Gongchan panicked. Everything had suddenly gone completely dark, he couldn't see his own hands even if he tried waving them in front of his nose. Snout? He wasn't sure of the correct terminology for what he could only assume was a rat's nose. Or it could have been the biggest coincidence ever that everyone had started shrieking right after he had changed, shouting 'Rat! Rat!'. Perhaps the rat had been right behind him and he hadn't noticed since he thought the cheers were all for him.

His little rat heart was beating faster than a space ship doing warp nine. He tried to calm himself down, waiting for the transformation to wear off. It usually only took a few minutes after his feelings had subsided to reverse to his original form. His preferred form actually. But nothing was happening. He wasn't changing back. He tried not to panic. What was going on? Why was it so dark? Was he dead? Had the unthinkable finally happened? He had been expecting this ever since he refused to take his bodyguard-slash-nanny to school. It was not because he was brave, nor was it because he believed no harm would come to him, he just didn't need the extra attention. He was already the laughing stock of the entire school, adding fuel to the fire would only result in more serious burns.

He held his breath and waited for something to happen, anything, not sure if he should expect the white light to come take him any minute now, or if he had stumbled upon some wrinkle in the space-time continuum, being suspended in this weird vortex of darkness, perhaps not only for now, but forever? When nothing happened, he figured he was forced to take matters in his own hands. There was no rescue team on its way and Sandeul was still in detention, so he wouldn't even be missed.

With a tiny rat-knot in his tiny rat-stomach, he started nervously poking around. The surface on which he was standing was soft and uneven. It had a faint inkling of a smell, reminding him of soap. The one that was used in the school bathrooms. So he was still at school, trapped in some sort of parallel universe? If this was Heaven, he was unimpressed. He was not thrilled by the thought of spending his afterlife smelling like a toilet, and a school one at that. And he was definitely not ready for his life to be over, he who hadn't even had the chance to shine yet. No. He had to get out of here. Vowing that if by some miracle he succeeded, he was going to grab life by the horns and show the world of what he was capable.

He set out to explore the boundaries of this unknown new universe, sniffing with his new super-nose in every direction when it bumped into something warm. It smelled good. A sweet, friendly smell. He moved his whiskers to get a better feel, but the moment he started to get a clearer picture, everything began shaking to and fro, the floor included. He had to grab on tight just to keep from falling off the platform he was standing on. There was an abyss surrounding it, that he had found out the hard way.

And there it was, the bright light. Coming from below. He had always imagined it would come from above. Interesting. A flutter of fear tickled his heart. So this was really it then. Some screaming girl had probably stomped him to death without thinking twice about it. But was he going to spend the rest of his non-life as a rat? He had sometimes wondered whether he would forever be stuck in the form he happened to be in at the moment of death, and now he had his answer. Aishh, why hadn't he been thinking about a mountain lion, or a grizzly bear. Why of all things, a rat! Now he was doomed to spend his afterlife at the bottom of the totem pole, just like in his real life. Unless Heaven did the honorable thing, turning the order upside down, making him king rat!

He was about to punch the air with his fist in frustration, before he realized that was near impossible, being a rat and all. Ah, there were so many things he couldn't do now. Starting to feel sorry for himself as he entered this new world, he noticed that it looked exactly like his old one. It was the old one! He had never been so happy to see the school hallway as he was right now. Baro put him on the windowsill, apparently he had been under his shirt? Why had Baro put him under his shirt? Did he know it was him, or did he have some weird rat-? Gongchan wasn't sure he wanted to know.

The moment Baro let him go, he changed back. Thankfully. He was so overcome with happiness, so glad that he was alive that he lunged forward, giving Baro a great, big hug, squeezing him tight.

“You saved me!” he exclaimed in awe.

“Uh.. eh..” empty air was the only thing that exited Baro's mouth so Gongchan loosened his grip, generously allowing air back into his lungs. Right then, he noticed a familiar movement pattern at the corner of his eye. Jinyoung. He would recognize that gait anywhere, even a million miles away. Jinyoung was about to pass by them, flicking a lock of hair away from his eyes. It was like it was happening in slow motion, he was bathing in the spotlight, his devastatingly beautiful eyes a gateway into another universe.

Gongchan held his breath, watching him over Baro's shoulder, careful not to blink, he didn't want to miss even a fraction of a fraction of a second. This was the first time he had seen him so up close, at least as a human, for he had never made it this far without going 'plop!', scurrying away in shame before having the chance to really enjoy the view. He felt as if he had by sheer coincidence scored a first row VIP ticket at a very coveted, extremely exclusive concert. He was so excited he was practically shaking, yet since the ticket had just fallen into his lap moments before the show, he hadn't had time to mentally prepare for it. That was why he just focused on keeping his eyes open, taking a video with his mind's camera that he would then process later, staying up many a night editing the footage, going through every frame with a magnifying glass.

He didn't understand why he hadn't changed already, were his feelings for Jinyoung fading? It was weird though, he was trembling, which indicated emotional distress and usually at the slightest of his emotional strings, he would kapluff into whatever nightmare he had just been thinking of. Maybe he was just cold, although the hallway was room temperature and then some. As Jinyoung came closer and closer, he tried to remember of what animal he had last thought, coming up empty. It was time to make a preemptive strike, to think of something respectable before the inevitable happened. Only his mind was completely frozen, panic locking its cold, slippery hands around his heart, threatening to crush it at any moment.

Owl! What? Well, owls were quite respectable and a bit scary. And he would be able to fly away in embarrassment, that was way more dignified than taking hours to cross the floor with his little cockroach legs. Giant squid. No, brain! His stomach churned at the thought, could they even survive out of water? , almost here. Owl, owl, please let it be owl.

Ah, he was so gorgeous, he thought as he watched with reverence as Jinyoung passed by. Just then, Jinyoung turned his head, looking right at him, or well, them. His eyes were laced with fire, ready to shoot. Were they always this intense? Gongchan's heart went wild, desperately trying to beat its way out of his chest and into Jinyoung's arms. His legs went all wobbly as he watched Jinyoung's cute little behind cross the hallway. His brain had come down with the giggles, like it had been drugged, too giddy for its own good.

When Jinyoung disappeared behind the corner, the one brain cell that was still sober registered that he was still in his human state. Why hadn't he changed? Was there some glitch in the universal web of mythological magic? Could he be experiencing a power outage like a run of the mill electrical problem, a magic cold? Or.. He leaned back to get a better look at Baro. Maybe it was that he was falling for someone else. He felt like he had heard something about a Siren's powers having a harder time of taking over people that were head over heals in love with someone else, that it worked as a kind of shield. Could it be? Ah, why hadn't he paid better attention in Extremely Rare Myths class? Did that mean he was falling for Baro?

He looked him right in the eyes, trying to lure an answer out of them, but the only thing they reflected back was a question mark. He did have beautiful eyes, and he was incredibly good looking. The boyish manliness he was giving off was very attractive. That had to be it. Without realizing it, he had fallen in love with Baro.

The look on Baro's face was puzzled. Should he confess? Aissh, this was too big. He had to discuss it with Sandeul first. He released Baro from his clutches, throwing him a short 'see ya', before running down the hall.

Not surprisingly, Sandeul was cursing the air when he entered the classroom. The guy that was supposed to help him had disappeared into thin air, again, so Sandeul was left with double the work. Helping him out, Gongchan spilled his gut.

“Yeah right, as if! No, you're not over him just because you didn't sneeze, it's more likely that you're getting over your allergies. I think very strong love can partially shield you from half-Siren powers, but a true Siren is so powerful, it's highly unlikely, though there is no way of knowing. But even if it were so, you haven't known Baro for long enough to be in such legendary love of a lifetime with him. And didn't you just geek out over having finally been able to see Jinyoung's eyes up close and how heavenly gorgeous they were?” Sandeul did a bad impression of him talking about Jinyoung, acting like a smitten little school girl, turning his eyes into hearts.

“Forget it. I'm going to class.” he threw the chalkboard eraser in Sandeul's direction as he headed out.

On his way out, he nearly crashed into Baro. He was everywhere these days, was it fate that their paths were crossing so often lately? Maybe this was the universe telling him something.

“Uhm.. heh.. is Sandy in there?” Baro asked, looking a bit uncomfortable.

“You mean Sandeul?” he snorted, beaming at him. Partly because he did really like him, and partly because he was trying out his theory. He was trying on the part of having a crush on Baro, seeing if it fit.

“Oh.. right, yeah?” Baro grinned awkwardly.

He nodded, wishing he could be a fly on the wall to see Sandeul's reaction if Baro called him Sandy again. Smiling on the outside, he burst into a silent fit of laughter in his head as he imagined Sandeul teaching Baro a lesson. Baro didn't stand a chance.