Before Luhan’s fingers even reach her temples, Tai feels a magnetic force binding her body still. She can’t move, and suddenly she wonders if Luhan is advanced enough to know how to Chi block through telekinesis. The pretty mage smiles in front of her as he presses his index and middle fingers against Tai’s temples and stares straight into her eyes. They’re frozen there for about a minute, and Tai can’t find any way to escape from this strange telekinetic hold Luhan has on her.

What’s he doing to her right now anyways? All he’s doing is staring at her. Admittedly, the mage has pretty eyes and she feels that she could easily get lost in them like many other women probably have already, but it feels as if he’s staring right into her. Into her mind, her soul, her very being. Strange, because his eyes are a very soft and friendly brown that makes her think of autumn and cozy atmospheres. “Thank you. You have pretty eyes too.” Luhan smiles at her after breaking the gaze.

When he finally steps away and releases Tai from her invisible body bind, she strikes immediately. A kick and several jabs are thrown in the blink of an eye and Luhan somehow manages to escape all of them. He’s already moved to a completely different side of the battle field, Suddenly, Tai breaks out in a sweat. Beating somebody doesn’t take longer than a few seconds, but Luhan is something else. Judging by his knowing smiles, he’s looked into her thoughts somehow by messing with the nerves in her brain. She doesn’t know how telekinesis works completely, but it’s obvious that Luhan is extremely powerful. It’s no wonder he was able to gulp down that beer and still be able to move right now.

Changing tactic, she stays where she is, deciding to let him come to her instead. She paces and cartwheels around with a cute smile on her face, “What else can you do, Lu?”

“Lu, I like the sound of that.” Luhan chuckles, “Well, I’d be happy to show the lady.” He bows before standing up straight with his arms out, creating a capital T shape with his body. With his eyes closed, he begins, “Mind over Matter…” And when his eyes flash open, he claps his hands together straight in front of him, “Blast.” A wave of magnetic energy travels the distance between the two and crashes into Tai, sending her tumbling back in somersaults until she scrapes to a stop on her feet, needing her hand as leverage on the ground to stop.

Wasting no time with his next attack, Luhan reaches his hand out and closes it around air, “Grip.”

Suddenly, it feels as if some large invisible fist has clamped around her entire body. Tai struggles around, but after an attempt to jiggle, she realizes it’s no use. “Urgh.” She grunts, finally showing signs of struggle. With a flick of his hand, Luhan sends Tai flying into the air, releasing her from his grip but showing no sign of saving the girl when she starts falling.

Not as if it was necessary. Tai lands in a tree before pushing off the balls of her feet towards Luhan, tumbling in the air as she aims her feet at Luhan’s spine and uses him as a springboard after landing with enough force at the correct spot she was aiming for. “Oof!” Luhan grunts as he falls forward onto his hands, but he’s quick to react.

His head, legs, and arms are still capable of movement and magic, regardless of how he can’t stand or move properly at the moment without the mobility of his spine. But he rests on his knees and s his hands straight in front of him, concentrating hard as he stares down Tai as she dismounts her set of tumbles.

“Stasis Field.” Luhan murmurs, and then it’s over. Tai freezes mid-cartwheel on her hands with her legs still up in the air, and she collapses to the ground, body completely immobilized. Somehow, in some way, Luhan was able to manipulate the flow of her own Chi and molecules to the point of inamination. This was different from the magnetic binding and the grip Luhan held on her at first. Earlier, she was still capable of moving. Now, it’s as if another Chi blocker had thrown her own attacks at her, because this is exactly how someone is supposed to feel when attacked by a Chi blocker.

“Eep!” Baekhyun squeaks from somewhere on the side with his hands in front of his mouth. Everyone’s eyes are wide; some because they’re surprised that Tai had lost and some because they’re surprised that Luhan hadn’t already won.

Luhan finishes it off with another clap of his hands in Tai’s direction, “Blast.” And she’s thrown back against another tree outside the field. Tai crashes into the trunk before sliding down until she’s in a helpless sitting position in her paralysis. “Newbie!” Sooyoung shouts from the side, running to her side. As she does so, it’s clear that the battle has ended and Luhan falls to the ground, unable to move his limbs with a paralyzed spine.

As several concerned friends surround Tai, carrying her back into the guild, Kris, Xiumin, and Lay walk over to help Luhan. Lay hovers his hands over Luhan’s spine with his palms glowing their healing white light for Luhan’s partially immobilized body to absorb. “Wow, that Tai character really knows how to do one in.” the healer comments, feeling the completely blocked flow of magic and energy in Luhan’s back.

“That’s Tai for you.” Kris nods, “I assume you got a good impression?” he turns to Xiumin who’s looking down at his groaning friend thoughtfully.

“She has a lot of potential.” Is all Xiumin says as he adjusts Luhan’s head position on the ground, stuffing his jacket beneath his partner’s cheek.

“Got a bit of a kick to her too.” Luhan jokes through the numbness of his body, earning an eye roll from Xiumin.

“Why’d you let her get to you though? You could have easily deflected that attack.” Kris wonders.

“Wanted to see what the newbie could do.” Luhan chuckles weakly, “Gotta say it was more than I expected.”

“That immobilization technique you did on her,” Kris mentions, “That’s not too dangerous, is it? I’ve never seen you use it before.”

“Admittedly, it can be a little dangerous if she stays that way for too long.” Luhan says, “Lay, you should go help her out now. I think you’ve done all you could for me now. Thanks.”

“Yeah.” Lay nods before standing up and heading inside to treat the frozen Chi blocker.

Kris and Xiumin lift Luhan up by the arms together, patting the dust off of him as he stretches his limbs. “So what now?” Kris asks.

“What else?” Luhan chuckles, “I got a date tonight.”

>/<

“Why do I need to dress up? We’re just having dinner.”

“This is important because Luhan asked you out, newbie.” Tiffany explains dramatically, “Usually it’s the other way around because he doesn’t have to go around looking for girl playmates. You should be grateful! That’s one of my favorite dresses.”

“All of your dresses are your favorite.” Jessica rolls her eyes from the side of the room on Tiffany’s fluffy pink princess canopy bed.

“Whatever,” Tai sighs, blowing a puff of air up at her fringe, “Can I go now?”

“But I haven’t put any makeup on you yet!!” Tiffany protests.

“No makeup!” Tai refuses, walking towards the door, “I’m not giving off any wrong ideas. This is just dinner. And I’m hungry!”

“Ugh!” Tiffany grumbles, “You’d think that that little thief would be more appreciative ever since I’ve decided to share my color. Does she even realize how great of a milestone this is?!”

“Yeah…” Jessica replies mindlessly, flipping through some magazine she found in the pile by Tiffany’s bed.

Tiffany jumps at the sight, “What are you doing!! You can’t read that!!” she grabs at the magazine.

“Why not?” Jessica cackles, jumping away from the pink princess with the magazine in hand, “It’s interesting to see what kind of taste you have. All the pink lipstick hearts around these hunks are endearing.” She taunts.

“Stop!!!!”

“Good evening, beautiful.” Luhan greets the girl in the powder pink cotton dress when she approaches the front of the restaurant.

“Hello, Luhan.” Tai replies cheerfully, “Sorry we didn’t get to have your sunset picnic or whatever it was you planned.”

“Ah, all the better to gaze at the stars together this evening, my lady.” Luhan smiles charmingly, holding his hand out for hers.

Tai takes it without a thought, following Luhan into the restaurant and up the swirling staircase. They walk into a wine cellar and Luhan fingers the shelves before picking out a particular bottle and pulling Tai out through another door on the other side of the cellar. Walking through, Tai can’t help but look up in awe at the stars in the sky as Luhan leads her to the table set up on the rooftop. He pulls out her chair for her and she sits with her eyes still up in the sky. The view wasn’t totally spectacular compared to what she’s seen before, but this was definitely the best view anyone could find in the big city of Seoul.

“So tell me about how you got to Fairy Tail.” Luhan says, popping the bottle of champage and pouring the white wine into Tai’s glass first.

“Dyo and Kai brought me.” Tai smiles proudly, finally turning her gaze back to Luhan, “I helped them with a robbery and they invited me back with them. So I packed up from the traveling circus I was with and joined them here. Haven’t had any regrets since then.”

“And how long has it been since this recruitment?” Luhan leans his elbows on the white tablecloth covered table. He adjusts a red rose in the thin vase in the middle of the table to face towards Tai.

“Almost a month. I’ve joined Chen and Baekhyun on a job so far and that turned out to be pretty successful.” She smiles proudly again at the adventures she’s had with her new friends.

“I heard from the light mage himself,” Luhan smiles back warmly, “I also heard you had a bit of a spat with some of the girls because Tiffany got a bit possessive again.”

“Oh that.” Tai waves it off, “It was fun. We’re all friends now.”

“Can I ask for details?”

The night went on with casual chatter and Luhan’s gentlemanly gestures of refilling Tai’s glass, cutting her food for her, listening intently to her stories, and laughing and smiling accordingly. Luhan found the Chi blocker incredibly fascinating. Who wouldn’t find a non-wizard joining a magic guild interesting? And now that Luhan knew the basics, he becomes even more curious about the type of person Tai is. Her devotion to Kyungsoo seems as if it could be more than sisterly love, but at the same time it doesn’t. Her affectionate tone towards Chen sounds both loving and admiring. And her jokes about Baekhyun and the other Fairy Tail men she’s met so far show her flirty, humorous side.

By the end of the night, as Luhan walks along the Han River with his hand cupped in Tai’s, he’s sure he’s won her over. He’s learned about her and he’s shared about himself. He was quite an interesting man, if he did say so himself, not to mention quite the charmer as well. So when he leans in to kiss Tai when he drops her off at D.O’s doorstep, he’s a bit surprised that she turns her lips away so Luhan only gets her cheek.

“Sorry if I gave off any wrong impressions, Luhan sunbae. That isn’t the type of relationship I’m trying to establish in with anyone Fairy Tail.” Tai apologizes but with an innocent smile on her face, “But I’d love to join you on a mission someday.” She clutches his hands in hers excitedly, already anticipating the adventure to possibly come, “Thanks for tonight. And for agreeing to fight me today. It was great.” She ends it with her own kiss to Luhan’s cheek, “Good night.”

Luhan sighs but smiles with a shrug, “I understand. Good night, Tai. I’m honored to welcome you to Fairy Tail.”

“I’m glad to be here.”