One second you’re walking through the forest, on the side of the main road, and the next second bright light bursts right behind you, almost knocking you off your feet when a hot blow of air hits your back. You turn your head abruptly only to see a blur of blonde hair and then someone snatches your wrist screaming ‘Run!’ and you’re being jerked away from the light, forced to run for your life.

You notice three things. 1) The person from the portal is a boy, and you can only see the back of his head, but damn, he looks familiar. 2) The boy has white tattoos on the back of his neck and running down his fingers, which are currently squeezing your wrist. And 3) There are freaking hellhounds chasing you.

It’s a lot to take in.

“Oh !” you shout when you realize what exactly is going on. You hear the hellhounds barking and growling right behind you, their paws heavy on the ground, and adrenaline hits you like a train. You snatch your wrist away from the mysterious boy just to feel a spark of magic flow between your skin when you lose contact and wow, he’s a mage.

“Left!” you scream, and both you and the boy take a sharp turn to the left, diving into the trees. You’re ahead of the blonde now and you can hear his loud pants; you’re panting as well, legs straining, picking up the pace and trying to make yourself quicker with your magic.

The boy does the same. You just know he does. You’re quicker now, speeding through the forest, jumping and bending and jerking to avoid the trees, rocks, and branches. You head for Kai’s old loft.

It’s been burned down, but you’ve made it a ‘base’, as Chanyeol calls it; it’s circled with mountain ash and a barrier circle of your own, making it impossible for people (or creatures) with bad intentions to cross.

You hear an actual tree fall behind you, probably after one of the hellhounds hit it, and you grimace remembering the last time you had to fight with these creatures. You don’t even try to fight it; you’re too small, too weak, and magic usually doesn’t even work on them. You’d have to jump at them and literally slash their throats, and that’d be impossible since there’s about four of them behind you right now.

And then you stumble over a freaking root that sticks out the ground.

You fall down, one of the hellhounds roaring loudly, and you quickly turn onto your back, just in time to see the beast’s open muzzle, its glowing, red eyes, and enormous claws that are just about to gut you.

You raise your arms, the sudden magic flow making your hair stand up a little, and just as you create a simple barrier in front of you, hoping for the best, when flames from somewhere behind you hit the monster.

The fur on its snout begins to burn. The hellhound roars, jumps back in confusion, and pulls its claws – thank God – away from you. But then you see another two hellhounds, both ready to pounce.

But then you feel Kai close by and when the first hellhound jumps at you, you don’t even bother a barrier because Kai – in his wolf form – is suddenly there. He jumps at the hellhound from the side, their huge bodies colliding with an awful sound, and they hit the ground, both snarling in fury.

The second hellhound goes to join the fight and you feel yourself panic when you see Kai fighting with two monsters. You don’t have time to help him, though, because the third – and last – hellhound is right there, barking wildly.

You stretch your arms out towards him, your runic tattoos burning on your skin, and you whisper a binding spell. The hellhound whines when it feels its muscles tense and he starts trashing around, trying to get out of your magic’s grip.

You have to keep the eye contact if you want to keep him trapped, but it’s hard when Kai is fighting on the side, snarling and barking and howling hearable, and there’s a strange mage behind you.

As on cue, the said mage crouches by your side. You can only see some movement, his hand drawing something on the ground, and you feel his magic growing thicker under his skin. He’s strong. He’s almost your level of strong, you realize.

“Revertimini,” he whispers in a very familiar, soft voice that makes your heart flutter. He slaps his open palm onto something he drew on the ground and suddenly, the hellhounds disappear in puffs of black smoke. You let your arms fall down onto the soil, muscles tensing, and you look at Kai, still in his wolf form, swaying on his feet. The wolf looks at you, his eyes flashing red.

He’s alive. There’s blood dripping down his side, but he’s okay. But then he’s nodding – as much as a wolf can nod – at the person behind you and you’re finally able to look at the blonde boy’s face.

You lose balance. You just face-plant onto the ground, sputtering, and then, as quickly as you can, you jump back in pure shock. Kai is by your side and you yelp a little when he touches your shoulder with his cold, wolf-y nose, and then you’re back to staring at the person that randomly showed up in your forest being chased by hellhounds.

Because it’s Kai.

At first you think that you’ve lost your mind. After all, your Kai is by your side, his wolf body oozing warmth, its fur brushing your bare skin. But there’s also a second Kai right in front of you. His blonde – blonde! – hair is messy, he’s dirty, there’s a gash running the side of his forearm, white tattoos on his neck and collarbones, and his eyes are wide. He’s staring at your Kai, evidently disbelieving what he sees.

“So I totally came to the wrong universe, didn’t I?” he asks, sounding playful and incredibly awkward at the same time, and you gape even harder.

Then the pain comes. You feel your forearms burn and twitch and you let out a growl, crossing your arms on your chest, the pain spreading higher and reaching your collarbones and chest; you let out a shaky breath, bending forward, sweat beginning to cover your forehead. You hear Kai whining next to you and he your arms and your shoulder, trying to distract you. At some point he stands behind you and curls his furry body around you, trying to be as much of a comfort as he can, even if he just found himself in the most bizarre situation ever.

The pain gets duller and then disappears completely, abruptly. You gasp for air and Kai steps away, giving you all the space you need to shake yourself off the ache lingering in your fingertips.

Blonde Jongin is staring. It’s super weird.

“That color suits you,” you say after a few minutes of pregnant silence, pointing at his hair. You then turn towards your Kai. “You should try it one day.”

The wolf sneezes like the idea offends him personally. Blonde Jongin opens his mouth like a fish out of water.

“No way,” he says, pointing at Kai. “That’s me?”

You frown. “No, this is you,” you answer, pointing at the blonde boy. “God, this is so weird. Why are you—you’re a mage.”

“You are a mage,” Jongin gasps out in disbelief. “And I’m a—werewolf? How is that even possible?”

Kai sneezes again, then growls low in his throat and nudges you with his nose.

*

“Holy ,” is the first thing Xiumin says after walking into the room. It’s accompanied with a tiny bounce. Behind him, his girlfriend, Min, hits Xiumin’s shoulder with her teeth, her eyes fixed on the two Jongins in the living room. Amber, Sulli and Baekhyun pile into the room next, curious about the sudden commotion and a bit nervous about receiving SOS messages, and their reactions vary.

Sulli clasps a hand onto , Amber opens her eyes widely while also frowning deeply and she looks like an angry owl, and Baekhyun literally elbows his way out of them all to stand right in front of Kai and blonde Jongin and say “holy ” on the top of his lungs, stretching his arms out towards them as if annoyed.

“Is this really happening?!” he screams. “We have two of them now?!”

“Oh my God, is he a shapeshifter?” Amber asks, joining Baekhyun on his side and staring at Kai and Jongin that are seated on the chairs next to each other. Kai looks deeply uncomfortable. Blonde Jongin, with his wound disinfected and wrapped in a bandage, looks shy but also curious.

“No,” you say, crossing your arms on your chest. Xiumin stands next to Amber, pulling his phone out, but before he can snap a picture, Sulli stands by his side and slaps his hand. Xiumin fumbles with his phone. Blonde Jongin smiles a little at them all, which, what.

“Did you just smile at us being annoying?” Baekhyun inquires, frowning. He looks up at you, as if waiting for a confirmation. “Did he?”

“Oh my God, what the heck?!” a new voice asks. You turn to see Luhan completely shell-shocked. The kid practically runs towards the little group in front of Kai and Jongin, barely avoids falling onto his by grabbing Sulli’s shoulders, and stares at the two Kais with wide eyes. “Is this—am I dreaming? Is it real? Is he real?”

“He is right here and he can hear you,” blonde Jongin says, trying hard not to smile. You join your pack and Min comes to stand in front of Xiumin as well. Xiumin puts a protective arm around her neck, bending a little so that their cheeks can touch.

“Okay, I’m done,” Kai says suddenly, standing up. All of the eyes in the room follow him. Choco lets out a silent, confused whine from where he’s hidden under the couch, being the bewildered puppy that he is. “I feel judged. Stop staring.”

“How can we not stare when there’s your double next to you?” Baekhyun asks. “This is like an episode of Supernatural, dude.”

Min makes a face. “There wasn’t actually an episode when anything like this happened,” she says.

“Details,” Baek replies with a wave of his hand.

“Can I touch him?” Luhan whispers.

“Oh my God, you creep!” Amber shouts, slapping him on the shoulder.

Suddenly, blonde Jongin bursts out laughing. You all stop whatever you were doing to send him baffled looks, even your own Kai. The laugh bubbles in his stomach and he shakes a little, trying to catch his breath in-between fits of chuckles. He actually wipes a tear away from his cheek.

You feel your heart freaking thundering in your chest and you know that Kai picked up on it because when you look at him, he has this really confused and kinda hurt expression on his frowny face.

“Okay, it’s good to know that doesn’t change no matter the universe,” Jongin says from the chair, throwing one leg onto the other and leaning back, suddenly looking – and feeling – very open and comfortable. He smiles widely, flipping his head a little to get rid of the fringe getting into his eyes, and God.

“This is very weird,” Xiumin concludes.

“Definitely one of the weirdest things that’s ever happened,” you nod. “Even for our standards.”

Jongin looks at you then. Since now he’s only been stealing glances, too nervous to exactly look at you, but he does now, and his eyes go incredibly soft and curious as ever. You know that look; it’s the same look Kai gives you sometimes. You feel your cheeks burning all of a sudden. It gets quiet all of a sudden and you realize that your heart is beating hard in your chest, and you’re about to die from embarrassment when the door to the loft open and Kyungsoo steps in, Siwon following after.

“I swear to God, if it’s about something one of the boys did again—“ Siwon starts, strolling in, but stops short and makes a double take when he sees Jongin. He looks at him and then at Kai, back and forth, and Kyungsoo lingers by the door for a few moments, squinting at the blonde Jongin.

“Well,” he says, “this surely deserves a panicked SOS message,” he sums up. Jongin smiles, all teeth and shining eyes, and you melt. Baekhyun actually chokes on his own saliva and has to turn away to get his breathing under control because Jongin’s smile burns. It’s not like your Kai doesn’t smile because he does, but his smiles are always soft and considerate (can a smile even be considerate? You think that everything Kai does is considerate) and he rarely smiles as widely.

“Are you—?” Siwon starts, not sure how to finish the sentence.

“Okay,” Jongin says, raising his arms all of a sudden, letting out a chuckle. He stands up from the chair, making everyone in the room take a step back, which looks hilarious and he laughs again. “I can see that you’re all dumbfounded—“

“That’s an understatement,” Min mutters, nodding, deep in thought.

“I’m from another universe,” Jongin says, putting his hands into his jeans pockets. “I didn’t intend to end up here, in all honesty. I’m on the run.”

“You’re a mage,” Siwon states, obviously feeling the waves of magic from him.

“Yes, I am,” Jongin says, nodding once, looking at each person in the room as he speaks, his eyes jumping from one face to the next. “You’re my pack in my world as well. I mean, except for you three,” he points at Min, Amber and Sulli. “But I feel like that’s gonna change soon.”

“I’m Amber,” Amber supplies, smiling softly at him. Jongin nods at her, smiling back.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Oh my God, he’s like a ray of sunshine,” Baekhyun muses. He turns towards your Kai, gaping. “What went wrong, Kai?”

“Shut it,” Kai replies, crossing his arms on his chest defensively.

“In your world, are we werewolves as well?” Xiumin asks. Jongin nods again, swaying a little on his feet, as in dancing to some mute music.

“Yes.”

“Why were the hellhounds chasing you?” Kai asks, frowning.

Jongin looks at him and you can see the exact moment both Kai and the blonde Jongin realize how weird it is to look at each other like that, to stare at the person that looks the same as you, and you stifle a laugh.

“Uh,” Jongin says, shaking his head, confused for a moment. “I pissed off a demon.”

“Wow,” Kyungsoo says, speaking up for the first time. “That’s Dal level of stupidity.”

“Hey!” you defend.

“Dal?” Jongin asks, frowning. He looks at you again. “Your name is…Dal?”

“What’s my name in your world?” you question. Kai scowls beside you; you can feel it somehow.

“Yunji,” Jongin says softly.

“What did you do to piss the demon off?” Luhan asks.

Jongin shifts uncomfortably. He purses his lips, looking at the ceiling. Amber and Sulli snort in unison at how silly he looks, and Kai’s scowl gets even deeper.

“I kinda trapped his demon girlfriend in a Grimhold,” he admits. You and Siwon raise your eyebrows at that. “Now he wants her back.”

“Where the heck did you get a Grimhold that’s able to hold demons?” you ask, surprised. “Those are super rare.”

“I have a big family,” Jongin explains. “We’re kinda—known for being a big, magic family. My ancestors gathered stuff through the years.”

You glance at Kai and see his muscles tense at the mention of a big family. You wonder if Taeyeon is alive in Jongin’s universe, if the people that died in the fire of your own world are alive in Jongin’s.

“Okay, so you trapped a demon in a Grimhold,” Siwon says. “You have it?”

Jongin goes through his pockets and pulls out a tiny matryoshka doll. He presents it to everyone with a blinding smile.

“What’s a Grimhold again?” Sulli asks.

“It’s a magic object that can hold in different creatures,” Min supplies. “Traps them.”

“Like that box Baekhyun dropped last month?” Amber snorts. Baekhyun rolls his eyes.

“The box was much weaker than this little doll,” you say, pointing at the Grimhold. “Grimholds that can hold demons—that’s really something.”

Siwon clasps his hands together, annoyed that someone interrupted his train of thought. He looks at Jongin intently. “And then the demon started chasing you,” he says.

“Yes.”

“And you thought that the best option you have is to go to another universe and hide.”

“Well I didn’t exactly have time for an exorcism,” Jongin mutters, shrugging, and putting the doll back into his pocket. You wonder how he didn't lose it when running through the forest.

“But you had time for drawing a transportation circle and use all your energy on that,” you say. “It takes amazing amounts of power. How did you even do that?”

Jongin pulls a necklace from under his t-shirt. It’s silver, with a green stone inside it and runes engraved around it.

“Another family token,” he says. “Every time someone from my family dies, their magic lands inside it. When I’m short on the magic juice, it helps me out.”

“Magic juice,” Sulli whispers.

“But the hellhounds found me anyways,” Jongin says. “It was a freaky coincidence that I ended up exactly where Yu—Dal was. I saw her and I didn’t know what to do so I snatched her off the road. Then I just had to find a moment to send the hellhounds back to hell.”

“That’s actually a trick I don’t know,” you admit, tilting your head a little. You remember how Jongin drew that circle next to you, slapped his palm flat on it and the hellhounds disappeared. That reminds you that you’re still covered in mud and soil and you need to take a shower asap.

“I’ll teach you,” Jongin says, smiling a little, the corners of his mouth quirking up adorably.

“Is that demon of yours going to find you?” Siwon asks. Okay, so pack business.

“Probably,” Jongin says, his face becoming serious in a span of seconds. “He will at some point. But I’ll be gone by then, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Where do you want to go?” Min asks, surprised.

“Back to my universe, I guess?”

“You can’t,” Xiumin says. “That demon is probably already waiting for you there—“

“His pack is still there,” Kai points out and that makes you all hold your breaths in, because you didn’t even think about it. Jongin looks at Kai with a glint in his eyes. “They’re without their mage, unprotected and probably freaked out that he disappeared.”

Jongin nods solemnly.

“We still can’t let you go,” you say, shaking your head. “At least not now. You’re weak and tired, you won’t be of any use if you jump right back into your universe now. And the demon is after you anyways—maybe that’s a good thing. You can be bait.”

They all look at you thoughtfully, waiting for your instructions.

“First of all, we have to get rid of that demon you have in your Grimhold,” you say. “We have to exorcise her.”

“Last time we tried to exorcise a demon, you ended up falling off a roof,” Xiumin reminds you bitterly. Jongin opens his eyes widely.

“What.”

“Ha!” Baekhyun shouts. “See! Even this Jongin is too cool for question marks.”

Your Kai snorts. Jongin looks confused at first, but seeing Kai’s reaction, he smiles. Baekhyun winks at him.

You smile as well, trying to remain cool and get your together, because, hey, this is serious. You don’t want demons and hellhounds running around your town again. “Okay, okay,” you say. “Last time I exorcised Azazel. He’s like—a textbook demon. He was actually mentioned in the Bible, okay.”

“You must be kidding me,” Jongin muses. You look at him. “You exorcised Azazel?”

“Yup,” Luhan says, throwing his arm around your shoulders. “The one and only. And she was totally badass while doing so.”

“She was also unconscious for the next three days or so,” Kai reminds you all.

“Well, this demon of yours,” you interrupt, pointing at Jongin’s general direction, “is she strong?”

“She’s very young,” Jongin says. “I mean, demon-wise. She’s not that strong. Not Azazel levels of strong, at least.”

“Okay,” you say, turning towards Siwon. “Can two people exorcise one demon at the same time?”

“Sure,” Siwon replies. “Does she have a human body?”

Jongin shakes his head, “No.”

“Okay. Then it’s gonna be even simpler.”

“Yes, because everything is so simple in our lives,” you snort.

*

You take a long shower after Jongin. You’re leaving the bathroom and your Kai goes in, placing his hand on the nape of your neck for a few seconds as you walk by. You turn your head a little to look at him, but he already disappears inside the steamy bathroom. You’re wearing his shirt and your favorite pajama shorts, your hair still damp.

You walk into the living room to see Jongin fast asleep on the couch, stirring a little in his sleep. Someone draped a blanket over him.

“He’s really anxious,” Kyungsoo tells you, standing beside you as you watch Jongin. “He’s trying to be calm and appear normal, but his heartbeat is really unsteady, and he smells like worry.”

Luhan emerges from the kitchen with a bag of chips and stands on your right, munching on them loudly. Kyungsoo stretches his arm out to get some too.

“He’s really chill, though,” Luhan says, offering you some chips as well. You shake your head at them. “And he smiles a lot. He reminds me of you,” he adds, nudging your elbow. “It’s funny.”

“Kai is gonna be jealous, though, if you continue to look at him like that,” Kyungsoo tells you. You don’t have the time to ask what he means because the door to the loft opens with a loud bang.

“What’s up!” Tao hollers.

“Shh!” You, Luhan and Kyungsoo hiss at unison. It’s no use, though; blonde Jongin stirs awake. Tao enters the room, a little taken aback, Kris coming in after him. You can hear someone taking off their shoes by the door, as well.

“What ‘shh’, don’t ‘shh’ me,” Tao scolds. His eyes stop on Jongin, who is blinking at the boy, not sure what’s going on. “Wow. First Suho, now Kai? What is it with blonde hair lately and why didn’t I know about it?”

Luhan squints at him. “Do you read texts we send you? Ever?”

“My phone died, why?” Tao asks. Kris stands next to him, frowning at Jongin.

“Dude, you dyed your hair?” he asks, confused.

Chen and Yixing enter the room, laughing about something, both oblivious to what’s going on.

“Did anyone inform them?” you ask just as Xiumin enters the living room. Jongin is still very confused on the couch.

“They were all working, I figured the situation wasn’t serious enough to call the whole pack,” Xiumin tells you.

“Serious?” Kris asks. “How is Kai dying his hair serious?”

“Kai dyed his hair?” Chen exclaims, sticking his head out to see. “Oh my God! He’s out of his emo phase?”

“I don’t have an emo phase,” Kai growls, entering the living room, his hair damp and his shirt sticking to his wet skin a little. Tao, Kris, Chen and Yixing open their mouths in shock and yeah, that’s pretty funny to watch.

“What the?” Tao mutters, his head pretty much flying from one side of the room to the next. “We have two Kais?”

“Hi,” blonde Jongin says from the couch, his voice groggy. “Can I go back to sleep now?”

“Chanyeol is gonna himself when I tell him about it,” Chen says quietly.

“Ew!” Baekhyun screams from the kitchen.

hi chocolate chip pecan bars! <3 who's ready for some jealous!Kai and -kicking?