Magic Man, SeongJoong

꧁•⊹٭𝙾𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎٭⊹•꧂

Hongjoong watched as the little boy with the chubby cheeks moved to the cluttered mess at the side of the room, he watched as Yeosang picked up a plate which had a ¼ block of cheese on top. Hongjoong felt partially responsible for the eating habits of the two of them who now lived in the dysfunctional castle. He felt pity for Yeosang who had just pulled open a drawer which held some stale bread.

He moved forward to the cupboards and drawers where all the food was misplaced, there was one plate in particular that caught Hongjoong's interest. It seemed to be the only plate that had a covering. He removed the fine china covering, and underneath were slices of clean unused bacon. Hongjoong's wrinkled hands picked up the plate.

"You have eggs and bacon here, you know?"

"We cant use the fire when Master Howl is away." Yeosang's soft lisp echoed throughout the room. Hongjoong nearly scoffed at the audacity.

He brought the plate of bacon over to Mingi, and went back for the basket of eggs. Hongjoong's shoulders ached slightly when he picked up a large pan from the hanger on the wall. Although Hongjoong doesn't have siblings or children, he felt that the old age curse was somewhat making him comfortable with his mature and caretaker attitude - he was often happy to help with Wooyoung's problems and liked to take care of his younger brother.

"Yeosang-ah, I'll cook for you."

"Huh? You can't, Calcifer only obeys Master Howl." Yeosang stated confidently.

Hongjoong found Yeosang to be the cutest, but when he was staring down the fire demon in front of him, his mind was consumed with devious thoughts. Hongjoong could definitely outwit Mingi if he tried, plus, eating foods like cheese and bread would not give Hongjoong's older body the nutrition it needs, especially if he's going to clean the castle.

Mingi, the castle's fire demon, was sprouting nonsense from his mouth. He wasn't going to cook for the two, it was just more hard work for him.

"Come on Mingi, be a good fire." Hongjoong teased, and he smiled when Mingi's eyes opened widely in mild surprise.

"I answer to no one. I'm a demon!"

"Do you want me to tell Howl about our bargain?" Hongjoong whispered to the fire, he didn't want Yeosang to become curious about the situation the fire demon and himself have been found in.

HongJoong lifted the pan and pressed it down on the fire, Mingi's fire arms were pushing it away but it seems Calcifer didn't expect the old man to be as strong as he was, nor persistent. Eventually, the fire demon prevailed and gave up and died down into an small sizzling fire. Hongjoong smiled once more, finally excited to have a full and proper breakfast. He picked up a strip of the bacon, and placed it carefully into the pan.

"Wow. He's doing what you say." Yeosang whispered in wonder, Hongjoong was kind of sad that the fire demon wouldn't yield for a child who deserves to have eggs and bacon every morning.

Yeosang sprang into action, and started looking through more clusters of mess for a kettle, when a familiar ding rang through the castle. Hongjoong stopped for a split second before remembering Mingi had threatened to burn the food so he turned his full attention back to the bacon. Yeosang however, had turned to the door, knowing the owner of the castle was back.

Seonghwa, or Master Howl, had finally got back home, somewhere where he could rest after his tiring journey. Yeosang had often seen him in this mood - where he was tired beyond belief and would mostly spend the rest of the day bathing or sleeping.

"Welcome back, you have messages from the King. To Park and Night Fury." Yeosang said, his arms full with the kettle he had managed to find.

Seonghwa walked up the stairs and nodded to Yeosang who barely reached his waist. It took him a second to realize the sound he was hearing was in fact Calcifer, under a pan and cooking food. Someone other than him, had been able to achieve such a thing. However, when he saw the person, he understood why. He walked over to the old man.

Hongjoong continued to cook the bacon, flipping it to cook the other sides. Seonghwa smiled gently, he turned to Calcifer who was watching beyond the pan with a tired look.

"Calcifer, you're being so obedient."

Hongjoong listened to his soft voice ring out right beside him. He felt his body heat up a little more by the proximity of the Master beside him. The same man who had made him float in the sky and the same man he hoped could help him break this curse.

"He bullied me!" Mingi cried out to the blonde man.

"Not an easy thing to do." Master Howl said with a smile. Not just anyone could bully the burning flame.

Seonghwa turned to the old man, who had a weird eccentric style for his age.

"Who are you?" Seonghwa questioned.

"I'm Grandpa Hongjoong. I'm the new cleaning assistant." Hongjoong had sub-consciously rehearsed. After all, he needed a reason to not intrude, stay in the castle and get close to the wizard man known as Howl.

Seonghwa was tempted to giggle, yet instead he leaned closer to the smaller hunched man and took the wooden utensil from his hand to take over the cooking. Their hands brushed together for a short second, yet Hongjoong felt that second made him feel as young as he was before. Old men should not be feeling the butterflies he had just felt, it reminded him that deep down he was still young and afraid.

"Could you pass me more bacon and 6 more eggs?" Howl asked him, and Hongjoong moved his wrinkled fingers to the best of his ability to accommodate Howl's request.

Hongjoong watched the wizard as he expertly cracked each of the eggs with one hand, and then fed the shells to the awaiting fire demon who poked his head under the pan. Hongjoong didn't realise it, but up close, Seonghwa really was an angel. Perhaps the fast paced meeting in Hongjoong's village made him forget how ethereal the wizard was.

"And who hired you?" Seonghwa teased the old man.

"Why...I hired myself." Hongjoong said almost casually, as if it was easy to get a job like that, "This place is filthy after all."

Seonghwa didn't mention the method of getting a job within his castle, and Hongjoong was both relieved and confused. He didn't have time to dwell on it as Yeosang was called to get the 3 of them plates.

"Please join us Hongjoong." Yeosang called out cutely.