A FRIDAY (well at least it technically is for me) Update Guys! Enjoy!

He woke up with blurry, strained eyes.

Onew batted his lids a couple of times after waking up from a deep warming sensation he was unfamiliar with in his bed. When his vision cleared, he realized it was Key; curled up and close. Not touching him but definitely close. The boy’s brows furrowed a bit while he slept and his hands scrunched up a little. It was hard to tell if he was just thinking or having a bad nightmare. Either way Onew smiled while watching him. After a minute or so, the small expressions dissipated from Key’s face and his mouth opened just slightly, creating a tiny ‘o’ shape.

It was the most peaceful he’d seen his friend since all this madness started. That thought alone made him think about Aunt Kim. How was she? Should he get up and check on her? But then that would mean seeing his parents. There was no way neither one of them weren’t watching over her. He sighed a little. Seeing his parents was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

He smiled, watching Key again. It was nice just being here anyway. The way Key curled up his body made him look like a five-year-old child trying to hide from a storm. Thinking of which…. Onew tilted his head when he heard the gentle knocks against his window from the outside. He pushed his body up a bit, just enough so that he wouldn’t disturb Key, and looked to see small pellets of rain hitting his window.

Rain? The weather’s been so nice lately.

He shrugged and slid back down into the covers, watching over Key again. The boy started to mumble in his sleep. What he was saying, was too low to be deciphered. Onew hovered his hand over the boy and lightly touched his cheeks in hopes of changing his expression, but it was something else that changed. The boy’s temperature. Key…was getting hot. Really hot. In fact, when Onew hurriedly sat up, he touched his friend again, and there was a stinging sensation that hit his finger, making him yelp back. He touched the fabric of his friend’s clothes, but those were hot too. Not hotter than his skin, so it was just enough to try and shake him awake.

“Key!” He hollered. “Key wake up!”

Screw it. The last thing he wanted to see was his parents, but his friend was lying here, having some sort of heat that he wasn’t waking up from.

“MOM!” He screamed, beads of sweat starting to form at his temples.
 

It was almost as if she had her ear to the door and was ready for any sign of attack. His mom came rushing in, swinging the door open with a force he’d never seen before. There was panic in her eyes before she even set them on the boys, as if the monster were coming through his window right now.

“What?! What?!” She yelled.

Even through all that noise, Key never stirred awake for even a moment.

“It’s Key, he’s burning up like crazy and he’s not waking up.” His heart pounded in his chest like loud, hard footsteps stomping against the floor. “When I touch him…he stings!”

“Oh…no, no, no, no, no.” His mother murmured as she came over.

With a swift movement of her arm, she pulled the cover off the two of them and slid onto the bed. As if he was nothing but a child with a small fever, she scooped him up in her arms and cradled his forehead. Key squinted his eyes but they did not open. Onew’s father came rushing in.

“What’s wrong?” He exclaimed.

“Seo-jun! Get me a cold wet towel.” She ordered.

He did not linger. His movements were just as fast.

There was nothing Onew could do so he watched, frantic and out of breath. Sweat pulled down from his skin and hit the rim of his upper lip, sliding down into the folds of his mouth.

“What…How are you holding him like that? Isn’t he literally burning?” He asked.

His father came running back in with the towel and she grabbed it as fast as possible. The cold water dripped from its fabric. She folded it up in a rectangle and placed it over his forehead. Almost immediately, his best friend stopped cringing. His brows loosened up, and his hands at his sides calmed down. There wasn’t even a whisper coming from his lips. Onew looked up at his father who just sighed in relief and walked out, perhaps to keep an eye on Aunt Kim.

“Mom.” He implied.

She breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded her head.

“You’ll be able to do it too one day, when your owl side is more in order.” She said in a quiet voice. “Right now, you’re kind of like him, just in a calmer state.”

She nodded her head down at Key who she gently laid back down on the bed.

“A calmer state?” He questioned. Great, more insight on how to be a supernatural creature.

She nodded again.

“We Night Owls are born to be decisive and knowledgeable creatures, so of course yours flourishing out is a lot calmer than Key’s. Gumihos are beautiful but fearsome creatures who are born to fight and protect. I think the fact that me and Kim suppressed it for so long, it’s fighting its way out. I think it’s because he went into the woods that night. Or…that’s what we assumed, which is why we knew trouble was coming soon; somebody finding out about us or his fox side fighting a way back into the world.”

“What do you mean, when he went into the forest?”

Min-seo scooted out of the bed and stood up next to the door frame. opened to answer, but it was the window that somehow distracted her, if only for a moment. She closed her lips and nodded towards the rain that cried down his window and made the outside look like a blurry painting.

“You see that weather.” She stated.

“Yeah?” And quickly he remembered what he’d thought about when he woke up. “It’s supposed to be-“

“Exactly. What you are seeing right now is Fox Rain.”

“Fox Rain? That kind of sounds familiar…”

“It should. Fox Rain goes right along with the legends of Gumihos, but it’s something the humans actually got right. Whenever it’s a nice day or is supposed to be and you suddenly see it raining, it would often mean that a fox or a Gumiho, in other words, were crying out. Key seems distressed in his sleep, so he made it rain to exert his emotions.”

Onew turned towards his window while scooting closer to his friend who was now starting to cool down. There was no longer a wave a heat that emitted off his skin when he got close.

“The weather’s been a little out of whack,” his mother continued, “ever since Key went into those woods. That was our first clue that our little ‘trick’ wasn’t working anymore for the two of you, because we knew once Key started to show signs, you would as well. After all, the two of you are linked. I’m not sure since we didn’t really talk during that time, but some weird things might have been going on with you after Key left the woods that you haven’t told me about, nor will I force you to. But if it did, that’s a contribution to your owl side emerging. Me and Kim assumed it was the fact that Key was in the tree for who knows how long when he was a child and we found him; that coming back after being denied so long to go in the forest, activated his fox side that was asleep. It’s almost like the forest recognized him when he came back after such a long time. But then again…that’s kind of how Gumihos work.”

She was starting to ramble a bit, he could tell. It was too much information for him to store in his brain now. After all, he did just wake up, so he sighed and stated,

“But the weather didn’t really change after he went in. The days were kind of fine afterward.” His eyes still lingering towards the rain. What was it, that Key was crying out for? Given the circumstances, anything is possible to be sad about right now, but he wondered specifically just what had him cringing and crying in his dreams.

“It did,” Min-seo sighed. “Not things you, Key, and the humans would notice. Things supernatural creatures would notice. Small changes in the wind, the air getting cooler or hotter when it wasn’t supposed to. The sounds of the animals and the insects. How they responded.”

Her words were starting to sound familiar. It was the same thing Taemin and Minho mentioned when they talked in the woods. Then he remembered Key’s day back with his cast, and all the days of school afterward. That’s why they were so interested in him. They knew all along that something wasn’t right. Could probably smell it with their dog noses. The thought of them made him curl up his lip. He knew there was no trusting them, but a tiny part of him still wanted to give them a chance.

“Just…watch over him for now and I’ll go and get you boys some food.” She assured. “Everything will be okay.”

The statement snapped him out of his trance and instead of a nod, a snort pushed out of his throat.

“The irony in those words.” He whispered.

Of course, she heard him, but she did not respond. Instead, she gave him a half smile/half grimace, and closed the door as she walked out.

“You gotta stop being so mean…to your mom.” A disgruntled voice echoed next to him.

He looked down with wide eyes to find Key trying to open his. Key’s lids blinked a couple of times as if trying to find their bearings. The rims were a little red creating a small pulsing ring around the inner part of his eyes.

“Key.” He breathed a sigh of a relief.

Key ushered himself upwards but Onew quickly assisted when he saw his friend struggling.

“You know, you really should be laying down.”

“No…” The boy looked around at the room. It was then that Onew realized the rain had completely stopped. “What happened?”

“You were sick,” he answered, “or somewhat. My mom said it’s because your fox side is trying to come out after being stuck for all these years. Key…are you alright? You weren’t well, but you were also tossing around in your sleep. What were you dreaming about?”

The image of a woman reaching her hands out to touch his face. The visual of her delicate long fingers that stretched like bones and the softness of her skin. It all flashed through Key’s mind in a haste when his friend asked, but he shook his head.

“I don’t remember.”

“You know,” Onew smirked, an attempt to change the subject. “You can do some really cool stuff.”

“Like what?”

His friend nodded towards the window.

“Apparently, you can make it rain if you want to. But…”

“But what-“

Key’s sentence was interrupted by the opening of the room door. Min-seo popped in, a large platter of small delicate sandwiches in her hands.

“I technically made these last night for you two but—Oh.” Her voice was small when she saw Key sitting up. “You’re awake Key. That’s great.”

She ushered over in tiny steps and gently placed the platter down on the bed between the two boys.

“I-I’ll just leave you boys then.” Was all she said before awkwardly leaving the room.

Key watched as his friend eyed her until she left, then he remembered what he’d told Onew as he woke. Weird. He didn’t remember hearing her talk the first time, just remembered waking up telling Onew not to treat his mother so bad. In any case, he stuck with his statement. There was a subtle darkness to Onew’s features when the door closed and Key was beginning to know that look all too well. Onew’s trust was faltering again.

“Onew.” He gently hovered his hand over the boy’s shoulder, not exactly touching it but calmly interrupting whatever negative thing his friend was thinking about.

The coffee strands of Onew’s hair draped over his face, creating subtle shadows over his eyes. When Key’s hand hovered over him, he swung the strands out of the way to get a clear look at his best friend.

“It’s not just now…” Onew answered in a small voice. “She knew. She knew something was wrong with me and she still didn’t say anything.”

“Onew, nothing’s wrong with-“

“Some weird things might have been going on with you after Key left the woods that you haven’t told me about. That’s what she said while you were asleep. She wouldn’t have said that if she didn’t at least know something was off about me. And yet…she still didn’t say anything. Ever since you came out of those woods, I don’t sleep the same as I used to. I barely want to sleep at all, but that’s not the point. The point is…all my life I’ve had sleeping problems.”

His eyes lingered towards Key for a moment.

“And only you said something about it. When you saw, I was hoarding notes again, it was because I lost sleep. You noticed that. You said something. And you always make sure if I’m okay. But…she didn’t. My dad didn’t either, but both of them knew why I was the way I was. No matter what crazy spell her and your aunt put on us, I was still a little different. And they knew why. None of them said anything. My mom didn’t say anything. All she had to do was explain why I couldn’t sleep like everyone else. Now…now it’s deeper. Now, I barely sleep at all ever since our supposed supernatural sides are emerging.”

He rolled his eyes. He was constantly talking about sleep, but Key knew that it wasn’t something his friend ever worried about, even when he did. He talked about it now, because the message was deeper. Key could sense it. Secrets.

“It’s not like it was their secret to keep.” Onew continued. “It was all of ours. If we would have known earlier, we would have been better prepared. You would have been better prepared.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“But we weren’t. And now your aunt’s hurt, my parents are caught between what lie they forgot to tell us about, and I’m faltering between who to trust right now.”

“Onew, I-“

“Not you Key.” He murmured and shook his head. “You’re the only one I can trust. And when those Cerberi come back…” his breaths were heavy, his voice dark. “When they do…”

His eyes lowered towards the sheets.

“When they do, I’m gonna kill ‘em.”