fledarmûs || woosan

「chapter 10」: tree house

The first thing San noticed when he got out of his car was the warm wind that rustled the grass and caressed his skin with gentle hands. The second thing he noticed was the bleating of about five sheep.

"Oh, Soley must've been here while I was gone," his witch remarked as he left the car, apparently not surprised or disturbed by the sudden appearance of sheep.

"Who?" San slammed the car door shut and locked the car. What an eventful day.

Wooyoung headed for the front door. "You remember Tsuki? Werewolf girl, works as a waitress in the restaurant we celebrated our new marriage in? Soley's her girlfriend."

The other followed his boyfriend, slipping his hand in his witch's and intertwining their fingers as Wooyoung unlocked the door. "Hm, okay, I don't see how this relates to the sheep in your garden though."

His witch dismissed this with a lazy wave of his hand. "Sheep are good for the meadow, and the sheep need a place to stay for the summer, so this is a win-win-situation. But anyway, I've got something to show you!"

San sighed to himself. There went his dreams of a lazy afternoon spent laying on a blanket in the meadow. Though his disappointment drowned in the excitement of finding out what his boyfriend wanted to show him, so he decided to forget about it for now.

As the entrance door closed behind them, claws scratched over the floor and seconds later Frieda attacked them. He crouched down and pet the vixen with just as much excitement as she had while Wooyoung headed for the kitchen. "Who's a good girl? Who's the goodest girl?" he asked Frieda in a babying voice as he ran his hands through her fur, and she whimpered in joy and let out a little cry of contentment. "That's right, you are! You are the goodest girl in the whole wide world!"

"You coming?" his witch called from the kitchen, so he apologized to Frieda and got up. She followed him on his heel, though only until she realized that he wouldn't pet her anymore.

Once he'd reached the kitchen, Wooyoung gave him a basket filled with baked goods, various fruits and berries and bottled water with elderberry syrup. Before he could ask what this meant, his boyfriend shushed him and took his hand.

"You'll see," was all he said, then he led him to the huge tree in the back of the garden, through the sheep - who were very interested in the contents of the basket - and past the old shed. There, he told San to touch the tree, and, after a strange look from the man himself, laughed and whispered one of his old words. Then he placed the other's hand on the red, painted handprint on the bark of the tree.

San's hand sank into the tree as if it was moss. "Wait, what the fuck-" he managed, then the bark wrapped around him and he stood in the center of a small, wooden chamber; was he inside the trunk? Where did Wooyoung go? How the hell did he even get in there?

"Okay, now you have to-"

The man jumped. "Jesus Christ, Wooyoung!"

His witch laughed. "Sorry! I keep forgetting that you're new to all of this." He took San's hand. "I'll tell you all about portals and teleportation in the next lesson, okay?"

"This is a portal??" the other asked incredulously, a little assured by their joined hands.

Wooyoung placed his hand on the blue handprint on the inside of the trunk opposite from the red one and the tree spit them out in a forest. "It's... not a portal, per se, it's more like a door. Portals can change, this one can't."