

The man stares back at him. “Are you part of the coven?”

“Yes,” Josh says, trying to sound convincing.

The men look at each other in disbelief, then back at Josh. “Do you have some ID?”

“Excuse me, but is this a polling registration? Are we trying to leave the country? Do you have any justifiable reason to ask to see his ID? Don’t get it, Joshua,” Seungkwan says scathingly, staring the men down.

The tall one just sighs as if burdened and turns to Hansol. “Alright. What about you?”

“Werewolf. Our coven leader, Seungcheol, is also a wolf, but he’s out at the minute,” he lies smoothly.

Burly Man raises an eyebrow and does a quick headcount. “Three of your coven are out on their own?”

“It’s a free country,” Seungkwan mutters.

Jeonghan speaks up. “Mingyu is a tree nymph. Cheol is a wolf, and Soonyoung a demon. I’m sure you can appreciate they each have their own matters to attend to, especially after a full moon.”

The men thankfully accept this explanation and continue going around the room. Seokmin manages to get the word ‘fairy’ out without complication, and Jihoon nudges Minghao when it’s his turn. Once they men hear Chan is a siren, they wrap up quickly and begin to make towards the door. Chan smiles sweetly after them, and blows a kiss to one of the men as he turns back to check the room. The man slams the door behind him hurriedly.

Seungkwan groans and lets the tension slip from his body, sliding down the sofa to rest mostly on Joshua’s lap.

“Well, that could’ve gone worse,” Seokmin says, and everyone stares at him. A second later he goes wide eyed and brings a hand up to his throat. “Woah! I can speak!”

Minghao is standing up with a smile, his eyes fixed on Mingyu, who had been laying in the corner away from the men. “Mingyu is a big dog, isn’t he?” he says with glee, kneeling to scratch behind Mingyu’s ears. Mingyu perks up, happy for the attention.

Jeonghan pats Seungkwan’s leg with a smile. “Thank you for defending us, Seungkwannie. It did you some good, I see.”

Seungkwan releases a relieved sigh, standing to go and hug a delighted Seokmin. “You’re my family. No one is touching us.”

-

The next day, Seungkwan gets up early to rig Chan’s shoes up with a spell that’ll keep him to the floor, even if it means some awkwardly heavy steps. Jeonghan declares caring about appearances comes second to the desperation of everyone to get out of the house for a few hours. Soonyoung has been getting antsy locked up inside, and as Jeonghan remarks, Chan has been ‘literally climbing the walls for the past two days’, so they all agree on a trip to the beach.

Chan has trouble walking along the beach in the weighted shoes, feet slipping into the dry sand faster than he can lift them, but sinking in wet sand until he’s stuck. He takes it well though, laughing and letting Soonyoung surreptitiously pull him along the shore. The coven each take to their own activities; finding a place to lie down (Jeonghan), playing badminton (Seokmin and Hansol) or paddling (Jun, Soonyoung, Chan, and an excitable Mingyu), while Jun, Jihoon and Wonwoo claim they’re going to search the coves for mermaid treasure. Minghao is starry-eyed over baby Seungcheol, patiently helping him build a sandcastle. Or rather, Minghao builds a sandcastle while baby Seungcheol kicks up sand and giggles. Minghao is happy, though, so they leave him to it.

Seungkwan and Josh initially join the badminton players for a game of doubles but join Jeonghan lying down under the sun after a few games, keeping an eye on the rest of the group like wearied parents of too many children. Seungkwan doesn’t seem to mind it; he’s visibly more content to be here than in his empty childhood home.

“I feel bad that the shoes are like that,” he remarks. He’s watching Chan splash water at the others, throwing his head back in a full-bodied laugh. He has to tug his legs out of the sand every few minutes to move, and whenever he comes further up shore, they can see sand sticking to his legs, almost all the way up to his knees.

“You don’t need to feel bad. He’s happy isn’t he?” Josh doesn’t know much of the semantics of magic spells, but this one looks successful enough to him, if Chan is having fun.

“I could’ve made them perfectly weighted, but I was too nervous, I suppose. And it’s weird to use only parts of my magic. It’s like trying to see a complete puzzle image with only half of the pieces.”

Jeonghan hums in understanding. “Don’t worry. You’ll be back to normal when it’s all returned to you. You’re a skilled witch, Seungkwan. All that talent isn’t going to disappear because you’ve had a bad patch.”

Jeonghan is squinting over at Seungkwan with affection, getting a fond smile back in response. Josh wonders if he’s intruding on a moment, or something. Seungkwan turns his head back, looking up at the sky, visibly tensing as he works up to what he wants to say.

“We should go to the memorial this afternoon,” he says. “Make this the last night in the house. The others have jobs to return to back home, after all.”

“Are you ready?” Jeonghan asks softy. “We can spend a little more time, if you need it.”

Seungkwan shakes his head. “I’ve had time. Putting it off just makes me more nervous. I need to get it over with.”

Josh smiles at him, hopes Seungkwan can see it in his peripheral vision. “That’s a mature outlook. You’ve come far in the three days I’ve known you, Seungkwannie.”

Seungkwan turns his head and gives Josh a smile, one eye squinted shut in the sunlight. “Thanks, Hyung. Will you come with me?” He reaches out to put a hand on Josh’s arm, and his skin tingles where he touches.

“Of course, if you want me there.”

“I do. Both of you.” He looks over at Jeonghan, who nods and smiles, linking hands with Seungkwan.

They fall quiet after that, relaxing in the heat, listening to the noise of friends and strangers on the beach around them. Josh must fall into a doze, because he’s awoken by the yelling of Soonyoung and Chan approaching them. He sits up in confusion, only to see a strange man running and leaping onto him. He yells and scrambles away, trying to push the man off, before he realises that this is intended to be a hug, the man is laughing, and he sounds an awful lot like Soonyoung. He’s also in a pair of pyjamas. Yes, this must be the now visible Soonyoung, then, celebrating his new visibility by leaping onto each of them in joy.

“You did it! You guys!” he moves away from Josh to smother Seungkwan, who spits out the sand Soonyoung is covered in. “You know, I’ve never been thrilled about my appearance before today. I’m appreciating my good looks forever. Got to be grateful that I’m even seen, you know?” He moves onto Jeonghan, who pats at his back, infectious joy making his eyes crinkle in the corners.

“Thanks for the spell, Hyung!” Chan says, throwing his shoes down onto their collective pile of shoes and jackets. They land with a thud unusually heavy for a pair of shoes. “Actual gravity is better, though. Woah, my legs seriously aren’t used to walking now! It feels like learning to get around without my tail all over again.”

“Did anyone see you reappear?” Jeonghan asks Soonyoung.

“I was underwater at the time, so I don’t think so?”

“He’s getting some looks, though,” Josh remarks. While they might have escaped any attention for their magical mishaps, Soonyoung’s Christmas themed pyjamas on a June beach is making the mother at the shoreline stare in concern.

“Alright. Can you two gather up the others? We should head back to the house, I think,” Jeonghan says.

“But Hyung!” Soonyoung whines like a child.

Jeonghan gives him a withering look. “You can come out again later, when you have appropriate clothes and Chan adjusts to his land-legs. We’re trying to fly under the radar, remember?”

“Race you to the coves!” Chan shouts, already halfway across the beach. Josh thinks the handicap is fair, considering the fact he can’t seem to move faster than the average toddler.

The bait works on Soonyoung, who leaps up and bolts after Chan. Jeonghan lies back on the sand, starting to ponder on the similarities of Soonyoung with the baby, out loud for them all to agree with.

-

The cemetery is within walking distance of the house. Seungkwan is quiet through lunch and quieter still walking between Jeonghan and Josh. They’d all changed into black clothes despite the heat, but upon arrival it seems appropriate for the subdued atmosphere of the cemetery. Seungkwan doesn’t know where his mother’s memorial is, so they walk around for a while, reading the names. It makes Josh wonder about his own parents. Seungkwan had asked if he missed them, so they must be alive. Where did they live? What were they like? It’s bizarre that he knows more about Seungkwan’s deceased mother than either of his own. He knows that she was a witch, and she passed great magical ability and a great capacity for love onto Seungkwan. She must have been very loving, for Seungkwan to be missing her so painfully. He knows that she deserves to be alive; but here they are, looking for her memorial. Jeonghan eventually points out a placard, and they come closer to read it. Sure enough, it’s for Boo Jwayoung: Mother, Sister, and Friend. Seungkwan places the flowers they’d bought at the foot of the memorial carefully. Josh can feel him trembling, but he seems to be dry of tears, just looking at the memorial, his arm linked with Josh’s and his head on Jeonghan’s shoulder. The three of them are quiet.

After a while, Jeonghan breaks the peace between them. “Do you want a few minutes on your own, Kwan?”

Seungkwan continues to stare at the placard, then shuts his eyes and presses his lips together. “Yeah.”

Jeonghan nods. “We’ll wait for you by the gate.”

Josh is reluctant to let him go, feeling his anxiety radiating from him, but Jeonghan pulls him away gently, and Josh finds himself leaning into Jeonghan’s hold. Even with three days worth of memories, he feels the loss too, feels an echo of Seungkwan’s grief. He wonders if he knows what grief feels like, in his own experience. He wonders when he’ll have his memories back to know.

“You’ve done really well, Josh.” Jeonghan’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts. They’re strolling through the cemetery slowly, neither of them wanting to let Seungkwan get too far out of sight.

“Hm?”

“I know it’s been crazy for you. You’ve been thrown into a coven with no knowledge of us or any personal memories, and you’ve been putting others first. You’ve trusted us and looked out for us. I wanted to say thank you. It’s made everything easier, obviously.” Jeonghan’s thumb is stroking gentle circles where he’s holding Josh’s hand.

He shrugs, a little bashful. “Like I said, I trust you guys. You and Seungkwan and the rest of the coven have been looking after me well. I’ve just been doing my best to fit in.”

“You’ve been doing better than when we first formed the coven, to be honest. I guess your heart remembers what your head doesn’t.” Jeonghan pulls him in closer, and he smells of citrus.

Josh laughs and half-heartedly pushes at him. “That’s so cheesy.”

“You’ll agree with me soon enough,” he replies cryptically.

Though he’s curious, Josh doesn’t push that statement. “Are your parents alive, Jeonghan?”

Jeonghan looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “Yes they are, Shua.”

“You should go and see them soon. Doesn’t all this make you sentimental?”

Jeonghan’s face is serious now. “Yeah. It does. Do you miss your parents too?”

“Seungkwan asked me the same thing yesterday. I don’t remember them to miss them.”

Jeonghan just nods, not looking at him anymore. Seungkwan is coming up the path to meet them, and they both fall quiet on his approach. Jeonghan meets him with a hug, and Josh gets one too, though Seungkwan doesn’t say anything except,

“Let’s go.”

-

When they walk through the door, Josh has the same sensation he woke up to three days ago: that he’s found himself in the middle of a scene of unexpected chaos.

There’s a naked man on the floor, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling with a look of utter confusion and concern. A torn set of baby clothes and Minghao sitting beside him, slightly stunned, indicates that this is probably the elusive Seungcheol. Another naked man is running around the room at full speed, tongue lapping like a dog whilst the other members of the room cheer and call for him. Jihoon is standing on the sofa; Jun is giving Chan a better view by holding him up as he hoots in encouragement. As they watch, Mingyu slows down, seems to realise what’s happened, and pulls his tongue back into his mouth.

“Woof!” he says. “I mean, I’m back!” Now that he’s still, Josh can see he’s surprisingly tall. Must be the tree nymph blood. He jumps on Soonyoung in jubilation, who joins in with his cheering for a few seconds, before pushing him away and telling him to get some clothes on.

“Waa- what’s going on?” Seungcheol stutters, sitting up and looking around the room with eyebrows furrowed. “Where are we? Why am I naked? Was there a blood moon?”

“Good to see you back, Seungcheol!” says a pleased Jeonghan. “I’d had enough of you throwing up on me.”

Seungcheol frown grows deeper. “Huh?”

“Get some clothes on, Hyung, and we’ll explain it all. I’m glad you’re back,” Seungkwan says, walking over and crouching beside him to give him a side-on hug. Seungcheol accepts it, though still looking lost, and Minghao reaches out a hand to pull him up. He’s wobbly on his feet, so Hansol comes forward to support him in waddling through to the bedroom and pulling on some clothes.

Seungcheol takes it in his stride. Josh supposes he shouldn’t be surprised: he is the leader of this coven, so he’s probably put up with more disastrous antics before. He does however find it hard to believe that tree nymph man Mingyu is in fact the original Mingyu. The way he holds himself, the way he runs around the house, even the way he talks is more characteristic of a dog than a person.

“Do you remember me?” he asks Joshua, canine teeth poking out of his hopeful grin.

“Yeah, you’re Mingyu the dog,” he answers.

“No, I mean before I was a dog!”

“No, I have memory loss. Everyone else has filled me in, though.”

Mingyu’s smile fades. “Oh. I knew that, but I thought you remembered me, because you know my name.”

Josh squints at him, bemused. “I know who you are because the first thing you did was bark like a dog, and then everyone started calling you Mingyu.”

“Ah,” Mingyu says. “That makes sense.”

They spend the rest of the afternoon helping Seungcheol and Chan relearn to walk properly. They’re quick learners, and as the sun is beginning to set, they convince Jeonghan to let everyone go to the beach again. Jeonghan relents after Seungcheol does some sickening aegyo. Again, Josh wonders if Seungcheol was truly originally an adult, or if perhaps a baby is his true form.

The ten of them run out to the beach to celebrate their restored states; Jeonghan and Joshua take a walk along the still cliffs with Seungkwan, watching their friends play together below them. Eventually, they come to a bench that overlooks the pink-tinted waves and take a seat together. The area is deserted, only a sea breeze making its presence known, rustling their hair with a gentle touch. Seungkwan is the first to speak. He’s sat to the left of Josh, who has Jeonghan to his right, their bodies providing a buffer from the cool evening air.

“I know what it is I have to tell you. I know admitting it will bring your back memories, and Jeonghan’s magic.” He shrugs a little, bringing his jacket further up his arms, a nervous tension in his shoulders. “It doesn’t make it any easier to say.”

Josh is filled with apprehension. “Is it bad news?”

Seungkwan looks at him, eyes flicking past him to Jeonghan for a second. “It’s not great news. I’m more embarrassed than anything.”

“Whatever it is, let’s put it in the past,” Josh urges. “The longer you don’t tell me, the longer it stays a part of our present, not our history.”

“Even without a brain, he has more sense than you,” Jeonghan teases with a smile.

“Hey!” Josh protests. “I have a brain! Just no memories. Have we done enough to unlock my tragic backstory yet?”

Seungkwan snorts despite himself. “It’s not that tragic. It’s just something I’d rather not repeat.”

“Well, if you’d rather keep me an amnesiac for the rest of my life, you’ll have to prepare for a lot of repeating stories from our past.”

Seungkwan shakes his head, kicking at the sand and clumps of mud beneath his feet. “Where do I even start?”

“The beginning?” Josh suggests.

Seungkwan clears his throat. “Alright. You and Jeonghan first met four years ago, through a dating site. The site doesn’t exist anymore, because tensions have gotten worse and not many people want to date outside of their own species.” Seungkwan takes his hand gently. “But you did. You two dated for a year, and then Jeonghan and I decided we wanted to move out from our families and start a coven together. We gathered ten friends, and you said you’d be the eleventh, which meant a long battle with the Magical Affairs Council.” He rolls his eyes at the memory. “Humans and magical beings all thought we were weird as fuck. But two years ago, we were officially recognised as a coven. That was also the time that I joined your relationship.” Seungkwan smiles, his eyes glazed over. “The three of us have been dating for two years, and it’s been really good. We’re happy together.”

Josh lets out a breath. “Wow. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“You weren’t?” Jeonghan is smiling at him fondly.

“I thought we were really close friends or something…” Josh trails off, thinking about the bed sharing, sorting Seungkwan’s personal belongings with him, the trip to the cemetery together. Maybe he was missing his powers of observation along with his memories.

Seungkwan lets out a giggle at the look on his face. “Cute. I suppose you’re not wrong though.”

“So why is this bad?” he asks. This sounds great to him. Two boyfriends? Who can do magic? He must have a great sex life.

The smile falls from Seungkwan’s face, and Jeonghan links his arm with Josh’s in solidarity. “When you first started dating me, your parents didn’t like it,” he explains. “They thought it was dangerous to date a magical being, but they saw it made you happy, and let it slide. When you joined the coven, things started to get tense—they thought it was a mistake. They weren’t a fan of you dating Seungkwan either, but that was just another thing on a list of worries for them. About two months ago, we started talking about getting soul bonded, and that was the last straw.”

“What’s that?” Josh interrupts. “Soul bonding?”

“You described it once as ‘basically marriage for witches, but without the divorce option’,” Seungkwan says.

“Ah, I see. I’m good at describing things. Please continue.” He gestures to Jeonghan airily, though his heart is dropping at this news. He can see where it’s going.

“They told you that if you were getting soul bonded with us, they wouldn’t support it. You wouldn’t be welcome back in the family. They’d strike you out of the will. The whole deal. Humans have heard bad things about magical marriages, and they think it’s dangerous for you. We’d never do anything that could put you at risk, obviously, but they don’t want to hear that from us. Or from you, because you could be under our spell, or whatever it is they’re scared of,” Jeonghan sighs.

“You came back to us really upset about it, because you’ve always been close with them. Us or them, they’d told you.” Seungkwan squeezes at his hand. “It was weighing on the three of us for weeks. You loved the idea of getting soul bonded, but couldn’t stand to lose your parents. It was difficult.” He sighs and bites his lip before continuing.

“Then I got the news that my Ma died. We had the ceremony, I stayed with my sisters, I cried a lot. I tried to understand how it had happened, why to her, why to us. I couldn’t fathom that ‘accidents just happen,’ as my dad kept saying. I was so mad and upset and out of my own mind.” He takes a shuddering breath. “So I came back to the coven and saw you and told you to go home to your Mom. I said that you should be with her while you can, and choose her, and be a good son.” He purses his lips together. “You two were so patient with me, but I was beyond upset. I kicked you out of the bedroom, both of you. I told you to go home, that we could fill your slot in the coven, that your family were more important. At the time I thought this was the right thing to say; I thought it was better you should be with your Mom. But looking back, I know how shitty I was acting. You’ve had to fight to be with us for years, and it was unacceptable for me to tell you to leave.”

Seungkwan rubs at his eyes and sniffs, not able to look at him. Josh squeezes his hand in understanding. “You were grieving. I’m sure I knew that.”

Seungkwan lets out a wet laugh. “Yes, you were very understanding. But that made it worse. We avoided each other for a few days, sleeping in different rooms, eating at different times, but I knew you were still here. I knew you hadn’t gone to your Mom, and in my mind, I was so angry. I was thinking, he has a Mom, but he’s not telling her he loves her. He’s not spending time with her. He’s not doing anything I wish I could do.” Tears are running down his cheeks now, unhindered. “I was more angry at myself than you, because I thought that it was all my fault. It’s your relationship with Jeonghan and I that put you in this position in the first place, that made things bad with your parents. One evening, I could hear you talking with everyone else in the living room, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I got angry and came in, ready to yell at you to leave again. But when I saw you sitting there between Soonyoung and Chan, all happy and smiling with them, I knew that you belonged with us. I saw my second family in that room, and in my heart, I knew the reason you hadn’t left: because your parents wouldn’t support you, and we did. We’re your family.”

“That was when he lost it,” Jeonghan supplies.

“Yes, that was when I magically exploded,” Seungkwan says, half a laugh, half a sob. “And fucked everyone up. Because I was pulled all over the place, and I thought I’d ruined everything. So I need to tell you that I’m sorry, and that I never meant any of it, and although you shouldn’t forgive me for being so harsh to you, I would love for your forgiveness, Hyung.”

Josh drags the toes of his shoes through the grit. They paint a visceral picture, but he still doesn’t remember it for himself, and it feels like a distant tale. “I can forgive you, but it won’t really be me forgiving you until I remember everything for myself, will it?”

“You don’t remember?” Seungkwan asks. “I thought telling you would fix it.”

Josh quirks his mouth into a cheeky smile. “How about true love’s kiss to break the spell?”

Seungkwan rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling too. “You know that’s only a fairy tale myth, right? It’s not actually used in spells.”

“Can’t hurt to try,” Jeonghan says, a keen grin on his face.

Josh smirks, and Seungkwan’s eyes flicker down to his lips.

“Oh, what the hell,” he says, and leans in to give Josh a sweet, lingering kiss on the lips. He draws back, and Josh turns to Jeonghan expectantly, who swiftly leans in and provides something a little more eager, their heads tilted to meet each other perfectly. Then, Jeonghan leans across Josh, and Seungkwan does the same, and they also have a familiar, happy kiss.

It works like a treat. He can feel his memories slot into his brain like files in a cabinet, filling the spaces like they were never gone. He remembers their first date, nervously trying to work things about between three of them; he remembers the joy of being accepted into the coven, after a lot of paperwork and resistance; he remembers the love he has for these boys, filling his head and heart with an affection he didn’t know he missed.

“Oh yeah,” Jeonghan says from besides him, and Josh refocuses to see the flowers at their feet dancing around, waving their leaves with exultation. A soft yellow light is emitting from Jeonghan’s hands. “That did the trick.”

“Yes,” Seungkwan agrees. He’s waving his hand in front of him, making a handful of grit float and form the shape of a heart around the setting sun. “It’s back. We did it.”

“Good job, boyfriends,” Josh says, and brings Seungkwan back in for a more enthusiastic kiss. Seungkwan laughs into it, holding the sides of Josh’s head gently. When he pulls away, he’s beaming.

“Hi,” he says. “I missed you.”

“Missed you too,” Josh says, and turns to Jeonghan. “And you. Don’t let me think we’re just bros being bros ever again, please.” He gives Jeonghan another kiss, which Jeonghan smiles into.

“I never told you anything of the sort, Shua. That was your assumption.”

“Shut up, you didn’t exactly help me.”

“I’m sorry for acting so awfully, Hyung,” Seungkwan says, biting at his lip. “I was really stupid. I said some shitty things. And I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you about it.”

Josh shakes his head. “It’s okay. I wholeheartedly forgive you. Like I said, we can put it behind us now. I always want to be with you guys. That’s the most important thing to me.”

Seungkwan smiles and puts his head on Josh’s shoulder. The sun has mostly set now, and they can barely make out the figures of the rest of their coven on the beach below them, their carefree voices echoing up the side of the cliffs.

“Me too,” Jeonghan says. “We’ll take things on together.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it now,” Seungkwan huffs. “We’re better together. I love you guys too.”

Josh smiles as Jeonghan puts his head on his other shoulder. He puts an arm around each of them, and they watch the last of the sun disappear beyond the waves.