After making a couple of transfers, trying to hide their trail, they ended up standing on the platform of a random subway station in the middle of nowhere. Holding onto his grandfather’s book and still not wearing any shoes, Junho felt surreal and completely out of place. All of this was way too unbelievable, like it wasn’t really happening. Looking to his side, he noticed that Chansung seemed seriously pale, and his forehead was starting to become very sweaty.

“Probably… it would be best to clean your wounds” Junho suggested hesitantly.

Like he was pulled back to reality, Chansung’s dazed gaze turned more focused and he nodded.

Without saying anything else, they walked up the stairs and found a bathroom, that luckily was empty.  After closing and locking the door behind them, Chansung put his bag up on the counter next to the sink, opened it up and started picking up random objects from it and putting them on the table. Not really sure what was happening, or what exactly the guy was searching for, Junho just stared at him confused.

“Aaah, found it!” the man exclaimed, sending him a hint of a smile, and then without any warning took off his T-shirt and walked towards him.

Completely taken back, Junho wondered what this stranger was going to do to him, now that just the two of them were locked in a bathroom alone, somewhere in a secluded subway station. When he thought about it, this guy had been acting kind of erted earlier. Junho clenched his fist, ready to fight back if this weirdo was planning anything strange, but was surprised by a very gentle question.

“Do you mind?” Chansung asked, reaching out his hand, holding something. Looking closer, Junho recognized that those were bandages.

“Oh, of course” he replied, blushing deeply in embarrassment for having expected something different, but he wasn’t really at fault. After all it was weird being approached by a half- stranger.

Chansung’s back was broad, and his skin was extremely white, so he was probably not an outdoor person. Very carefully, Junho cleaned the wound.

“Aaah, it hurts!”

“Don’t be such a baby” But in spite of his harsh words, Junho tried to be gentler. Honestly the wound looked very bad, it was still bleeding and the veins surrounding it looked extra dark for some reason. Although they should probably go to the hospital, for now Junho just put on the bandages: “There, it’s done. Does it feel better?”

“Mmh, thanks.” After sending him a sweet smile, Chansung went back to his bag. Even though Junho expected him to be searching for another T-shirt, he just mumbled something and then picked up a black marker and approached him again. While removing the cap of the pen with his teeth, he casually said: “Pull down your pants.”

“W-W-WHAT?!?” Defensively holding onto his pants, Junho backed away, bumping into the wall behind him.

“Just do it, quick!”

“Don’t come any closer!” Junho held his hand in front of himself, trying to stop this crazy person, “I-I’m not the type to do rated things with some stranger in a bathroom!”

Apparently he was being extremely funny, because Chansung burst out laughing, “Don’t worry, it’s not like that. When I do seduce you, it won’t be in a bathroom, I can promise you that. We just need to cloak you.”

“C-C-Cl? What me?” Junho replied, still feeling defensive, purposely ignoring that stupid “when”. He was not going to be so easily teased.

Very slowly, like he was explaining to a child, Chansung continued, “We need to hide from the bounty hunters, once they realize they’ve lost our trail, they’ll probably try magic, so we need to put a cloaking spell on you, otherwise we’re easily found.”

“W-What has that to do with my pants!”

“I need to write it on your behind, it’s the most effective place.”

“On my BEHIND?” Even though the weirdo stared at him innocently, his face was a bit too innocent, making Junho think he was being played. “What about you? Don’t you need this cloaking stuff on your too?” He eyed him suspiciously.

“I already have a permanent one.” His answer was very matter-of-factly, but then Chansung added with a smirk, “Do you want to see it?”

“No of course not! Don’t be ridiculous.” Immediately Junho felt his face heat up at the suggestion, and he did his best not to picture how it would look.

“Turn around, it will be over quickly” the stranger said innocently, but there was a dirty glint in his eyes, that made Junho feel like he was playing a part in an extremely bad o film.

Still, he did what he was asked, faced the wall and ed his pants, cursing internally. Not understanding why any of this had to happen to him, Junho kept wishing this was all a dream and he was still cuddled up in his grandfather’s chair fast asleep. Far from subtle, Chansung pushed both his pants and underwear down to his thighs, leaving him a lot more exposed than he cared for.

“Yah~ Don’t do it like that!” Junho complained, quickly pulling his pants back up. “You don’t need to pull them all the way down! Just a little bit should be enough, you ert!”

“Oh, okay” the culprit answered from behind him, slightly chuckling. This time he was much gentler, and just pushed the waistband of the pants slightly down, exposing half of Junho’s cheek. But this was almost more embarrassing, because Chansung had to keep his left hand on his to hold his pants in place, and then his right hand leaned against his skin and started to write something. The pen were large and confident, and Junho wondered what the heck was being drawn on his .

After what seemed to be forever, Chansung stopped, and patted his buttock, “There, all ready.”

Completely red in the face, Junho pulled up to his pants. Although he wanted to try to see what was written on his in the mirror, it wasn’t possible without the stranger seeing it too, and he had already see more of his behind than necessary.

Even though this experience had been excruciatingly embarrassing, Chansung seemed completely unaffected by the awkwardness, and went back to his bag and threw the pen back in, and finally decided to pull up a new T-shirt and put it on again.

“Showoff” Junho muttered to his chest, because there wasn’t really any reason he had been shirtless for so long. Just because he had a nicely shaped body was no reason for him to be all cocky about it.

Chansung didn’t seem to hear him, and looked through his bag one more time, coming up with some sneakers and sport socks.

“Hmm… I think they should fit more or less… At least they are better than being barefoot.”

“Do you have everything in that bag of yours?”

“Well… not everything, but Jokwon can hold quite a lot.”

“Y-You named your bag?”

“No, of course not…” Chansung replied like he was being ridiculous, “…his father did.”

“Okaaay…” Too many weird things were happening for Junho to worry about stupid things like who decided to put a name on a bag, so he just put on the clean socks, gladly throwing his dirty ones away.

Once they were dressed, they finally exited the bathroom, heading back down to the subway platform.

“Ehm, what now?” Junho asked hesitantly. They had been so caught up in running away, that now when they were safe for the moment, he suddenly felt unsure of what to do, “I guess going back to my house is out of the question?”

“Unless you’re suicidal, then no” Chansung mumbled back calmly, but once Junho took a closer look, he didn’t really seem that fine, there was sweat on his forehead, and he looked dizzy.

“Maybe we should take you to a hospital?”             

“A human hospital?”

“Ehm, yeah… the human one.”

“Nah… It’s useless.”

“I’m sure that they can help… they are really good, and I’m sure they could also treat a… fairy… such as yourself?” Of course, he didn’t really believe this man was a fairy, but Chansung seemed to think so, and the end Junho didn’t really know what to believe anymore.

“I’m sure they are good at what they do, but magic cannot be fought by human medication.”

“Magic?”

“Magical poison” he replied casually, pointing at his shoulder.

“POISON?” Junho replied startled, “From the arrow, earlier?”

Nodding briefly, the fairy mumbled: “I was hoping it wouldn’t be one of those poisonous things, but I’m starting to feel it working on me, so apparently I wasn’t that lucky.”

“B-But will you be able to heal on your own?” Suddenly Junho started to worry.

“Doesn’t seem like…”

“What then? There must something we can do? Someone we can ask for help?”

“I just need to get to one of the magical lakes.”

“The magical lakes?”

“You don’t know them?”

“Ehm, of course not” How could Junho know about anything so crazy, but thinking fast he added: “Is it outside of Seoul? Outside of the city?”

“Mmm…”

“Okay” Suddenly his mind was very focused, “We need to go to Seoul station, and from there we should be able to catch a train, you do know where to go right?”

“Mmh… Sort of…”

Right at that moment, the subway appeared as by request. This plan should have felt too ridiculous, suddenly aiming for some magical lake that probably didn’t even exist, but after everything they had gone through that morning, it almost sounded like a logical next step to this very weird day. So without thinking about how they would ever be able to reach this very unclear destination, Junho quickly stood up, and grabbed the hand of this very weird fellow, helping him to stand up.

“Comon, let’s get you some magical healing,” he said and dragged him onboard the subway.