To say Hyungwon drifted throughout the apartment like a ghost would only be somewhat accurate.

It was true that he moved without purpose, his skeletal form hesitant as he silently crossed the room. But even ghosts have independence. Hyungwon spoke when told to, and he moved when asked, but if left without instruction, he hovered, waiting for his next command.

There was only one reaction Hyungwon performed without being commanded to do so. Whenever Changkyun entered a room or even simply when his name was mentioned, Hyungwon flinched, a noticeable tremor rolling throughout his body as all of his muscles contracted and his eyes squeezed shut. He clenched his jaw, exhaling several times in an effort to relax his body, and he slowly uncoiled, his muscles easing as his eyes opened.

For each action, there is, of course, an equal but opposite reaction.

When Hyungwon flinched, Changkyun's eyes became saturated with pain, his mouth opening to say something, anything, but his mouth closed, his gaze fell to the ground, and he abandoned the room to hide away somewhere out of Hyungwon's sight.

***

"Hyungwon?" Jooheon asked, popping his head into Hyungwon's room. The room was Hyungwon's default location; if he wasn't commanded to be anywhere, he could likely be found sitting on his bed, waiting. "Are you busy?"

Of course he wasn't.

"No."

"Great, can you come to the kitchen with me for some lunch? I made your favorite," Jooheon said, and Hyungwon obediently slid off his bed, passing through the doorway and proceeding on to the kitchen, where he hovered at the edge.

"Go on, have a seat," Jooheon instructed, his eyes watching in unspoken disappointment as Hyungwon sat down, his back to Jooheon, his tail limp as it spilled off the seat and wrapped around his right leg. "How are you feeling today, Hyungwon?" Jooheon asked as he put on a brave smile and stepped into the kitchen, fixing Hyungwon up a plate. He knew from the past week of experience that Hyungwon wouldn't eat unless told to do so, and if he wasn't provided with the food, he was apt to under-eat unless given specific instructions as to what and how much he was supposed to eat.

"Fine."

Jooheon opened his mouth to tell Hyungwon that he was officially banning the word fine because he'd gotten so sick of it as a cop-out excuse, but then he closed his mouth, turning back to the refrigerator sharply because he was afraid of Hyungwon taking him seriously and never using the word again for the rest of his life simply because he - Jooheon - had told him so. The power he had, the control he possessed - any of them possessed - over Hyungwon was terrifying and unwanted.

"Are you feeling better today?" he asked, setting a plate in front of Hyungwon. Since he'd been in charge of Hyungwon's caloric intake for the past week, he'd really been trying to give him balanced meals of protein along with fruits and vegetables. For lunch, he was serving leftover beef from last night's dinner along with apple slices and a small side salad. It wasn't Hyungwon's favorite, but Jooheon had found himself spewing more words to fill the empty space in their one-sided conversations.

"No." Hyungwon, prior to Seungcheol's involvement, had hated salads with a vengeance, and since he was only human for one day a month, Jooheon and Changkyun had basically let him eat whatever he wanted (which was never salad).

"Well...eat up," Jooheon said with what was either a wince or a smile, he couldn't tell anymore.

And so Hyungwon ate, salad and all. He finished all that was on the plate; Jooheon had no idea as to whether or not he was hungry, but he'd once told Hyungwon (jokingly) to lick his plate clean, and Hyungwon had finished the meal before holding the plate up to his face and beginning to kitty-lick the flat surface.

Jooheon had managed to break that behavior, but Hyungwon cleaned every plate Jooheon asked him to eat, and it made Jooheon feel guilty every time. He should have known not to joke around Hyungwon given the impressionable state he was in.

"Taehyung's coming over later to play," Jooheon said, trying to sound upbeat. It was getting harder, day by day. They'd thought the hardest part of the battle would be getting Hyungwon back, but getting Hyungwon back physically was proving to be the easier task to retrieving him mentally.

Maybe it was just Jooheon's sad state of mind trying to inject optimism into his sphere of perception, but it seemed as though Hyungwon's good ear perked up when he heard the name.

"Do you want to see him?" Jooheon asked. It was exhausting, coming up with question after question, but he knew that without them, Hyungwon would fall into a silent existence.

Hyungwon nodded, his ear twitching as his tail uncurled from around his leg and swayed in the air behind him.

"Do you...do you like Taehyung?" Jooheon asked carefully. He'd been too nervous to bring up what Taehyung had done to Hyungwon. He wasn't sure if Hyungwon remembered, and he didn't want to be the one to remind him.

Hyungwon bobbed his head forward again, a small smile hiding on his lips as he leaned his head into his left shoulder.

"Why do you like him?"

Hyungwon just shrugged, and Jooheon sighed in return, leaning his weight against the counter. He hadn't really expected a definitive response from Hyungwon, but it would have been nice to get an idea of what was going on inside his mind. But maybe he didn't need words to communicate with Hyungwon. Maybe all he had to do was show Hyungwon that he cared. Maybe that would be enough, for now.

***

Taehyung entered the apartment to find Hyungwon sprawled across the couch, Jooheon going over his tail carefully with a brush. Jooheon had been the one, on Taehyung's request, to cut holes in Hyungwon's pants, as they didn't know how long Hyungwon would be stuck like this and they all decided that his comfort was of the utmost priority.

He looked up as the door swung open. "Hey, Taehyung. Come on in."

Taehyung nodded, a tense smile on his face as he shut the door behind himself and entered the living room. He smiled as he saw how Hyungwon had nestled his face into the corner intersection of the cushions, his toes curling in pleasure as Jooheon continued brushing.

"There, I think that's good for now," Jooheon said, brushing off his knees as he stood up, and Hyungwon turned his face towards his, making a mewling sound in his throat. "No, I'll brush some more later, okay? I think we got most of the knots out. But Taehyung's here to play with you now, okay?"

Hyungwon sat up on the couch, gazing at Taehyung intently, and Jooheon turned to Taehyung, gesturing for him to speak.

"Uh, hi, Hyungwon," Taehyung said, smiling at his friend.

Hyungwon's newly-brushed tailed flicked through the air, and although he smiled, he didn't say anything.

"Well, I'm going to let you kids play for a bit," Jooheon said, giving Taehyung an admonitory glance before leaving the room. Although he was still bitter about Taehyung's past betrayal, there were few people - humans or witches alike - that he would trust more with Hyungwon.

***

Jooheon returned two hours later to find the TV tuned in to CSI Miami, although neither Hyungwon nor Taehyung paid it any attention. They'd pushed the table aside and were sprawled across the carpeted floor playing what looked to be a board game.

"You passed go, did you collect your $200?" Taehyung asked, looking extremely concerned, and Hyungwon opened his mouth in an o of surprise before putting his face in his palms. "You can't keep forgetting or you're going to go bankrupt! Go on, take your money."

Hyungwon looked up with a sheepish grin before snagging two hundreds from the bank.

"How's it going?" Jooheon asked, crouching down so he could scratch the gap between Hyungwon's ears. Hyungwon threw his head back farther, and Jooheon chuckled before continuing to pet him. "I heard you're going bankrupt?"

Hyungwon pouted and shook his head, holding up the two hundreds as proof of his financial stability. Jooheon just laughed and stuck around until the game had finished. He couldn't tell whether or not Taehyung had let Hyungwon win (or maybe Jooheon had acted as his good luck charm).

"Ah, sorry, I have to be getting home," Taehyung said as he packed away the board and pieces. Hyungwon helped him, methodically moving one piece at a time into its proper compartment, and although Taehyung could have likely done it faster by himself, he was patient, letting Hyungwon help. Finally, he packed the game up in his bag and walked over to the door, waving at Hyungwon. "I'll see you soon, Hyungwon, okay?"

Hyungwon nodded, and Jooheon went over to the door to help Taehyung out.

"Thanks for coming by," Jooheon said, a hand on the doorknob. "I know it's been hard for you to be around Hyungwon given the past, but he's been more alive today thanks to you. I don't know why, but he seemed a lot more like his old self. I think that your presence brings out the human in him."

Taehyung cast a doubtful glance back at Hyungwon, who was sitting and waiting for Jooheon to tell him what to do. "I just want him to be all right."

"We all do, but you're helping him get there, Taehyung. You really are." Jooheon paused, trying not to scare Taehyung off in a show of desperation. "You'll come by again, right? I know you're busy now that school has started back up and I know you have your own life and that you want no part of all this but-"

"I'll be back," Taehyung confirmed with a sad smile. They both knew that he'd never be able to get rid of the guilt, that it was simply part of his relationship with Hyungwon now, but they chose to ignore it for now at least. "As long as he needs help, I'll keep coming."

"Thank you," Jooheon said, nodding, and Taehyung nodded back before slipping out the door.

Jooheon sighed, shutting it after him before going back over to Hyungwon, pressing their foreheads together before rubbing their noses against each other in little eskimo kisses. "Kitty's a little tired, isn't he? Do you want a nap?"

Hyungwon nodded, bumping his forehead against Jooheon's, and Jooheon smiled, pulling back just enough to pick Hyungwon up underneath his arms, lifting him and securing him against his own frame as he carried Hyungwon over to his room. He did his best to ignore how light the boy was in his arms.

He knew the others - they stopped by often as well - were all preaching about how Hyungwon had to regain his independence, and maybe babying Hyungwon was more or less actively working against that, but Jooheon had always spoiled Hyungwon a bit, and he didn't plan on stopping now. He hoped that the smile on Hyungwon's face would never fade, that it wasn't just an anomaly for the day, that one day he'd be the cause of Hyungwon's smile instead of Taehyung. And he knew that while Hyungwon may have aged physically over the years, in his mind, he was still a scared little eleven-year-old boy.

He laid Hyungwon down before tucking him in, pulling the covers up to Hyungwon's chin before leaning down and touching their foreheads together again. "Night night, Wonnie."

"Night night," Hyungwon whispered back in his half-conscious form, unasked, and Jooheon felt his face fill with a warm glow.

Progress.

Or, as humans said, hope.