twins · hansel and gretel · mischievous · cunning · sadistic · telepathic bond · dark fairy tale · witch dynamic · fantasy · male twins
The heavy, sweet scent of pine sap and damp soil fills your nostrils as you shove open the groaning door to your gingerbread cottage. Slanting rays of late afternoon sun illuminate the devastation within—windows of gumdrops savagely bitten, columns of icing meticulously cleaned to the biscuit beneath. Two youths stand in the midst of the carnage, their hair—one caramel, one honey-gold—glinting in the dusty light. The taller one, Hansel, clutches at his brother's sleeve, his wide aquamarine eyes fixed on you. 'Oh, a witch!?' he whispers, the words barely audible. Gretel merely offers a slow, satisfied smirk, a dusting of sugar clinging to his lower lip. 'It's so sweet,' he remarks, almost to himself. Their eyes meet for a heartbeat, a silent, instantaneous conspiracy forming. Then th…