--


06


--


Myungsoo had the worst headache when he woke up the next evening, but he was in a better mood than he’d ever been in his life.


“What’re you smiling about over there?” Sungyeol croaked out, rolling out of his bed and onto the floor. Waking out of sleep for a vampire was even more tiring than training all day and not eating.


“Nothing,” Myungsoo said, rolling out of bed as he replayed the events of the night before in his head.


--


He pulled away from you and let go of your hand with a slight smile on his face. Your eyes fluttered open, and your hand immediately flew to your lips as your eyes widened. He watched you cautiously to see what you would do next. Myungsoo frankly had no idea what to do next after the kiss. He probably should’ve thought it out a little bit more.


You were avoiding his gaze, but you could feel his eyes on you. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the blue lines fading on his body. Now, he looked like regular, old Myungsoo, except now, he wasn’t regular, old Myungsoo anymore.


He was Myungsoo, the boy that took your first kiss. Took my first kiss? Gave me my first kiss? I didn’t exactly kiss him back... you thought, eyebrows furrowing.


“I’m not sorry.” You looked up to see Myungsoo smiling at you with some amusement at how hard you were thinking about it. “I do intend to fully court you like suitors are supposed to. Although, I can’t really formally do it until the introduction ball, with the rest of the population.”


You didn’t really know what to say to him. You were completely speechless, but you didn’t run away, which Myungsoo took as a good sign.


“Since... since the only time I can touch you is during the full moon... Would you mind if I held your hand for a little bit longer?” You blinked a few times. Now, he was going to ask you to hold your hand?


“I... don’t mind,” you heard yourself say. Myungsoo grinned at you before reaching out again to hold your hand. He held it loosely at first, then as you felt his energy flowing into your body again, he laced your fingers together.



I am going to have the worst headache in the morning, he thought to himself. But when he saw your blushing, smiling face, he decided that it was all worth it.


--


“Myungsoo? Myungsoo? Hello?” Sungyeol slapped Myungsoo a few times on the face, snapping the other boy out of his daydream to bat away Sungyeol’s hand.


“What?”


“I asked if you wanted to spar seriously today. I’ve been getting rusty since you keep pulling your punches.”


“What makes you think I’m pulling my punches?”


“Are you?”


“I am, but what’s your point?”


--


Joon stared at your smiling face while you slept. It was unusual for you to still be asleep when he came by to come get you. He was getting a little bit grossed out by the content sighs you occasionally let out and finally reached out to wake you up.


“Five more minutes,” you mumbled, rolling over the other way.


“You’re late,” Joon said, blinking a few times. You sat up suddenly and felt all the blood rush from your head, sending you falling back down into your sheets with a groan.


“I’ll go get your bath ready,” he said slowly, giving you weird looks.


“Thanks.” You waved your hand at him as your vision swirled in front of you for a moment before finally stabilizing. You still had a stupid smile on your face from what happened last night. Sure, you had a crush on Myungsoo, but you never thought he would be so bold as to... well, maybe you did think it could be possible. But not so soon.


“Get out of bed already before I drag you out,” Joon shouted from the bathroom, making you complain loudly and roll off of your bed and go padding towards the bathroom, rubbing your eyes.


Joon watched you enter the bathroom with an eyebrow raised before going to grab some clothes for you to change into. He was in your closet choosing a nice pair of slippers when he heard you singing in the bathroom. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.


What had you in such a good mood?


--


“So she’s in a good mood. Let the girl be in a good mood,” Seungho said, not looking up from his scrolls. After you finished your bath, you got dressed and told Joon you’d be going out for breakfast, twirled around, and even kissed him on the cheek before you left.


And so of course, Joon thought something was wrong and went straight to Seungho to tell him all about it.


“I don’t know, it’s just weird. She won’t stop smiling, and to be honest, it’s kind of scaring me. I’ve never seen someone smile in their sleep before unless... unless.” Joon trailed off as Seungho looked up with a grin on his face.


“Unless what?” Seungho asked lightly.


“I’m going to kill him. I’m going to kill Myungsoo!”


--


You could feel the sullen mood Joon was in as he waited for you to change into your training clothes. He helped you strap the training weights to your arms and legs silently, which was very much unlike him. He always liked to make small talk with you and never stopped smiling.


“Joon? Joon?” You called his name a few more times and jabbed him in the arm twice before he snapped out of his daze and looked at you.


“Yes?”


“Are you okay? You’re a little bit quieter than usual,” you said, raising an eyebrow at him.


“I just don’t have a lot to say today.” You scoffed at him, making him frown and pinch your cheek.


“You always have something to say,” you said with a scowl, shoving his arm away from you and rubbing your cheek.


--


Joon walked ahead of you on the way to the training field, much faster than usual. You didn’t bother trying to keep up with him and walked at a leisurely pace. You decided to tie your hair up that day, and Joon pursed his lips at your sudden change in appearance.


You walked through the entrance of the training field and saw Joon pinning Myungsoo up to the wall. Your eyes widened as you ran towards them, but Myungsoo had a smirk on his face.


“What did you do? I know you did something,” Joon said through clenched teeth. Byunghee watched from across the room in amusement as you warily sidled your way over to him, giving Myungsoo a worried look.


“You shouldn’t be worried about him. Myungsoo can take care of himself quite well. It’s Joon you should be worried about,” Byunghee said, sensing your distress. “But Joon doesn’t really pick a fight with Myungsoo unless he has a reason. Any idea what it might be?”


You blinked a few times and shook your head. You had no idea what Joon might be mad about, unless he saw you and Myungsoo kiss last night. And if he did, Myungsoo would probably be a bloody pulp on the floor by now.


“What’re you talking about?” Myungsoo asked, eyebrow raised.


“You know what I’m talking about. She’s been smiling all morning. She even sang while she was taking a bath.” Myungsoo chuckled. He would’ve liked to hear you singing in the bath. He’d bet it was unbearably cute. Myungsoo made a mental note to ask you to sing for him later.


“Oh, lord forbid she’s happy. What is she thinking, being happy in a place like this,” Myungsoo said as sarcastically as possible.


“Don’t play dumb with me! What did you do to her? Did you touch her inappropriately?” Everyone around Joon including Myungsoo burst out into laughter, but Myungsoo regained his composure the fastest, shooting another smirk at Joon.


“So what if I did?”


“Myungsoo! That’s enough. Stop torturing the poor guy,” Byunghee called from the other side of the room. “And Joon. Don’t come in here manhandling my trainees. Especially the one that could destroy you.” Joon glared at Myungsoo one last time before letting go of him and turning around to leave in a huff.


“Joon-” you called out, but he was gone before you could say anything else. You sighed as Myungsoo rubbed at his throat. You walked over to him and gave him a shy smile.


“Are you okay? He gets overprotective sometimes...”


Myungsoo smiled at you. “I am now.”


--


After the usual warm up, Byunghee had Sungyeol and Myungsoo stand face to face while the rest of the trainees sat off to the side.


“I don’t know how many times Sungyeol has to lose to Myungsoo until he’s satisfied, but Sungyeol’s asked for another full power sparring match. It should be interesting to watch, right?” Byunghee said, hurrying off of the field. Sungyeol and Myungsoo were his strongest trainees, and even he would be afraid to get caught in their crossfire.


“I swear if you hold back this time, I’m going to kill you. Literally,” Sungyeol said, taking a stance.


“That’s okay. It’s not like I could lose today anyway.” Myungsoo glanced over his shoulder at you, looking between him and Sungyeol with wide eyes.


“Oh, that’s right. You want to impress your girlfriend. I see. I guess today’s match will really be good then.”


--


Seungho walked into the training room in time to dodge Sungyeol’s flying body. He blinked a few times as Sungyeol peeled himself from the wall with a groan and go flying back at Myungsoo.


He hurried over to Byunghee with an amused look on his face. “Myungsoo’s going all out?”


“Yep. Sungyeol hasn’t been able to land a hit, and they’ve been at this for half an hour already. I’m about to stop this match because Sungyeol’s about to pass out,” Byunghee said. Myungsoo looked like he was barely breaking a sweat while Sungyeol was breathing heavily, despite the fact that he didn’t need to breathe.


Sungyeol charged at Myungsoo again, and Myungsoo clapped his hands together and hurled two blue fireballs at Sungyeol.


“Oh, combining his element and his energy. That’s going to sting,” Seungho said as the fireballs hit Sungyeol in the stomach and on his shoulder. Sungyeol went down, breathing hard on his hands and knees.


“And this match is over. Jeeze, Sungyeol, not a single hit. I’m disappointed,” Byunghee said. Sungyeol pushed himself up off the ground and scowled.


“That’s how much you’ve been holding back on me? Seriously? I hate you, Myungsoo. I hate you.”


“No hard feelings, right?” Myungsoo called from across the field.


“Yeah, yeah...”


--


Seungho was quite pleased with your magical advancement. You still couldn’t do anything huge like he could, but you had the basics down and could attack and defend yourself.


“So, another game of dodge fireball today? Whoever gets hits first, loses. Loser treats the winner to a nice massage. I’ve been needing a massage,” Seungho said, rotating his shoulders for emphasis. You gave him a look of disbelief and sighed. You couldn’t count the number of times you were stuck giving Seungho a massage while he worked on his scrolls.


“Fine. But I won’t lose today!” you said, giving him a determined look. He chuckled a little bit at your expression and readied a fireball. You steadied out your breathing and snapped your fingers, making your own appear in your hand.


“Oh? That’s interesting.” You blinked a few times in confusion before you looked down at your hand and your eyes widened. Your fireball was blue and not red like it usually was.


“Uh...” You stared blankly at it for a moment before looking over at Seungho. He had the most amused expression on his face before turning to look at Myungsoo. Myungsoo felt eyes on him and looked up to see Seungho smiling at him with amusement. He blinked a few times before looking towards you as you looked towards Myungsoo. Myungsoo’s eyes fell on the blue fireball in your hand before his eyes widened, and he turned back to Seungho.


“That looks awfully familiar. Maybe Joon is onto something after all.” You felt a blush rise to your face as Seungho made another fireball in his other hand.


“I’ll talk to both of you about this later,” he said, before hurling the fireballs at you.


--


You were sitting next to Myungsoo in Seungho’s office. Seungho felt like he was cheated out of a massage, because Myungsoo saved you from getting hit by a fireball and hit Seungho with one instead.


“You never said who was and wasn’t included in the game,” Myungsoo said with a smug look on his face. You sighed as you watched Seungho resist the urge to send Myungsoo flying across the field. He hated being cheated out of his weekly massage from you. You had magical hands, quite literally.


Seungho purposely delayed going up to his office so he could see what exactly was going on between you and Myungsoo. All he saw was the two of you talking like friends, Myungsoo complimenting you on a few things here and there while you asked him about fighting and control techniques.


He was about to enter the office when he heard Myungsoo offer to give you a massage. His eyebrows threatened to disappear into his hairline when he heard you agree, and Myungsoo stood up to gently massage your shoulders.


Seungho willed himself inside quietly in energy form and watched as you leaned back with your eyes closed as Myungsoo smiled at you fondly. He sat down in his chair and cleared his throat. You opened up your eyes and sat up straight as Myungsoo gave Seungho a look before running his hands over your shoulders one last time and sitting down.


“So. What exactly is going on between the two of you?” You opened and closed your mouth wordlessly for a moment before looking over to Myungsoo. You didn’t really know how to answer that question, but Myungsoo smiled at you before turning to Seungho.


“I like her. I fully intend to court her with the rest of her suitors that will present themselves at the introduction ball.” Seungho blinked a few times before pursing his lips.


“But you’re a warlock.”


“I know.”


“What does that have to do with anything?” you asked, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion. Myungsoo turned to you in surprise.


“You haven’t learned about it yet?”


“I conveniently skipped over it,” Seungho said, leaning back in his seat.


“Why?” Myungsoo asked, eyebrows turning slightly angry.


“What? What’s going on?” Myungsoo’s expression turned slightly dark.


“You saw how long the Arch Mages lived, right?” You nodded.


“They don’t naturally live that long. Mages age just like humans do, perhaps a little bit slower but they still age.”


“Myungsoo, this isn’t necessary for her to know yet-”


“So the only way for them to extend their lives is if they get married to a vampire and get bonded to them, to completely stop aging. That’s why all the vampires in the land are hoping to get your attention. No other kind hardly stands a chance because we can’t offer immortality. The public will frown if you don’t choose a vampire, because they’ll think you’re trying to shirk your duties as Arch Mage.” You watched Myungsoo’s angry eyes for a moment before averting your gaze and staring at your hands in your lap.


“Myungsoo. Don’t take out your frustrations on her.”


“She should’ve known.”


“She didn’t need to know yet. The introduction ball is still at least a month away before she has to meet suitors. I wanted her to choose without having to feel this pressure to follow tradition.” As Seungho and Myungsoo bickered back and forth, you felt an overwhelming sadness and stood up to leave quietly, despite their calls for you to wait.


--


Your mood did a complete one eighty. There was knock on your door, and you could hear Joon’s voice outside, but you didn’t say anything. He took your silence as a ‘come in’ and pushed the door open with his back, walking inside with a tray of food in his hands.


“Hey. I heard what happened.” You were curled up on your bed, hugging one of the large pillows. You didn’t answer him and didn’t move as he placed the tray down next to you.


“In my defense, I did tell you to stay away from Myungsoo.”


“I don’t want to talk about this,” you said, rolling over to the other side. It figured that the first guy you would have a crush on in a while would be frowned upon. You didn’t know why you bothered having crushes in the first place. Your first crush ended up in complete disaster, and you could sense that this one was headed in the same direction.


“You should eat.”


“I’m not hungry.”


“Liar.” Joon reached out to grab you and roll you toward him, but you whined and pushed his arm away, hugging your pillow tighter.


“Oh, come on.” Joon crawled onto the bed and laid down, facing you. He propped his head up onto his hand and pursed his lips.


“What’s the big deal about having to marry a vampire anyway? I prefer them for you over Myungsoo.” You rolled your eyes.


“You prefer anyone over Myungsoo.” Joon opened his mouth to protest, but he closed it and nodded.


“That’s true. But I think a vampire would be able to take better care of you. Warlocks, they have a reputation for being a little temperamental.” You didn’t say anything, the pout on your face becoming more apparent.


“It’s not something you hae to decide now anyway. Just eat before you wither away into nothing, and Seungho kills me.” Joon smiled at you and reached out to ruffle your hair as you sighed.


--


You were moving your food around on the plate with a fork when you heard another knock on your door. You shoved a bite into your mouth and chewed furiously. It was probably Joon coming to check on you again. He’d been coming in and out to make sure you were actually eating.


When the door opened though, Myungsoo poked his head in through the door and saw you stare sullenly at him.


“I forget that you’re a girl sometimes,” he said as he stepped into your room and closed the door behind him. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked around your room. Your room was a good four or five times the size of his and Sungyeol’s shared room. You probably had your own bathroom and closet, too.


You took a few more bites of food before pushing the tray away from you. “What’re you doing here?” you asked quietly.


Immediately, you sensed a feeling of guilt from Myungsoo as he wandered his way over to the edge of your bed.


“I... wanted to apologize. For getting so angry at you for something that’s not your fault. I guess I’m just a little bit frustrated, that’s all. It’s been a while since I’ve had feelings for someone.” Especially someone I can’t have, he added as an after thought.


“It’s fine... My crushes don’t exactly turn out so well either.” Myungsoo raised his eyebrows at you in curiosity.


“Crushes? You’ve had more than one crush? Assuming you have one on me right now,” he said, hopping up onto you bed and crawling towards you. You sighed as he sat in front of you and tried to catch your eyes.


“I killed my first crush.” Myungsoo blinked a few times before reaching out to grab your hand. You panicked for a moment until you realized he was wearing gloves.


“We can take turns wearing gloves. As much as I’d love to just do away with them, I don’t want to end up like your first crush.” He froze when you stiffened a little bit, and relaxed when you let out a small chuckle.


“Do you wanna talk about it? I wouldn’t mind hearing about this...”


“Why? To scope out your competition. He’d dead, so I don’t think you have to worry.” Myungsoo pursed his lips. It must’ve happened a while ago for you to be able to joke around about it like that. You seemed like the type of person to take these things pretty hard.


Myungsoo laced your fingers together and shook your hands around in silence until you finally spoke again.


“I was eight.” He looked up at you. Eight? You’d already seen death at eight?


“I wasn’t allowed outside of my room during the day, so when night came, I liked to explore the castle. There were lots of places that were forbidden to me, but the castle grounds and the library were always open.” He watched your eyes get sad.


“One day while I was outside, a boy jumped out at me and scared me. He asked me who I was, and when I didn’t answer, he said that I must’ve been the ghost of the castle that all the other boys liked to talk about.” You smiled at the memory, making Myungsoo raise an eyebrow at you.


“Ghost of the castle?”


“Apparently so. I told him I wasn’t a ghost, and he told me to prove it. He tried to touch me, but I was afraid I’d hurt him, so I wouldn’t let him. He kept yelling that if I wasn’t a ghost, then I should just let him touch me to prove it. I ended up kicking him in the shin to prove it.” Myungsoo chuckled. That seemed like something you would do.


“After that, he started to come see me more often outside. We talked about the kingdom, the things going on, the weather. Sometimes, he would be really tired when he came to see me, so I watched him take naps in the grass.” You smiled so fondly at the memory that Myungsoo couldn’t help but be jealous.


“One day, he confessed to me. It was so random and unexpected, I didn’t know what to say. He was my only friend, and I was so happy... until he called me my sister’s name.” Myungsoo winced. That must’ve hurt.


“So you killed him because he called you the wrong name? Maybe it was an honest mistake. I mean, you and your sister are twins.” You scowled at Myungsoo and punched him in the leg with your free hand.


“No, I didn’t kill him because he called me the wrong name. Besides, my sister and I may be twins, but we look different.” You let go of his hand and pulled out your locket, opening it up for him to see. He stared at the pictures and nodded.


“Yeah, he has no excuse. How do you mistake a black haired, blue eyed beauty for someone with blonde hair and green eyes?” You rolled your eyes and closed the locket.


“Anyway, I didn’t go see him for a week. My sister even came to visit me and ask me what was wrong, because there was a boy asking her about me constantly. She convinced me to go see him, so I did.” You sat there in silence as the scene replayed in your head.


“It was raining, but I could see him waiting for me outside. He was so happy to see me, but I didn’t really want to see him. It was thundering, so I could hardly hear what he was saying to me. All I could hear was him saying that he needed to make himself stronger so that he could protect me. And he couldn’t do it in Armalis. The next thing I knew, he was holding my hands, and I could feel his life draining away. I tried to push him away, but he was so much stronger than me, and then he was... he was...” You started to tear up. Myungsoo sighed and reached up to brush your hair away from your face.


“But it wasn’t your fault.”


“Everyone said it was my fault. After he fell to the ground dead, there was a scream. I don’t know if it was me or someone else, but everyone found out what happened. When the sun came up, the High Priest had me tied to a cross and bathed in the sunlight for three hours until my skin blistered. The only reason he cut me down was because my sister was crying and begging for him to stop.” Myungsoo furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. If he ever got his hands on the High Priest of Armalis...


“I don’t think I’ve ever been able to go out in the rain since.” You sighed. “But it’s been a while since it happened. I don’t blame myself anymore, but still...”


Myungsoo smiled at you fondly and pulled you into a hug. You fell into his chest, and your eyes widened in surprise as he wrapped his arms around you.


“I think someone like you deserves a little happiness in their life.”


--


When Joon came back to pick up your tray of food, the first thing he noticed was that you were asleep. The second thing he noticed, was that you were asleep in Myungsoo’s arms, who was also asleep.


He blinked angrily for a moment until you let out a content sigh in your sleep and snuggled closer into Myungsoo’s arms. Joon’s anger disappeared momentarily. You two weren’t doing anything inappropriate so he supposed it wouldn’t be too bad just to leave the two of you alone.


For now.