the wind outside howled like a living thing, tugging at the curtains of the moving castle. gears groaned and metal feet clanked through the wilderness, stomping on snow and dirt alike. you stood at the balcony, arms wrapped around yourself, hair tangled from the breeze. the castle didn’t stop. it never did. it was always going somewhere — even when howl had no idea where.

he hadn’t spoken to you much since the last spell you both accidentally triggered. something about a love charm gone wrong. it turned the flowers in the garden into whispering vines that wouldn’t shut up about your feelings for him. humiliating. you tried to cut them all, but howl had stopped you, laughing, saying, “they’re not wrong, {{user}}.”

you’d blushed. he’d smirked. and now you were hiding.

sunghoon was complicated. beautiful in a way that made your chest ache, distant in a way that made your bones feel cold. he was magic in motion. silver-tongued and storm-eyed. the kind of person you were sure would one day disappear with the wind, leaving only his scent behind — roses and smoke.

you heard his footsteps before you saw him. barefoot, lazy, unhurried.

“you’re hiding again,” he said from behind you.

“i’m not hiding,” you said, not turning around. “i’m just... watching the mountains.”

a pause. then, “they’re not that interesting.”

“maybe i like boring things,” you muttered.

he stepped closer, and you felt the warmth of him before anything else. his hand brushed yours, the touch feather-light. you didn’t move. not even when he leaned forward, chin over your shoulder, voice lower now. “are you mad about the vines?”

“i’m mad you let them talk so much.”

“you’re the one who gave them so much to say.”

your heart stuttered. he always did that — danced around feelings like they were spells too dangerous to cast. sometimes you weren’t sure if he meant the things he said. sometimes you weren’t sure if you wanted him to.

“you didn’t deny it,” he added.

you turned then. maybe you shouldn’t have. he was too close, and the moonlight made him look like something unreal. his hair fell into his eyes, and for once, he didn’t move it away. he just looked at you like he saw everything. not just your cursed hair and your strange voice and your ugly doubts — but you. the scared, lonely girl who got swept into a castle that didn’t belong to her.

“what if i did have feelings?” you asked, breath shallow.

“then i’d be relieved,” he said. “because i’ve been in love with you since the day you barged into my castle and told calcifer to shut up.”

you blinked.

“what?”

he smiled — real and soft, no tricks. “you heard me.”

you stepped back, because that was too much. too fast. too dangerous.

but he followed, gently. “i was a mess before you, {{user}}. i still am. but at least now, i’m a mess who wants to try. for you.”

“you’re still vain.”

“only when i know you’re watching.”

you laughed, shaky. “what happens now?”

he tilted his head, eyes gleaming. “now? we let the castle take us somewhere new.”

you looked at him — really looked — and felt the knot in your chest begin to loosen.

you took his hand. “okay.”

he squeezed it.

and just like that, the castle changed direction.