”I can.” Taehyun smiled weakly at him.

Jinwoo felt relieved for the first time in a long while.

“Do it!” Jinwoo exclaimed and readied himself.

Taehyun blinked at him very slowly.

“Can I eat first?” He asked sheepily.

After Taehyun had eaten the canned soup he went back to the sofa.

Jinwoo joined him and again they were face to face.

“Ready?” Taehyun asked breathlessly a slight crease in his forehead.

“Yes.” Jinwoo said and puffed up his chest.

Taehyun’s hands flew up and hovered just over Jinwoo’s head before his ling fingers connected with Jinwoo’s head.

Taehyun closed his eyes and seemed to start mumbling to himself.

Jinwoo closed his eyes and let Taehyun do his thing.

“It might come back gradually or all at once… you’ll probably get a headache afterwards….” Taehyun commented as his fingers were digging into the other’s scalp.

“OK.” Jinwoo felt compelled to answer and after a while that seemed like an eternity Jinwoo felt that familiar pain, though dull, it was pretty much the same as he’d been having recently.

Perhaps his body was trying to tell him something all along?

“Relax” Taehyun whispered.

Jinwoo took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders slowly.

The first thing he saw was Mino leaning over him in the hospital bed; his parents crying and Mino chanting with his hands held out over him.

The second memory was when Mino had saved him from Taehyun; Jinwoo opened his eyes and gave Taehyun a glare before he fell deeper into what he didn’t understand.

Jinwoo felt the tears streaming down his face; he couldn’t stop them either.

His classmates were laughing, chattering and pointing at him, he couldn’t take it anymore so he ran.

His feet carried him towards the forest, but as his eyes were filled with tears he didn’t pay attention to where he was going.

Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around him and dragged him back.

As the shock broke through his tears he looked at the edge of a steep cliff that he’d been running towards blindly.

“Be careful!” A dark voice behind him told him as the arms put him down.

Jinwoo turned to look at a grown-up with weird eyes.

He took a step back, staring at him; his dark hair and overall features normal, but Jinwoo could tell that this man was anything but.”

“You could’ve died running over the edge…” the man said calmly leaning down to Jinwoo’s height.

Jinwoo said nothing and simply stared at the strange man.

“Never do this again, you hear me?” The strange man demanded softly.

“Yes.” Jinwoo’s voice was weak and after speaking he ran back towards where his class was.

“That must’ve been the first time you met after the deal was made, and I sentenced…” Taehyun said aloud.

“Wait you can see everything?” Jinwoo opened his eyes to glare at Taehyun.

“Well, we are connected; it’s certainly easier when I can pick the lock while looking at it.” Taehyun defended himself.

Jinwoo snorted unhappily before he scoffed at Taehyun “Fine” as he closed his eyes again.

After going through several memories where Jinwoo had encountered Mino; in fact there were many memories, so many in fact that Jinwoo was convinced that at some point he’d started to seek out Mino on a daily basis.

As they progressed into Jinwoo’s teens Jinwoo began to feel weird, as he looked at Mino in his memories his heart started racing and his chest became tight.

After several memories Jinwoo had the distinct feeling growing in the centre of his chest and with every moving picture of Mino it just kept growing and growing.

He opened his eyes, his cheeks were flushed and when his gaze met Taehyun, who gave him a knowing look.

“AH! For real” Jinwoo felt embarrassed and turned his head but Taehyun grabbed him.

“We’re almost done.” He dug his hands in determinedly to hold Jinwoo in place.

Obediently Jinwoo closed his eyes again.

Jinwoo looked out at the sunset, he looked down at himself and where his uniform sleeve had been torn.

Gritting his teeth and taking a sharp intake of breath.

“Mum’s going to kill me!” He said in a hushed voice to himself.

He turned to look at the shrine and saw Mino leaning against the wall.

The man smiled at him, and Jinwoo felt a wave of excitement in the pit of his stomach as he walked over.

Mino said nothing as Jinwoo joined him; Jinwoo leaned back and looked back at the view.

“Have you decided about school?” Mino asked suddenly, still looking straight ahead.

“What’s the rush?” Jinwoo felt his stomach drop a little, honestly he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“What if I don’t want to go to school?” He continued when Mino didn’t say anything.

“Don’t be stupid” Mino’s voice was low and he was clearly displeased with what Jinwoo was saying.

“That would be very selfish of you… your parents…” Mino began but Jinwoo cut him off.

“Screw my parents! Sometimes you’ve got to be selfish to get what you want in life!” Jinwoo protested loudly and turned to Mino.

“You’re just a kid! You don’t know what you want… and what you want now might not be what you want in the future!” Mino closed his eyes to contain his anger.

“Stop calling me a kid!” Jinwoo exclaimed and moved in on Mino, stopping in front of him.

“It’s the truth!” Mino snarled back opening his eyes to slits to look at the young man in front of him.

Realizing there was no reasoning with Mino, Jinwoo decided that action must speak louder than words so he reached up and grabbed the front of Mino’s shirt and pulled him towards himself as he himself stood up on his toes and forced Mino into a kiss.

To begin with Mino tried to pry Jinwoo’s hands off so that he could push him away, but after a while he stopped resisting and as his body relaxed he started kissing back.

The feeling in the centre of his chest seemed to spread all through his body and seemed about to take over.

Jinwoo opened his eyes; his heart was pounding and he was breathing very hard.

When he looked at Taehyun even his cheeks were slightly flushed.

“There’s one more” Taehyun said in a strained voice while looking at Jinwoo.

The other swallowed and closed his eyes again.

The room was bathed in the light of the setting sun, Mino stood by the window with his back to him.

“I really don’t want to… but I don’t see any other choice…” Mino seemed saddened, his shoulders slouched over and the sound of his voice.

“Stop, what do you mean?!” Jinwoo took a few desperate steps towards him reaching out for Mino.

“Your life already has a set expiration date, I don’t want to make your life less meaningful by occupying it.”Mino sighed but didn’t look at Jinwoo.

“What? Don’t say stuff like that!” Jinwoo didn’t like that Mino was making himself out to be something like a problem that would ruin his life.

“It was never supposed to be… I… I don’t have a choice.” Mino’s voice was strained before he turned to Jinwoo, his eyes were sorrowful as he looked at him.

“NO!” Jinwoo took several steps away from him.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be…” Mino begged.

“But I don’t want to… Mino please” Jinwoo felt the tears streaming down his face and he ran forward and wrapped his arms around Mino, burying his face in the man’s chest.

Mino wrapped his arms around Jinwoo as well, he took a deep breath and his exhale made the hair on Jinwoo’s head rustle.

Mino’s hand came up to hold Jinwoo’s head, pushing it against him.

Jinwoo tilted his head back to look up at Mino, and the man moved his head a little and pressed his lips to Jinwoo’s forhead.

“I’m sorry.” Mino whispered against Jinwoo’s skin as they both closed their eyes and Mino started to whisper.

Jinwoo opened his eyes, his face was covered in tears and his eyes were stinging.

“I need to find Mino.” His voice was raspy and strained.

He held eye contact with Taehyun whose lips were a thin line and his brow was wrinkled with worry.

“Now.”  Jinwoo said determinedly.

Gonna finish this before Aug. 1st... at least hopefully or else I fear you might have to wait awhile.

Hope everyone enjyed this double update!