As soon as he'd touched Joonmyun, the burning sensation that trickled up through his fingertips and into his arms faded when his hand dropped, and although his heart was still beating wildly in his chest, he could put on a gentle smile and act as if it had been by accident. 

 

Right. THe moon would be up soon, which means the pack would be stronger under the luminescent glow, and Kai would be awake - and while he would't try to get free - he'd still try to worm his way to the surface. As much ashe knew Joonmyun was dealing with this, he wasn't sure how the boy would handle his wolf emerging. 

 

When the elder spoke, he stood up as well, glancing once more around the room before he grabbed the small basket of nut loaves that had been left there - most likely by Sunny the night before - and followed Joonmyun to the door. He returned the awkward smile with one of his own that was probably just as awkward, before he stepped out into the hallway and half led, half followed jOonmyun back down to the bedroom. 

 

"I... did have a nice time, Joonmyun, in the garden..." he murmured after amoment of silence as he pushed open his bedroom door and held it open for Joonmyun.

---

 

Joonmyun half-limped, half-walked -- all awkwardly -- down the hall with Jongin, trying to focus his attention on something, anything else other than the sparks that were still at his ankle. As much as he tried to blame it on the cut on his foot, he couldn't keep kidding himself; there was something about Jongin and.... something....

 

At the bedroom door, Joonmyun paused and glanced at Jongin. "I did, too," he replied softly, giving a more sincere grin this time. "We weren't out there long, but it was nice... to be out... Thanks." Joonmyun took a step forward, towards Jongin, but quickly changed his mind before he could do anything else and made his way into the bedroom. 

 

The elder greeted Taemin before settling down next to him, grabbing a spoon and the tub from the younger boy before shoving a spoonful of the cold treat into his mouth. Joonmyun didn't care how desperate the attempt seemed; he just wanted something that would keep him from asking questions and wondering why Jongin was being like he was. 

---

 

Jongin made a soft noise of contemplation under his breath, fingers curling into his side as he followed along beside Joonmyun, his breathing shallow as if he as afraid to breathe harder and ruin the moment between them. Tilting his head down, he eyed the elder just slightly from beneath his bangs before he came to a stop at the door, looking up with a smile at the elder male.

 

"Mm, you're welcome, Joonmyun," he replied in a similar tone, his fingers on the door as he held it open for he elder. He was caught a little off guard by the way the elder stepped towards him, but then it was as if he'd changed his mind because he was looking away and moving back int othe bedroom.

 

Making a face, Jongin followed, closing the heavy set door behind him before bolting it shut. He turned just in time to hear Taemin's indignant squeak before the elder male had the tub of icecream in his hands. A soft chuckle left Jongin, and he smiled at the two boys before he dropped the basket down beside them and rubbed his neck. 

 

"I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes... Taemin, don't eat too much icecream, arasseo? That goes for you too, Joonmyun. Don't eat too much..."

 

He fixed the two with equally teasing looks before he shuffled across the room and disappeared into the bathroom. Taemin glanced up at the door as he heard the lock shift into place. No doubt Jongin was going to have a quick shower and clean himself up - he probably felt like crap after the night before. 

 

Huffing a little, the teen dug his spoon into the tub that Joonmyun held and shoved the spoonful of icecream into his mouth, puffing his cheeks as he eyed Joonmyun curiously. "You know, hyung... He /is/ a wolf. Think about it; wolves only ever have one mate in their life... One mate that they /imprint/ on..."

 

Yes, he was being sneaky, yes Jongin probably didn't want Joonmyun to know... yes he was probably going to get annoyed that he did now know. But... Joonmyun was probably curious about what it meant, and of course Yunho and Jaejoong had told Taemin what imprinting meant.

 

"...Anyway... just think about it," he mumbled, giving Joonmyun another small smile before he placed the tub of icecream back into the elder's hands and climbed off the bed, taking one of the loaves of nut bread and a bottle of juice from the fridge before he moved to sit outside to watch the sunset. 

 

Just as he was stepping outside, Jongin returned ffrom the bathroom, hair slightly damp and features tired as he let out a soft sigh,eyes opening a little to eye Joonmyun sitting on the bed.

---

 

Joonmyun only hummed in reply to Jongin's instructions, almost completely ignoring the boy as he dug out a rather large spoonful of ice cream. He knew that drowing things in tubs of ice cream wasn't going to work forever, but for now he could pretend that it would because it was better than trying to figure everything else out; it was just better to act like ice cream could fix everything. 

 

Just when he was about to gather another spoon full, Taemin gave him a look and he stopped, listening as the younger male spoke. For a moment, Joonmyun didn't understand, but when he did -- at least, when he thought he understood -- his breath caught in his throat. He'd had a feeling before that Jongin wasn't telling him something, but he didn't expect it to be something like that. 

 

/Imprinted mate?/ Did that mean Joonmyun wasn't getting out of here at all? No, of course not; Jongin promised to help him escape, to get him back to his family and to Baekhyun. He promised. But.... he'd kept one important thing from him already, so how was Joonmyun to know if Jongin had been lying the whole time or not. Though, for all he knew, Taemin could have been the one lying, but something told him that it was Jongin who was keeping secrets. 

 

As Taemin left, Jongin stepped out of the bathroom and Joonmyun turned to look at him, expression blank for half a second before he furrowed his brow. Then, seeing as it was the only decent projectile nearby -- because a pillow just wouldn't do -- Joonmyun flung his spoon at the boy's chest, not caring that it still had remnants of ice cream. 

 

"You lying bastard!" There was a whole string of words that Joonmyun wanted to shout at him, but it wasn't worth his time or energy. Plus, Jongin would get the point one way or another.