Magic in the Air
This is a small fic for the lovely @bibibingka as a part of a SS exchange I participated in! It was both fun and frustrating to write. I never realised just how out of practice i was of writing characters that aren’t Victor/Yuuri/Yurio until I started this fic!
AO3
Guang-Hong let out a breath that immediately turned to fog in front of his eyes as he watched the first snowfall of the season.
It was strange, being halfway across the world but still being able to witness the first natural snowfall of the season.
He still couldn’t quite believe it, he was actually here in America about to spend Winter with two of his best friends.
“Guang-Hong!” A voice called out, immediately catching his attention. He turned and smiled when he spotted a young man hurrying towards him, huddled in a jacket that seemed too large for him.
“Phichit!” he called out, trying his best to not jump up and down in his excitement in fear of slipping on the wet surface below his feet. He couldn’t help but laugh as the tanned male seemed to ignore the ground and charge straight into him, wrapping him up in a tight hug and sending them both tumbling to the ground.
“You’re finally here!” Phichit all but shouted in his ear while squeezing the life out of him. He let out a squeak of a laugh as he squeezed back.
“It is so good to see you!” Phichit sighed when they broke apart a few long moments later before they got to their feet, smiling brightly at each other as they did so.
He was actually here! In America, about to spend the winter with his two best friends, Phichit and Leo de la Iglesia.
Speaking of Leo, he threw a glance over Phichit’s shoulder, hoping to spot his missing best friend. He tried to hide his disappointment when he didn’t spot Leo standing off to the side, waiting for his turn to greet him.
Phichit seemed to let out a chuckle while throwing an arm across his shoulders and began pulling him along. He barely had the chance to grab his luggage as he was dragged away without warning.
“He’s not here. He didn’t manage to finish whatever his teacher has assigned him in time,” Phichit explained with a knowing smirk. He couldn’t help but blush in embarrassment at having been caught looking for his other best friend. It wasn’t exactly a secret – at least to Phichit – that he had a small crush on Leo.
“But don’t worry, he swore that he’ll meet us for dinner,” Phichit said while throwing a wink in his direction.
He opened his mouth, but whatever he had been about to ask escaped him as a small fluffy head poked out of the collar of Phichit’s jacket.
“Phawta!” he cooed at Phichit’s adorable familiar. The adorable clouded leopard blinked at him drowsily for a moment before letting out a small chirp in greeting.
“We’ve been so excited for you to get here that she tired herself out,” Phichit explained as he lifted a hand to gently scratch underneath the wild cats chin.
“Where is Zhen?” Phichit asked, seeming to look him up and down, searching for his own familiar.
He couldn’t help the blush that rose to his cheeks under his best friend’s gaze.
Familiars in his home country were a sacred thing, only meant to be revealed behind closed doors to family and lovers. In America, it was the opposite of his home land. Familiar were basically put on pedestals, shown off like prized pets rather than a physical projection of a person’s soul.
So, it had been rather frustrating to his two best friends about how secretive he was about his own familiar. It had taken months of skype calls after they meet for him to even reveal the name of his familiar, revealing her was still off the table for the time being anyway.
He dropped his gaze down to the messenger bag hanging at his side which held his familiar, who seemed fine, despite being thrown around slightly when Phichit had knocked him to the ground.
“Does she want to come out?” Phichit asked, seeming to notice where his gaze had floated to subconsciously. He quickly shook his head while turning his attention back to Phichit.
“N-no,” he answered quickly.
“Well, she is allowed to here if she wants too,” Phichit reminded him with a bright, cheerful smile on his face.
He nodded his head while wrapping a hand tightly around the strap that held Zhen securely at his side.
He still couldn’t believe it sometimes, that a person like Phichit was his friend, and Leo too.
They had all met in Beijing a few years back, having been seated together randomly at one of the shows of the famous summoner, Victor Nikiforov. His shows were few in numbers, and tickets sold like crazy, for what he understood, Victor hadn’t been to America in a number of years which had prompted Phichit and Leo’s sudden trip to China for the show.
The show had been taking a small intermission when he had overheard the pair that he now considered his best friends, questioning each other in English about the location of the nearest bathroom. Having been studying English for a number at years at that point, he had – what he had hoped was politely – butted into the conversation and told them where the closet bathroom was.
And everything after that was history. Apparently, he had been given immediate best friend stasis for helping the pair and hadn’t been able to shake that pair since then – not that he had really tried.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Phichit declared suddenly, “Let’s find something American to eat so I can snap Leo and torment him for not finishing his potions in time.”
“Okay?” he barely managed to mumble before Phichit speed up, pulling him along with him.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“What?”
He gasped, staring at Phichit with wide eyes as the tanned male giggled from across the table.
“I know, right,” Phichit said while nodding his head.
“Yuuri?! Dating the Victor Nikiforov? Like, the famous summoner Victor Nikiforov?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yep,” Phichit giggled, nodding his head.
“How?” he questioned.
“Used his enchanter powers, clearly,” Phawta said from Phichit’s lap.
“He went home for the winter, and apparently Victor tracked him down and now they are dating,” Phichit explained to him, seeming way to giddy about the fact that Yuuri Katsuki – another one of Phichit’s friends that he had only spoke to a handful of times himself – was suddenly dating the world renown summoner.
“Tracked him down? Have the met before?” he questioned in confusion, causing Phichit to giggle again, “Oh dear,” he mumbled to himself, knowing exactly what they giggle meant.
“We went clubbing,” Phichit said brightly, “And Yuuri may or may not have had a drink too many.”
He opened his mouth to reply, only to jump in surprise as Zhen suddenly shifted in his messenger bag that was resting between his feet. He froze for a moment, feeling Zhen shift around into a more comfortable position before settling down again. He sighed to himself, ignoring the disappointed look that appeared on Phichit’s face as he returned to the piece of cake Phichit had gotten for him. It was full with enough sugar to give both his parents and teacher a heart attack if they knew he was eating it.
“He really shouldn’t be so surprised. He is an enchanter after all,” Phichit sighed while scooping up a spoonful of his own cake and popping it into his mouth.
In a world full of magic, it still fascinated him about how many different types of magic there were.
Magic to summon beast of legends like the summoner, Victor Nikiforov.
Magic that enchanted, seduced and tempted, which Yuuri possessed.
Magic to create potions to do anything and everything, that Leo could made.
Magic that manipulated reality that Phichit specialised in.
His own power seemed bored in comparison.
A simple Wu, or Shaman in the English language. Only able to heal, manipulate weather – only to a small degree – and to interpret dreams.
Nothing exciting, like being able to fool a person into walking in a continuous circle forever or creating a potion that could allow a person to breathe underwater.
He let out a small sigh as he shoved the rest of his cake into his mouth, chewing on it while staring across the table at Phichit.
“So, when are you and Leo hooking up?” Phichit questioned, causing the piece of cake he was trying to eat to get stuck in his throat. He lifted a hand to his mouth and coughed until his airway was free of sugary cake once again.
“Phichit!” he gasped in horror, causing the tanned male to burst into more delighted giggles at his response.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
He let out a small sigh as he kicked his shoes and wiggled his toes happily at the sudden freedom.
They had finally made it to Phichit’s place where he would be staying for the extent of his stay in America. Since Yuuri had decided to return home for the winter – and possibly longer depending on how his thing with the Victor Nikiforov went – his room was currently vacant. Yuuri had been generous enough to offer the room to him while he was away, which had been a huge relief on his holiday budget.
“Make yourself at home! You should be able to squeeze a nap in if you want!” Phichit declared while shrugging off his coat. Phawta seemed to just appear at Phichit’s feet, stretching her little paws out in front of her.
“If I nap, I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight,” he admitted as he shoved his luggage to the side and shifted to take his own jacket off. He bit back a smile as heard more than saw Zhen poke her nose out of the messenger back and sniffle the room curiously.
“I forgot about jetlag,” Phichit seemed to mumble under his breath while walking through the room. He watched as his friend seemed to talk across the room, flipping a switch here and pushing a button there. By the time Phichit plopped onto the couch, the television was on, the room was suddenly being filled with warm air and by the look of it, the internet might have been turned on if Phichit’s phone was anything to go by.
“Internet password is on the fridge. Help yourself to everything in the kitchen,” Phichit called out to him.
“Don’t touch the crispy seaweed strips!” Phawta declared rather loudly while settling on a nearby windowsill.
“Leo just messaged me, said he just needed to clean up and then he would be here,” Phichit finished off his list while throwing a smirk in his direction. He ducked his head in embarrassment as he fiddled with the strap of his messenger bag.
He glanced down at his clothes, wondering if he looked okay.
“Relax, you could be wearing anything and lover-boy would think you look nice,” his friend sighed dramatically, an obvious eye roll included in his statement.
“O-okay,” he mumbled, ducking his head in embarrassment.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
He stifled a yawn, blinking slowly at the television in front of him.
He couldn’t sleep now! It didn’t matter that the couch was ridiculously comfy and that Zhen had escaped the confounds of his messenger bag and managed to curl up under his shirt without being spotted. Sleeping now would screw his sleeping pattern. He only had to stay awake for a couple more hours. Just long enough to have dinner with Leo and Phichit.
He jolted suddenly as he felt a lightweight drape over him, he glanced up to see Phichit smiling down at him softly.
“I have ordered us some take out. You look ready to drop,” Phichit commented, patting him gently on the head. He let out a sigh while shaking his head to knock the tanned males hand away.
“We can go out!” he tried to insist, only to earn himself a raised eyebrow in response.
“You were almost asleep a moment ago,” he opened his mouth to protest, only to pause and perk up curiously as he heard the front door of the little apartment pop open.
“I brought food.” He couldn’t help the smile that rose to his lips at the all too familiar voice that came from the doorway. He quickly scrambled to his feet – almost tripping when his feet got slightly tangled in the blanket Phichit had thrown over him – and hurried towards the front door.
“Guang-Hong!” Leo called out to him, smiling brightly at him before he all but barrelled into the man.
“Leo,” he couldn’t help but sigh as he hugged his other best friend tightly.
“It feels like forever since we last saw each other,” Leo replied while squeezing him tightly back.
“We skyped not even twenty-four hours ago,” Phichit piped in from the background.
“Wasn’t talking to you,” Leo huffed, causing him to giggle in response. He pulled back and smiled brightly up at Leo.
He was actually here, in America with his two best friends.
“Did I hear the word food?” he questioned, earning himself an amused chuckle as he was handed two plastic bags.
“American Chinese,” Leo announced, causing him to spin around and glare at Phichit. The tanned – or most tanned seeing as Leo was also tanned in comparison to himself – only grinned at him from the back of the couch.
“You have to experience it, Guang-Hong,” Phichit declared.
Zhen let out a muffled snort from the pile of blankets where she had been left when he had scrambled to greet Leo. The sound seemed to startle Phichit, who jumped away from the couch like it was suddenly caught on fire. He giggled at Phichit’s reaction, only to grin brightly as Leo threw an arm over his shoulder.
Yeah, this felt right.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
Despite his best efforts, it did seem he wasn’t able to beat jetlag on his first night, finding himself awake a little after three in the morning.
He glanced around him for a moment before jolting upright, finally taking notice that he was in a bed, a bed he didn’t remember falling asleep in.
He remembered having dinner, seated between Leo and Phichit on the couch as the ate food that should in no way be called Chinese food.
It was both weird and exciting to be here with them, physically with them. Their whole friendship had been created online, firstly in a group chat which had quickly evolved into a group skype call.
“There is too much noise here,” Zhen mumbled suddenly as she wiggled her way out from the blankets that had pooled at his waist when he had jolted upright. He smiled as he opened his eyes to the beautiful red panda who climbed into his arms and nuzzled into his neck with a content sigh.
Zhen was classed as a rather boring familiar back in his homeland, but he didn’t care about the disappointed look his parents gave Zhen whenever they saw her. She was beautiful to him, from her little black nose all the way to her gorgeous striped tail.
“It sure is different,” he agreed softly while slowly dropping back down onto the bed.
“Make it rain,” Zhen suggested while pulling away from his hands to drape herself around his neck like a scarf, “That would quieten it down.”
“Too much effort,” he reminded his familiar, who huffed in response.
Controlling the weather was difficult. You had to factor in a number of things, from current temperature levels to the humidity level. It was impossible to just snap his fingers and change the weather from rainy to sunny.
“Interrupt their dreams,” Zhen suggested, flicking her tail to hit him in the face.
“That is rude and an invasion of privacy,” he pointed out while raising a hand to scratch behind her eat.
Zhen let out a hum as she accepted the pat happily, only to hit him in the face with her tail yet again.
“We could go try and pat Leo’s familiar,” Zhen sighed out, causing him to pause in surprise.
Pat Leo’s familiar? Physically touch Leo’s familiar?
The thought alone brought a deep blush to his cheeks. He couldn’t!
It didn’t matter that Daniel – Leo’s familiar – looked like the softest, fluffiest cloud with his winter coat. He wouldn’t dare touch the male arctic hare without Leo’s permission.
What if he saw something he wasn’t meant too? What if he found out Leo had a crush on someone else? What if-
“But he looks so fluffy,” Zhen sighed, hitting him in the face again. He huffed as he captured the striped tail in his hand and gently dragged his hand down it, directing it away from his face as he did so.
“No,” he stated simply, earning a dramatic sigh in response.
“You suck,” Zhen huffed.
“We suck,” he corrected, earning a defeated sigh in response from his familiar.
“We don’t suck,” Zhen told him while curling around his neck perfectly.
He let his eyes slide shut, as he tugged the blankets up to his shoulders and let the sound of the city attempt to lull his jetlagged mind back to sleep.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
Guang-Hong couldn’t help but giggle as he stumbled forwards with Leo’s arm wrapped around his shoulders, listening to Phichit screech from behind them.
It was barely nine in the morning, but they were all awake and ready for the day.
Since the moment he announced holidaying in America for the winter, Phichit had created a list of things that the three friends had to do, a list that had to be started that day, his first official day in Detroit.
Phichit had begun giving them a list of things he had wanted to do today, only for Leo to declare half way through the list, that he had already organised for them to go to a cat café for lunch, something that seemed to ruin all of Phichit’s plans for the day.
Despite the rather chilly weather, the city still seemed alive.
People were everywhere, hurrying along in their own little world.
Unlike in China, it was easy to tell who possessed magic. Familiars were plastered by their owner’s side, many big and bright and eye-catching.
He let out a gasp while grabbing onto Leo’s jacket and tugging on it.
“Is that a reindeer?” he questioned, pointing towards a large deer like creature with huge antlers. Leo seemed to chuckle at his excitement before letting out a hum.
“Looks like it,” Leo seemed to say before he noticed Phichit’s snickering from behind them.
He felt a blush heat up his cheeks as he quickly let go of Leo’s jacket and shoved his heads into his pockets in embarrassment.
“Have you never seen a reindeer?” Phichit questioned while finally catching up to them. He shook his head in response, trying to be subtle as he stared at the reindeer that stood outside a store, standing tall and proud.
“It is so big,” he mumbled in awe, which caused his two best friends to laugh. He let out a huff at the pair and ducked his head lower.
He blinked as he noticed Daniel hopping barely a foot in front of him. He stared down at the hare, wondering how he hadn’t notice how close he was to kicking the fluffy bunny every time he took a step.
“So, we can cross off Guang-Hong having a panda,” Phichit giggled, catching his attention.
“What?” he questioned, blinking at the pair, “A panda?”
“Phichit thought that maybe you had a panda familiar and that is why you didn’t show it off,” Leo explained.
“An adorable panda to cuddle, it sounds perfect for you,” Phichit declared.
“I think,” he stared, glancing between his friends confused, “I think you would have already realised if I had a panda.”
“We were teasing,” Phichit huffed, nudging their shoulders together.
“How do people live with big familiars?” he questioned the pair, earning a baffled look from the pair.
“Don’t know,” Leo stated simply.
“Practice?” Phichit said slowly and hesitantly.
“Oh,” he mumbled, finally realising how stupid his question probably sounded.
“Now, the cat café,” Leo butted in.
“Why?” Phichit huffed, causing him to chuckle as the pair seemed to argue between themselves for a moment in quick English that he couldn’t quite keep up with.
Suddenly, the breath in his lungs seemed to freeze. He came to a halt and glance upwards, staring up at the sky for a moment before he felt something nudge against his leg curiously.
“Guang-Hong?” a small voice questioned, finally breaking his gaze from the sky.
“Oh, um,” he said, glancing in front of him to see Leo and Phichit staring at him with raised eyebrows, “We should get under cover,” he suggested suddenly. The pair stared at him for a moment longer before shrugging and waving him over. He hurried back to his friends, grabbing a hold of their arms and pulling them to the nearest covered area.
It was almost immediately after they were covered the sky opened up. Rain, cold rain quickly started falling all around them.
“Wow,” Phichit mumbled while bring out his phone to document the moment as he stood pressed against the wall with Leo next him – Daniel was now cradled in Leo’s arms, his adorable little feet visible as he hung limply in his owner’s arms.
“You felt it?” Leo questioned.
“Yes?” he replied hesitantly.
“How? Did someone else do it or?” Leo questioned, trailing off and staring at him with a curious look on his feet. He felt his cheeks heat up – or heat up more, he couldn’t be sure if the blush had settled down from the earlier teasing from his friends.
“No,” he says, shaking his head, “I mean, it’s pretty easy to tell when someone does manipulate the weather, but I sort of just… felt it?”
“Felt it?” Leo questioned.
“The humidity increased which normally means rain or snow and since the temperature didn’t change it meant it was going to snow,” he explained, shrugging his shoulders as he turned to look at the sky. A shiver ran down his spine, causing him to pull his jacket tighter around him in an attempt to keep himself warm.
“You could tell all that?” Leo questioned, sounding impressed.
“Yeah?” he replied with a shrug.
“That’s incredible!” his friend gushed, causing him to pause. How was that incredible?
“Didn’t you say you could also interpret dreams?” Phichit suddenly piped up while colliding into his side and wrapping him in a tight hug.
“Yes?” he replied hesitantly.
“Do me!” Phichit demanded, smiling brightly at him.
“What does that mean? Interpret dreams?” Leo questioned.
“Um, I-I can see what a person is dreaming about. And, um, certain things can be translated?” he tried to explain with a shrug.
“Guang,” Phichit whined, “Do me!”
“I can’t,” he mumbled, “It’s better to do it when someone is asleep or have just woken up.”
“That’s so cool,” Leo mumbled, “I just make potions.”
“Potions are cool!” he quickly stated, earning a giggle from Phichit that seemed to grow his already red cheeks.
“Not really,” Leo mumbled with a shrug.
“You can make people breath underwater or fall in love! I can tell when it is going to rain or if someone is having a wet dream,” he pointed out, earning a deep chuckle from Phichit.
“Wet dream, huh?” Phichit cooed in his ear, causing him to quickly pull away from the Thai boy and hurrying to the opposite side of Leo.
“Phichit’s being mean,” he whined, looking up at Leo with big round eyes in hopes that he would get some backup.
Instead he received the most breathing-taking laugh he had ever heard.
Life was sometimes so unfair.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“Look!”
He couldn’t help but gasp as he held up the tiny kitten that stumbled into his lap not moments ago.
He couldn’t believe it! He was in a cat café and everything was amazing.
There were cats everywhere and more and more kept coming up to him, meowing for attention.
It was amazing.
“Guang-Hong, smile!” He blinked at his name before flashing a shy smile at Phichit who quickly began snapping photos of him with a lapful of cats and kittens.
He jolted in surprise as a cat jumped onto his shoulders, purring happily and nuzzling against his head, after only a moment he finally realised that it wasn’t any old cat perched on his shoulders, but Phawta.
“She’s jealous,” Phichit called out, earning a hiss of dismay from Phawta.
“You’re jealous too,” Phawta stated before nuzzling against his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.
He sat there for a little while longer, giving attention to all the cats and kittens that approached him before finally dragging himself off the ground and towards the table that Leo was situated at. He paused beside the table, staring at the large milkshake that was situated in the middle of the table, with cream and chunks of chocolate placed on top.
“You okay over here?” he asked while taking a seat beside Leo.
“Oh, yeah,” Leo said with a nod, “Cat’s just don’t… like me?” Leo supplied with a small smile.
“But,” he mumbled, “You organised this?”
“Because you said you like cats,” Leo explained. He blinked at his best friends whose cheeks seemed to turn red at his confession. “Oh, I got you a drink,” Leo mumbled, pushing the milkshake from the middle of the table towards him. He couldn’t help but smile in delight as he grabbed the handle and took a sip, humming in delight at the over-sugary drink.
At this rate, he was going to go home fat with how sugary and delicious everything in America was.
“Oh, lovebirds, smile!” Phichit called out, causing him to turn towards Phichit with a dark blush on his cheeks.
“Phichit!” he shrieked in embarrassment.
The giggle that left Phichit’s lips felt familiar, almost like he had heard it multiple times that day or something. He covered his face in embarrassment and ducked his head down.
He was beginning to hate Phichit and his teasing.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“I’m off guys.”
He blinked in confusion while glancing over the back of the couch, where he was seated with Leo, watching some American show that he didn’t understand.
Phichit was standing at the front door, dressed extremely nicely as he slipped on his winter coat.
“Where you going?” he questioned as Phawta appeared on Phichit’s shoulder, an adorable bow wrapped around her neck.
“Ah, date night with mystery man?” Leo questioned, causing him to look at the male beside him in confusion.
Date night? Mystery man? What was going on?
Leo raised an eyebrow at him before glancing back to Phichit.
“You didn’t tell him?” Leo questioned.
“I’m off, don’t wait up for me!” Phichit said suddenly, blowing them a kiss before hurrying out of the apartment before any more words could be exchanged.
He shifted around to face Leo, who was staring at the door in confusion.
“Explain,” he demanded, a pout on his lips. Leo turned to him and gave him a soft smile.
“Ah, he met some guy and has been sort of seeing him,” Leo explained.
“Sort of?” he questioned, “Does he dress up that nicely for ‘sort of’?”
Leo stared at him before shrugging in response. He huffed while settling back into the couch, facing the television to try and finish the episode they were watching.
He couldn’t believe that Phichit was seeing someone. Okay, that wasn’t what he couldn’t believe. He couldn’t believe that Phichit hadn’t told him.
He thought they told each other everything.
“Want to go get ice cream?” Leo asked, causing him to blink and finally take notice that the episode had finished while he had been pouting over Phichit.
“Yes,” he answered all too quickly, jumping to his feet and hurrying to get his jacket, shoes and Zhen.
American ice cream was amazing.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“Tell me!”
He demanded the next morning as Phichit finally stumbled out of his room, a rather obvious hickey visible on his neck.
“Tell you what?” Phichit questioned while making a beeline for the coffee machine.
It was a strange contraption that both Leo and Phichit seemed obsessed with. Had neither of them heard of tea or something?
He had been appalled on his first morning here to find out that the apartment didn’t have tea at first glance. Thankfully, Phichit had gone through Yuuri’s hidden stash of food and found a large tin of decent green tea.
“About mystery man!” he demanded in a huff.
Phichit continued to fiddled with the coffee machine until it gurgled to life – no, seriously, gurgled like some drowning beast. Phichit left the machine gurgling while walking over to join him at the adorable little circular dining table.
“We met at a gay bar,” Phichit stated simply.
“Wait,” he said softly, tilting to his head to the side in confusion, “I thought the drinking-”
“Drinking age is twenty-one,” Phichit confirmed.
“Gay bar?” he questioned in confusion, earning a nod.
“Yep. It’s call a fake id,” Phichit said, winking at him. He sat there, sipping his tea for a moment before letting out a small hum.
“So, where is lover-boy?” Phichit questioned, glancing around.
“Leo,” he corrected, “went home last night. Saying something about needing to change clothes.”
“I see. So, you two didn’t bang or anything while I was gone?” Phichit questioned, causing him to choke on his drink in surprise. He all but slammed his mug into the table, coughing harshly.
It took a moment for him to catch his breath again.
“Phichit!” he gasped in horror, earning a delighted giggle from the boy.
“A-at-at least I don’t have a huge hickey on my neck,” he declared. Phichit paused before slowly rising a hand to his neck.
“No,” Phichit mumbled to himself before bolting from his seat and stumbling across the room to a mirror that was hanging on the wall.
He bit back a smile as Phichit groaned in dismay while staring at his neck.
“God damn it,” Phichit all but whined while turning back to him, “How am I meant to hide this?”
He gave a shrug in response while picking up his mug of tea again and taking a sip.
“Innocent my ass,” Phichit huffed while turning back to the mirror.
“So, what’s his name?” he questioned. Phichit was silent, simply touching the mark on his neck before letting out a rather dramatic sigh.
“Seung-gil,” Phichit said in a soft tone. It almost sounded like Phichit had sighed the name with how softly it had been spoken.
“What type of magic does he do?” he questioned.
“He’s a mentalist. It’s both so frustrating and fascinating. My illusions don’t work on him,” Phichit declared while turning away from the mirror and walking back to the table.
“Don’t… work?” he questioned.
“He just always knows. It’s like he feels around everyone’s minds constantly, and that is how he can gauge if what he is seeing is real or not,” Phichit sighed while slumping into the back of his chair, “He’s… like no one I’ve ever met.”
“It sounds like you two are a pair made in heaven,” he commented, hoping that he had gotten the English phrase right.
“Oh god no,” Phichit laughed, shaking his head, “I’d say the complete opposite. We are so different and I think that is why it works.”
He opened his mouth to ask another question, only to be cut off by a round of knocks on the front door. Phichit got to his feet and answered the door, which revealed Leo. Leo stood in the doorway with Daniel poking out of his winter jacket, hair tousled and sprinkled with snowflakes.
If he wasn’t sure of his sexuality at this point, he was pretty sure he could confirm it now.
He was gay. Gay for one of his best friends.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“A carnival?”
Phichit nodded his head at his question while typing away on his phone.
“Yeah! You’ve heard of a carnival, right?” Phichit questioned. He turned his gaze to Leo, who looked at Phichit before rolling his eyes. He giggled in response before smiling innocently as Phichit finally looked up from his phone.
“Right?” Phichit questioned again while eyeing him closely.
“It’s sort of like a festival, right?” he replied, only to bite back a giggle as Phichit returned to his phone.
Almost as soon as they had finished the breakfast that Leo had brought with him – a breakfast of sugary pastries, he was beginning to think Leo enjoyed feeding him – Phichit had been rather distracted by his phone.
It wasn’t exactly hard to figure out why though, with the smile plastered on their friend’s lips and the blush that seemed to appear randomly every now and then.
“Sort of,” Leo hummed, “There is lots of games and children’s rides and stuff.”
He nodded his head slowly, thinking he understood it.
“We can go on a ferris wheel together!” Phichit gasped suddenly, startling him and almost causing him to drop his new mug of tea.
“Or you could go on it with your mystery man,” Leo piped in. Phichit immediately pouted, causing both Leo and himself to giggle in delight at their friend’s adorable reaction.
Phichit – never one to lose – quickly turned to him, his pout replaced with a smirk.
“Or, you know, you two could go together.” He ducked in his head in embarrassment, hiding behind his mug in a poor attempt at hiding himself.
“I’m not very good with heights,” Leo stated.
“Fine, the love tunnel than,” Phichit suggested. He glanced up slightly, firstly at Phichit – who was smirking at Leo – and then to Leo – whose cheeks were tinted a lovely shade of red.
“What’s ‘the love tunnel’?” he questioned meekly, quickly turning Phichit’s smirk on himself.
“It’s a boat ride which couples and people in love ride. Completely romantic,” Phichit ensured him.
“Phichit! Don’t be mean,” Leo said suddenly, seeming to kick Phichit’s chair and cause the older male to burst into giggles.
“You two are so easy to tease,” Phichit laughed before getting to his feet and leaving the table, humming happily to himself.
He watched Phichit leave before turning to Leo, catching the other male looking at him.
He didn’t know who looked away first, but he was pretty sure Leo’s cheeks were just as red as his when they finally looked away.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“You can win toys?” he gasped while turning to his two best friends with wide eyes.
He didn’t care that both of them laughed at him because he was going to get a teddy bear tonight even if it was the last thing he did.
“Yeah,” Leo said, nodding his head, “Do you want me to win you one?”
He couldn’t help but nod his head in excitement before all but jumping on Leo.
“Nawwwww, look at that,” Phichit said, clearly trying to be a tease – how he had gone so long without realising just how much of a tease Phichit was beyond him.
“I don’t see you promising to win anything,” Leo replied, causing Phichit to shrug his shoulders in response.
“It’s too easy,” Phichit stated simply while walking towards one of the van type things that seemed to be selling food.
“Easy?” he questioned, letting go of Leo to hurry after Phichit. As much as he wanted a teddy bear, food seemed like a good thing to start with.
“Phichit cheats,” Leo commented while catching up with them.
“I do not,” Phichit gasped.
“He uses magic,” Leo whispered, causing Phichit to huff in response.
“It works like that?” he questioned curiously.
“What? Twisting reality to make it seem I’m in front of the counter when I’m behind it?” Phichit said, shrugging his shoulders in response.
“Cheating,” Leo repeated.
“They are scammers anyway,” Phichit replied simply. He frowned and glanced towards Leo in confusion.
“A lot of the games, you can’t actually win,” Leo explained, patting his shoulder in response.
“Why not?” he questioned with a frown.
“Because they are scammers,” Phichit stated, not exactly answering his question.
“Don’t… they have like, magic detectors or something?” he asked, glancing up at Leo for answers. His friend simply shrugged his shoulders in response.
“They are rather expensive here, so I doubt it,” Leo told him.
“Welcome to America,” Phichit said while pushing his way to the front of the line to order some food. He stood with Leo, looking around curiously.
It didn’t take him long to spot the exact teddy bear he wanted to take home with him that night.
Handing up at the front of the stall was a large plain teddy bear with big fluffy ears.
“Guang-Hong?”
He blinked in surprise before glancing down to see Daniel huddled between his feet, ears twitching up at him curiously.
“Hi,” he mumbled hesitantly, still not use to actually talking to another person’s familiar. He couldn’t help but bite his bottom lip as the hare twitched its nose up at him, making his little whiskers move.
“Did you see something you wanted?” the hare questioned while hunching up onto its hind legs to try and see what he was staring at.
“N-no! I mean, yes,” he stuttered out.
“Yes or no?” Daniel questioned, only to be cut off as Phichit appeared in front of them, arms full of food.
“Got to love carnival food,” Phichit hummed while shoving a stick into his hand that held some sort of round thing.
“It’s a potato,” Phichit informed him, causing him to frown in confusion. The thing at the end of his stick did not look like a potato.
“A deep-fried potato,” Phichit added, grinning at him before diving into some roll with meat in the middle.
American food was strange, but also rather delicious most of the time – so he hesitantly took a bite out of the ‘potato’ that had been given to him.
He blinked as he carefully chewed on the mouthful before smiling in delight at the crunchy yet soft potato.
“Wow!” he gasped before taking another bite, only to earn amused laughs from both his friends.
He really needed to look for more friends, maybe ones that didn’t laugh at him this time.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“You really want that teddy bear, don’t you?”
He left out a huff as he threw his last ball that he was holding at the pile of bottles in front of him, only to let out a frustrated whine when only the top bottle toppled over.
Sure, he wasn’t the most active person, but he still knew how to throw a ball and hit things. How had he only hit the top bottle?
He just wanted the teddy bear! He didn’t care how obvious his attempts now were.
“Guang-Hong.” He glanced up at the call of his name.
“What?” he mumbled, totally not pouting.
“Let me try,” Leo offered, causing him to squint at his best friend for a moment.
“No,” he replied simply while digging into his bag for more money to try again.
“Hey! If I win, you can keep the prize,” Leo said while grabbing his hand, “Just one try!”
He eyed his friend carefully for a moment, totally not still pouting before letting out a sigh.
“One,” he mumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.
Leo smiled before quickly turning to the person in charge of the game and paying for one round. He moved out of the way so Leo could line himself up, shifting on his feet as he watched Leo roll one of the three balls he had gotten in his hands.
He blinked as Leo glanced towards him before flashing him a bright smile – a beautiful smile that set his cheeks alight – before throwing the ball.
He heard a stuttered gasp, which drew his attention away from Leo’s smile and to the pile of bottles – or at least where the bottles had been.
He couldn’t help but gape as he saw the bottles on the ground, all of them on the ground.
“What-how-” the person in charge of the game stuttered out.
“I’d like the big teddy bear, please,” Leo said, pointing at the teddy bear he had had his eyes on since the moment he saw it.
The bear was taken off its shelf and handed over to Leo – with a rather disgruntled look from the person in charge of the game.
He smiled and clapped his hands at Leo’s accomplishment before letting out a gasp as the bear was shoved into his arms, blocking his view of everything in front of him.
“For you,” Leo said.
He smiled as he hugged the bear tightly and nuzzled into it, feeling the soft fabric against his skin. He was totally going to send this home, there was no way he was leaving it behind.
“Thank you,” he mumbled, hoping he was loud enough for Leo to hear from behind the teddy.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“When did we lose Phichit?” he questioned as he walked beside Leo, humming a soft tune under his breath.
After Leo had won the bear for him, they had gone around and gotten some more food before stopping to watch a few of the magic shows.
There had been a few amusing enough shows, but it hadn’t taken long for them to drift away from the carnival and begin to walk around the surrounding park areas that the carnival was next too.
“I think it was after your eighth game attempt,” Leo said while adjusting the teddy on his back.
He couldn’t help but smile to himself whenever he looked at the teddy, because Leo had won it for him.
“I think he saw mystery man,” Leo hummed, causing him to snap his attention back to his friend.
“What!?” he gasped, grabbing a hold of Leo’s jacket and pulling him to a stop, “We have to go back!”
“No,” Leo laughed while shaking his head in response, “Let him have his night with his mystery man.”
“Leo,” he whined, throwing a pout in, “How often do we get something to hold over Phichit?”
“Just… stay with me a bit longer,” Leo mumbled, causing him to pause.
“Stay?” he questioned softly, tilting his head to the side as Leo shifted around so they were facing each other.
“Yeah,” Leo mumbled with a shrug of his shoulders, “I just, want to spend the night with you.”
He stared at his best friend for a long moment, feeling his heart start to pound in his chest.
Was Leo saying this because he liked him? Or was it because they didn’t get to spend much time together as friends?
Leo couldn’t like him, right? Why else would Leo be refusing to meet eye contact with him.
He took a deep breath while clenching his arms at his side.
“I LIKE YOU!” he shouted before pushing himself up onto his tippy toes and pushing his lips into Leo’s in what he hoped could be a kiss.
He’d done it, finally done it. He had admitted his crush and kissed him. He could now disappear in a hole forever now.
He pulled away quickly and all but dropped into a crouch, burying his face into his hands in embarrassment.
He waited, expecting to hear Leo walk away, instead there was silence.
He heard a breathless chuckle come from Leo before his hands were gently pulled away from his face, uncovering his eyes and revealing Leo, crouched down in front of him.
There was a light blush on Leo’s cheeks, and he couldn’t tell if it was from the weather or not.
“Can’t I see my boyfriend’s face?” Leo asked softly, letting go of one of his hands to brush a strand of hair out of his face.
“Boy-boyfriend?” he squeaked, earning a soft chuckle in response.
“Yes, boyfriend,” Leo said, nodding his head before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his lips.
A kiss he happily returned.
Until he realised Leo had dropped his teddy on the ground.
🐻🦁🐹🐶
“Ah!”
He gasped while gently letting go of Leo’s hand and hurrying to take off the messenger bag draped over his shoulder.
“Hold this!” he all but demanded, shoving the bag the held Zhen into Leo’s hand before hurrying towards the shop that was displaying bags of all sizes.
He had been using the same bag that held Zhen for ages and she always seemed rather squished in it.
He stumbled a step in his hurry, noticing that Daniel had kept at his heels while Leo had stood there frozen.
He wandered around the shop, checking a number of bags before finding it.
It looked like a messenger bag but the tag on the inside read satchel. He opened the main flap of the bag and smiled at just how much room the inside gave.
He hurried to purchase it before returning to his boyfriend’s side.
“What did you get?” Leo questioned.
“A new bag for Zhen!” he explained while holding the bag up.
“Oh,” Leo hummed, smiling down at him sweetly. It was an adorable smile that he couldn’t help but lean up and kiss shyly.
They stood there a moment, blushing before he cleared his throat.
“Can you open that bag,” he instructed, earning a blank look from Leo before he glanced down at the bag he was holding.
“This bag?” Leo seemed to question, looking at him confused.
“Yes,” he nodded while opening up the new bag. Leo seemed to stand there for a moment before finally opening up the bag the held Zhen.
At the open invitation, Zhen sprung from the bag, quickly jumping to his shoulder and shaking herself off.
He couldn’t help but smile shyly as he heard Leo gasp in surprise.
“Wow,” Leo mumbled, arms going slack with the now empty bag in his hands.
“Um,” he said, rising a hand to scratch Zhen under the chin, “This is Zhen,” he introduced the red panda perched on his shoulder.
“Pretty,” Daniel said while pressing into the side of his leg. He blinked and glanced down to see Daniel on his hind legs, looking up at Zhen with his little nose twitching adorably.
Zhen let out one of her soft barks before diving into the new bag he was holding open.
“Cold,” Zhen declared in English for them all too hear. He giggled as his familiar’s statement while draping her over his shoulder before reaching over to grab Leo’s hand.
Leo squeezed his hand before suddenly leaning down and pressing a kiss against his cheek.
He couldn’t help but smile brightly up at his boyfriend – Boyfriend! – while tugging him along, letting them continue their walk down the street.
