#dan stretching his wingies

[lifeisafunnyplace]

Shawnu leaned on the door to make sure it didn’t slam open again. Outside ice cold wind was howling around the corners of the small cabin, ground and sky equally white.

Cradled against his chest, was what looked like a human, blond hair tangled with ice, skin fair and clothing way to thin for such harsh conditions.

“Thank god! You found him” Kihyun, dressed in warm layers of wool and fur from top to toe, jumped up from where he had been waiting next to the fireplace, his little bumble bee zumming over his head.

“How did you know he was out there?” With gentle movements he sat himself down on a fluffy sheepskin in front of the fireplace, not letting go of the tiny frame for one second.

Now that they were inside, Shawnu opened his soft knitted jacked and tucked the frozen body closer to his chest. There were heartbeats, not strong, but he lived, and Shawnu let go of the tension in his shoulders. Luckily he had found him just on the right side of too late.

“Hyungwon told me he had seen them in a vision. He didn’t yet understand what he was doing or there, but he was pretty insistent about you going out to search”

The bubbly bee expanded his circle so that he passed over the pale boy in Shawnu’s arms before he returned to his regular path, close to Kihyun’s fur. Jooheon wanted to be helpful , but waited patiently for his masters order.

“You think he accidentally passed through a portal?” The gentle giant didn’t look up at Kihyun that was rhythmically stirring a bowl of hot soup balancing on the embers while talking. Shawnu’s eyes were on the body in his arms, his free hand repeatedly patting blonde hair, trying to detangle some of the ice cones as they started to melt.

“I think Wonho might left a portal open when he disappeared the other day. He never told me where he was going, but judging by this guy’s clothes, the portal lead to somewhere warm. I don’t understand how he fell trough the portal though“

Both men snapped their head in the direction of the frozen body when a shiver ran through him, followed by a frail cough. Shownu hushed him while rocking them gently, Kihyun hurried over with a bowl filled with hot fairydust soup.

Without opening his eyes, the man tolerated a wooden spoon pushed against his thin lips and had a careful mouthful of the healing golden liquid.

Without as much as a knock the door slammed open, snow whirling into the small room. Hyungwon fought with the wind for a long five seconds, but won eventually, securing the heavy door with a massive hook.

“What are you doing here?” Both guardians turned to where a snow covered Hyungwon tried to shrug off his heavy green coat without using his hands.

“I found his little fellow” The wizard left his coat in a heap by the door and quickly pushed past the others, getting as close to the heat as possible. From under his shirt a bushy tail dangled, ice cristals shining in light from the fireplace.

“That’s why he’s here!” It all clicked. If Wonho had left a portal open, a hunting animal could easily smell it. And if that boy was the wolf’s caretaker, of course he’d followed him into the white.

They knew how all there was to do at this point was waiting, for soup and heat to do their healing, for frozen bodies to come back to life.

No one cared about time, maybe except a tiny striped wingy fellow, impatiently zummuing over the others, making sure he never came to close to the animal in Hyungswon’s arms, knowing very well the wizard’s hand could send him on a tumbling ride across the room.

It wasn’t weather to be outside, not during such a blizzard. The cabin was warm and offered a safe shelter for the small group of guardians located in the snowy mountains far, far up north. Hopefully no one else needed their services tonight. Not even a yeti lacking common sense, would try crossing the passage on a night like this.

A tiny pained growl pulled all of them out of their post soup slumber, including the unknown still cradled against Shownu’s chest.

“IM! Did you find IM?” A pair of gorgeous green eyes looked up at the giant holding him tightly for the first time and Shawnu melted a little. Hyungwon lifted one corner of a heavy rug in his lap and a black nose peaked out to sniff the air.

The little wolf wiggled his tail with enough power to shrug off the rug and then he dived into the boy’s lap. He walked three rounds, stretched up to give his human a sticky lick with a pink tongue and then curled together like a ball, making a much more happy growl from somewhere deep down.

“It looks like you two know each other.” Shawnu spoke softly, finally releasing his tight hold on the boy, making room for him to sit up to pet the now fluffy animal.

“I’m Minhyuk, who are you?” The stranger suddenly seemed to be awake enough to notice the small group of men in the room. While stroking his animal steadily, he let his gaze move from one to another, taking in all of them. “You’re not dangerous, are you?”

Shawnu landed a smily kiss on the top of Minhyuk’s head before he shook his head. “No, we’re the reason you’re still alive.”

Kihyun eyed him from the side, but let it pass. Minhyuk relaxed again and went back to petting his friend. “Why would you run after that stupid bunny anyway, how am I gonna turn you back now?” It was meant for his wolf, but Hyungwon jumped up from his spot by the only window in the room.

“Could you repeat that please? How did you two end up here?” Hyungwon pushed his glasses back into place and sat down next to the stranger.

“We don’t have bunnies on our island, and then suddenly this bouncy thing pops up out of nowhere. He just followed him, and I did too and before I knew it I was falling.” He scratched his wolf lovingly behind his ear, the animal happily leaning into the touch.

“Wonho!”

Hyungwon cursed internally, He’d love to know why and where that bunny had opened a portal. “Hmmm...” the wizard studied the animal closely. “He’s not pure wolf, is he?”

Minhyuk laughed, but the sound fell quickly to the ground and his eyes turned sad. “No, he’s a half breed shapeshifter. He hasn’t changed many times before, and now I don’t have any antidote on me, because, well, we were only having a nice evening on the beach. Who could’ve known we’d need a bunny repellent there?”

IM’s ears hang loosely from his head, a great contrast to how he’d looked when he first saw Minhyuk.

Jooheon brushed his wings against Kihyun’s ear to get his attention. The elder shook his head, but the bee didn’t give up that easily.

“Jooheon wants to help”

Kihyun sighed and held out his hand for the little friend to sit on as he shared the bee’s wish with the others.

Hyungwon narrowed his eyes and studied he bee closely. “Are you sure you want to use all your pollen on one go like that? You know you will have to stay human until the honey flower blossoms in May?”

Jooheon made a happy dans and the Wizard sighed. “Please go on”

The bee didn’t have to be told twice and plunged down into the thick fur on the back of the small wolf. The animal jolted and cried out before it stumbled to the ground in the shape of a man. A big red head softened his fall and both the men awkwardly detangled their limbs and stood up.

Minhyuk was up on his feet the same second, hugging his friend to pieces. Hyungwon patted Jooheon’s back and gave him a short nod. He could be a useful extra if they needed to guard a portal trough the winter. And the strangers seemed happy enough.

Kihyun watched the happy scene in front of them with a smile on his face. Saving a lost one in the mountain was the best feeling. Saving two, even better. The happiness he felt pushed away the nagging feeling of more challenges to come, almost. If Wonho had left the portal open so that he could return, then they had to find it and guard it closely. Hopefully it was still open so that their new friends could return to their home, but even if they couldn’t risk more innocent people falling through, they couldn’t close it either, because above all, they wanted for Wonho to return.

Kihyun met Shownu’s gaze and knew they were on the same page. They had a portal to find and bunny to track down. But first, food.