“Wakey, wakey,” Myungsoo sing-songs, entering Seon’s room in quick strides. The girl awakes with a startle, the side of her face squashed into the pillow, her arm slung over the edge of the bed; she glares at Myungsoo with all the power she can muster this early in the morning, and she reaches towards the gun that’s on her bedside table. Before she can grab it, Myungsoo snatches it, far away from her reach, and swiftly disarms it.

“I’m going to kill you,” Seon hisses murderously. Myungsoo puts the gun and the bullet magazine detached from it back onto the bedside table and goes to open the window. The cold breeze immediately fills the room, and Seon shivers. She groans loudly. “I’m gonna kill you dead, you .”

“I know,” Myungsoo admits, opening Seon’s wardrobe and pulling some clothes out of it. He goes to stand in front of Seon and shows her two t-shirts: a black one and a white one. “Which one is it gonna be today? Black? Thought so.”

Seon is still glaring at him. Myungsoo walks back to the wardrobe to put the white t-shirt back, and Seon uses that moment to wrap herself in her duvet and turn over onto the other side, so that she doesn’t have to see Myungsoo’s dumb, smiling, chirpy face.

“It’s chilly, so you better wear cotton tracksuits today,” he says. Seon can hear him walk about the room, but she’s already getting sleepy again, so when he approaches her bed, she doesn’t initially hear him. “Get up.”

He grabs at her duvet and tugs strong enough for her to roll out of it and end up on the floor; she has enough training to react in the last moment and land on her arms and legs, like a cat, and when she does, she kicks her leg out with some killing instinct. Myungsoo jumps, avoids her legs, and jogs back swiftly, grinning down at her.

Seon stands up, blood going straight to her head, and she looks like she’s about to suffocate him on the spot with her bare hands.

She snatches the clothes from him and as she walks by to the bathroom, she tries to punch him in the groin. Myungsoo successfully ducks and laughs joyfully, like this is the best fun he’s had in ages.

Once Seon is dressed and her hair is up in a ponytail, they go downstairs. Seon doesn’t get the chance to push Myungsoo off the fire escape, and she almost succeeds, but once the boy loses balance on the steps he simply props himself over the railing and jumps right off, landing on the side of the stairs and looking at Seon like she’s gone mad.

“I could’ve died,” he mocks, squeezing at his heart. Seon flips him off as she gracefully makes her way to the bottom of the stairs.

They leave the house and turn right, intent on running down their usual route. They quickly fall into a rhythm familiar to them both , their steps perfectly in sync, their breaths puffing out in white clouds around them. Soon, they forget that it’s cold outside, their bodies warming up and covering their skin in a thin layer of the first sweat.

There’re never many people around at an early hour like this, but they spot a few familiar faces. Myungsoo is the one that greets everyone while Seon minds her own business, not really up for social interaction.

They stop for a short break once they reach their favorite spot in the park. They start stretching by ‘their’ bench, both of them breathing a little harsher now.

Seon looks at Myungsoo from the corner of her eye. He looks more lively today, happier. Myungsoo is overall a pretty happy person, but today he’s in high spirits; she wonders why that is. She tries to remember their conversations yesterday, but she can’t think of a reason he’s behaving like this today.

“I can hear you thinking,” Myungsoo speaks up for the first time since they left Seon’s house. Seon feels busted, but she’s careful not to show it. And then, upon fully processing Myungsoo’s words, she looks at him fully, her face blank.

“I thought that was Krystal’s job,” she says. Myungsoo rolls his eyes, a smile still tugging at his lips, and bends down to tighten his shoelaces.

“So that’s what you’re thinking about,” he mutters. Seon lifts her chin up, sensing a trouble coming. Myungsoo straightens up, looks at her and quirks a brow. “What, are you jealous? Would you like to marry me after all?”

“Oh off,” Seon scoffs, smiling for the first time today. She jogs past him, and Myungsoo quickly catches up to her. They continue to jog around the park. “I don’t care what you do and who you do it with, as long as you don’t get yourself killed in the process.”

“Aren’t you protective,” Myungsoo muses. “If anyone’s ever gonna kill me, I’m sure it’s going to be you. One day I will come into your room and not get to your handgun in time, and end up with a bullet to the face.”

“One day,” Seon says, and it sounds like a promise.

*

“Here’s the magazine,” Seon says, tapping a handgun’s grip. “Here’s the magazine’s release. Different from most models, but much more comfortable, in my opinion; easier to disarm. Trigger, trigger guard, rear sight – especially accurate in this one, I gotta say – slide stop, barrel. Front sight. Muzzle,” she finishes. She looks up at Yixing to make sure he’s still listening and she finds him staring at her like she’s a picture hanging on the wall, in his usual .jpg mode. “Yixing.”

“Magazine, magazine’s release more comfortable than other models, trigger, accurate rear sight, slide stop, barrel, front sight, muzzle,” Yixing recites, his eyes never leaving Seon’s. He smiles. “Got it.”

Seon tilts her head to the side a little, giving him a pointed look. Yixing smiles even wider, showing his teeth now, and his stupid dimple. Seon scowls.

“Watch out, that’s her ‘done with your ’ face,” Myungsoo says, appearing next to Yixing. He’s carrying more new guns, and he places them all on the table they’re sitting at. They’re all at the shooting range, with hunters and people and even cops walking around. Yixing likes the atmosphere of this place, even though it smells heavily of lead, smoke, and everything that he should associate with danger.

Somehow, he doesn’t.

“I know,” Yixing assures, looking up at Myungsoo. The hunter is holding a box in his hands that he hasn’t put down next to the rest of the guns, and that fact alone makes both Yixing and Seon curious. Myungsoo looks between the two, pursuing his lips with a mischievous look in his eyes.

“Check this out,” he says, opening the box. He places it between Yixing and Seon. It contains eight bullets, set neatly in a row in grey foam, and each one has its rightful place. They’re all small, silver, with symbols engraved in them. Seon and Yixing both recognize the symbol at the same time.

“Devil’s Traps,” Yixing says.

“Engraved manually. The bullets are also consecrated.” Myungsoo explains.

“What kind of a priest uses holy water on bullets?” Yixing asks.

“An American one?” Seon deadpans. Yixing laughs, but Myungsoo rolls his eyes.

“Don’t be rude,” he says.

“It was funny,” Seon defends.

“It was mean.”

“Like that’s new.”

“How long have you guys known each other?” Yixing asks all of a sudden, looking between them. Myungsoo hums, looks to Seon, deep in thought.

“Since we were, like, five, maybe?” Myungsoo wonders. Seon raises her brows questioningly, staring into nothing and probably trying to recall the exact time. “Our families are very friendly. Wanted to wed us.”

Yixing chokes on air. Seon looks at Myungsoo, and if looks could kill, Myungsoo would be a wet, bloody stain on the floor right about now. He takes a step back under her hard gaze and laughs nervously.

“You were supposed to get married?” Yixing asks, incredulous. Suddenly, he looks at Myungsoo and for the first time since they’ve known each other, Myungsoo actually feels threatened. He goes from nervous to outward wary, and he tenses, because Yixing's eyes gleam. “When? Are you engaged?”

“Oh my God, no,” Seon intervenes angrily. “Not anymore, I mean. It was a long time ago.”

“Not that long,” Myungsoo reminds her, his eyes not leaving Yixing’s. “But we were young and very displeased with these plans, so we rebelled.”

Yixing looks from him to Seon, his face softening a little. Now he’s just confused and curious, his eyes wide. He’s still waiting for the rest of the story, but Seon doesn’t look like she’s up for telling it to him. Neither does Myungsoo.

“Are you sure you’re not engaged?” Yixing asks, glancing to Myungsoo like the guy going to snatch Seon off in a second and announce that they’ve been married for the past five years. Myungsoo shakes his head.

“Ew,” he says. Yixing looks very offended at that. “She’s like my sister.”

Myungsoo looks at Seon. Her face is blank, but something in her eyes makes him double-take. She always keeps herself reserved and tries not to show emotion, but this time she’s not quite succeeding. She looks like she wants to say something really bad, or like she’s a tiny bit offended. Myungsoo wonders what’s going on in her head.

“So yeah, this is our grand story,” he says, finishing the conversation. “All secrets out.”

*

Myungsoo sits down in front of Seon. She’s on the floor, in their training room, sorting through her arrows, her bow at the side. He’s about to speak up – he came here for a reason – and is completely dumbfounded when she speaks up first.

Seon rarely speaks to him first.

“Not all secrets are out,” she says. Myungsoo blinks at her quizzically.

“What?” he asks after about five seconds.

“I didn’t feel like a sister to you at the beginning,” Seon reminds him. She doesn’t glance up even once. Myungsoo feels slightly annoyed.

“You’re never going to let it lie, are you?” He asks, stretching his legs to the front and almost touching Seon’s arrows with his boots. “You just love to rub it in.”

“I’m not rubbing it in,” Seon argues, her voice weirdly quiet. She puts one of her arrows down, grabs the next one and glances up at him, as if checking if he’s angry. “I don’t want him to find out.” She finally admits.

Surprise spreads inside Myungsoo. It’s slow, but it’s incredibly over-taking. Every cell in his body is shocked.

“You really like him,” he gasps out. Seon doesn’t outward react, but her eyes slide to the side, like she’s ashamed, and that is not something Seon does. It’s just not. “Oh my God, two more seconds and you’re gonna start blushing, I think I can die peacefully now.”

“Shut up,” Seon says, grabbing her arrows and standing up angrily. She looks to the side and is about to pick up her bow as well, but Myungsoo throws himself at it and snatches it away before she can do that. He hugs it closely to his chest, looking up at her from where he’s sitting. Seon looks him in the eyes, glaring. “Give it back.”

“Seon,” Myungsoo says, frowning deeply. “This is serious. Are you in love? With a werewolf, out of all possible choices?”

Seon wrestles the bow away from him, pushing at him in the process, and Myungsoo rolls back. He watches her as she exits the room, feeling guilty.

*
 

“Wake up, it’s a brand new day,” Myungsoo sing-songs, entering her room. This time Seon is awake when he does, and she snatches her gun the second he hears Myungsoo’s hand touch the doorknob. Myungsoo is met with a handgun aimed at him, and he reacts with a kick up.

He knocks the handgun out of Seon’s grip. It lands on the floor, and Myungsoo is about to snatch it up, only Seon is already on her feet and her fist is flying at his face. He blocks it, moves to the side and turns on his heel so that he’s on the girl’s left side and still holding her right fist. She turns with him and he grabs her from behind, his forearm tightening around her neck.

Half a second later, Seon wrestles him up, using all the power she has, and he’s thrown over her head.

He lands on his feet, his calves taking all the impact, and yells at the pain. Seon lets go of him, his back touches the floor, and then the girl once again tries to punch him in the face. He avoids her fist by moving his head to the side, he blocks the second fist with his own, open palm, and uses the fact that Seon is currently bending over towards him to his advantage. He pulls at her arms, making her roll forward. She lands on his stomach, her elbows and heels painfully hitting his own limbs, and he traps her in a deathly headlock. She trashes around, kicks him and scratches at his forearms, and she’s screaming now and cursing her stubbornness, but he’s not about to let go.

Seon realizes that she’s lost this match, and lifts her hand to show him their appointed sign. Myungsoo lets his muscles loosen around her, and his arms fall onto his sides as he begins to gasp for air, exhausted. Seon rolls off of him, her head resting on Myungsoo’s arm, gasping in unison with him.

“I feel like eating Mexican today,” Myungsoo says. “And believe me, this time it’s going to cost you, because I can feel my forearms bleeding.”

“Mom is gonna kill you for bleeding all over my carpet,” Seon says in-between gasps.

“It was worth it, I’m in the lead.”

“No you’re not,” Seon argues, turning to look at him. “I won last week.”

“Yeah, and it made the score even, so now I’m winning.”

Seon slaps him on the stomach half-heartedly. 

They spend the next twenty seconds just catching their breaths. Then Seon stands up to grab her clothes and go change, so that they can go running. Myungsoo props himself on his elbows to look at her. “Seon,” he calls. She turns, quirking a questioning brow. “What are you so scared of?”

She goes still. Even her eyes go completely still. Myungsoo swallows, sits up.

“He likes you, you know he does,” he points out. “You like him. What’s stopping you?”

“You said it yourself,” Seon says sharply. Myungsoo visibly cringes as she reminds him of his words. “A werewolf, out of all possible choices.”

“I didn’t mean it,” he defends. “You know I didn’t. We don’t—things are different now. You know that.”

“Old habits die hard, though, don’t they?”

They stare at each other. Seon’s aunt used to be against all magical creatures. She wanted them all dead, and she successfully turned Seon into a younger version of herself for a while. Seon was taught by her, and by some other members of the family, that magical creatures – werewolves included – were murderous and needed to be killed. When Seon shot Kyungsoo, she was under her aunt’s influence.

Myungsoo was taught to be wary around werewolves. His family killed most of them; they hunted down rogue ones to put them down.

Both of them grew up thinking that werewolves were evil and worse than them.

“I didn’t mean it,” Myungsoo repeats. “I don’t even think that. Yixing is great. He’s good to you.”

“Exactly,” Seon interrupts, and she sounds breathless. “He’s just so…”

She closes her eyes, turns away from him, puts her hand on the doorknob. Myungsoo stares, waits patiently for her to finish.

“He’s just so good,” Seon hisses.

Myungsoo stands up in one swift move, and plants his hand on the door right next to Seon’s head. Seon startled at the loud thud it makes, and turns to face him, furrowing her brows. Myungsoo raises his left hand to point a finger at her, and it hovers in front of her nose.

“You’re good, too,” he says. Seon rolls her eyes, but he can see tears in them. He grabs her chin, forces her to look at him. “You’re good, Seon.”

Her eyebrows draw up slightly, and for a moment, she looks like a hurt puppy.

Then she grabs his wrist, pulls his hand away from her jaw, and exits the room, nodding. Myungsoo lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and he grabs his stuff. Then he follows her out.

So the previous chapter really got you guys to come up with some theories about Father. Keep them coming. My favorite is the one in which Father is someone's future child (s/o to Else for that). Other theories include Father being Siwon's actual dad and Father being Haneul. Keep on guessing!

ily caramel pear crisps <3