You watch in a bit of a daze as Eun hooks one foot around the back of Taemin’s and plants it, spinning backwards towards the floor with her arm outstretched over the boy’s chest. It was effectively taking them both down, using Taemin’s body to cushion Eun’s own fall. All you thought at that moment was that it’s gonna hurt.

And it does. Taemin lets out a loud growl in contact with the floor, limbs going lump suddenly, and Eun lets out a huge breath that sounds a bit like a yelp. They both stop moving, gasping for breath, totally worn out, and you cringe at Taemin’s pained face.

“Eun,” you say, “please, don’t kill Taemin.”

“As if!” Taemin grouses, but it comes out like a punched-out sound. Eun giggles, rolling off of him and away, sweat dripping down her face. She shoots you a glance.

“Wanna try?” she asks.

You send her a tiny smile. “I’m very happy here, keeping my distance from you, thank you very much.”

“Eun,” Taemin grouses, “Stop being over-confident. It gets you nowhere.”

Eun nods solemnly, standing up, and stretches her hand out to help Taemin up. He shakes his head, though. “I’ll just lay here a few more minutes until my lungs begin to work again, thanks.” Eun smiles down at him, a glimpse of pride in her eyes, and then shrugs, as if saying ‘suit yourself’. She walks over to sit down next to you and elbows you lightly.

“What are you thinking so intently about?” she asks. She’s still breathing heavily, smelling of sweat, and there’s a flush to her face. “Usually you really focus on our sparring.”

You sigh, sending her a look, and then you look at Taemin, who replies with a curious gaze. You embrace your thighs, propping your head on your knees. “I’ve been thinking about what Father told me.”

“The old mage guy?” Taemin frowns. “Oh, about training you.”

“He told me that if I wanted to, I could take a gap year before going to university and he’d train me. I’m still trying to figure that out.”

“What is there to figure out?” Eun asks, also frowning. “I think it’d be awesome. You’re already training to get into police academy, and you can also learn more magic in the meantime. Do you know how helpful that’d be?”

“Yeah, but,” you shake your head, “what if I have to move, or something? I don’t even know where Father is right now. Where he’s come from. And I’m not even sure if I can trust him, you know.”

There’s also the thing you haven’t told anyone about. That one detail regarding Father and the Kim family.

Jaejoong.

Who apparently has been working for Father for quite some time. You have no idea how working for Father actually looks like, but if it’s similar to the whole thing you saw in the other dimension, when you had to take care of your evil self, then you wouldn’t be surprised if Father was, in secret, creating a magic police, or something of this sort. Lying – or, well, more like hiding the truth about knowing where Jaejoong is – makes you more uncomfortable the more time passes.

“You said his magic feels good,” Taemin says from the floor. He sits up, serious now. “He was good in the other dimension, and he helped us out when the demonic trio visited us. If he wanted to hurt us, he’d have done it a long time ago.”

“I know I tend to overthink things sometimes,” you say, rolling your eyes. “It’s just—Sometimes it’s hard to trust people. After all the—well.”

Taemin looks at you with something akin to care and sadness, but also a bit of playfulness; he’s the only person who can truly show so much emotion in a single gaze.

“I think you should contact him,” he says. “But maybe we should talk to Kai about it, too.”

You just sigh again, a bit lost, and Taemin stands up and walks towards you. He kicks you on the shin, frowning down at you.

“Come on. Let’s go punch some stuff and get rid of that frustration of yours.”

*

“How you doing?”

You jump three feet in the air, taken off-guard, and you turn on your heel quickly knowing exactly who scared you, but still prepared to hit him in the face if necessary. Jaejoong is sitting on the floor, his back leaning on the kitchen counter, a cigarette between his fingers. You gasp, practically jumping to him and snatching it away.

“No smoking in my house!” you hiss. “Also, stop doing that! I’ve had enough of the crazy out-of-thin-air-materializing in the first few years of practically living with werewolves—you being stalkerish is not fair.”

Jaejoong smirks at you. It’s a very familiar feature that reminds you of Kai like a kick to the stomach. You put the burning cigarette out by throwing it into the slightly damp sink and then you throw it out into the trash. When you look at Jaejoong, he’s still smiling.

“Thought I’d drop by, say hi,” he explains.

“What if I walked around ?” you question, hopping up onto the counter and crossing your arms in a mock-defensive manner. You wonder how he knew when to show up and if they all somehow spy on you without you knowing.

“Jongin would kill me for seeing you ,” Jaejoong answers.

“Yeah, but first he’d strangle you for not talking to him earlier,” you note. “Or, you know, telling him that you’re alive.”

“Heard you didn’t get into university,” Jaejoong interrupts, changing the topic not-so-smoothly but totally taking your mind off the Kai family stuff. You make a face at him, knowing that no matter how many times you talk about Kai, Jaejoong is not gonna talk to him anytime soon. Instead, he starts another topic. “So Father says you’ve been thinking about training with us.”

You squint at him. “You do spy on me.”

Jaejoong chuckles. “We don’t. He just knows this stuff.”

“What exactly is he?” you ask, propping your elbows onto your knees and leaning down a bit. “He knows things like an oracle. His magic feels similar to mine, a bit different but still like a mage’s magic. But sometimes it feels like he can do stuff no mage can.”

Jaejoong just shrugs innocently, but you can see it in his eyes that he doesn’t really know either. “He’s a puzzle. We learn not to ask him about it, really.”

“’We’?” you quirk a brow.

“We. Our group.”

“I don’t know anything about what you do. I don’t know where you are or what you do, how many of you are there, if there’s—“

“We can’t just tell you everything,” Jaejoong interrupts. “It’s a fragile thing, this…arrangement we have. No outsiders are allowed to just know about it.”

You can relate to that, but not knowing something always makes you anxious.

“If I did want to start the training,” you say, “would I have to move to another city?”

“Not necessarily,” Jaejoong says. “We could just use the same technique on you as we use on me.”

“Meaning?”

“Teleportation.”

You swallow. Teleportation is one of the hardest techniques ever, requires unbelievable willpower, focus and amounts of magic. You cringe only thinking about the pain that using that much power would cause your body, with the curse that has been casted on you after you broke the taboo.

“We could make it easier,” Jaejoong says, as if reading your mind. At first you don’t know what he’s talking about. “The pain you feel after using magic, we could make it better. Less hurtful.”

You know that you probably look excited all of a sudden.

“You could?” you ask.

“We could make it so that you feel it less,” Jaejoong replies. “It’d always accompany you around. It’s the part of the curse, part of your punishment, so we can’t just take it away. But we could train you. Make it more bearable.

Your heart skips a beat and he probably hears that, judging from the sudden glance at your chest. He looks you in the eye then.

“So?” he asks.

You nod a bit shakily.

*

“Hey,” Kai greets. He scrunches his nose just as you’re about to reply, and before you can, he interrupts you. “You smell like cigarettes.”

“I went to that junkie’s store,” you say, going for nonchalant. It’s freakishly scary how good you got in lying, and if a werewolf – who can hear the familiar upbeat of a person’s heart when they’re lying – can’t tell that you’re not telling the truth then it means you’re incredibly good. “I have something important to tell you.”

The front door opens with a bang, hitting the wall behind and Baekhyun jumps in, Sulli, Eun and Chanyeol in tow.

“Are you pregnant?!” Baekhyun mocks, then smirks before you give him the finger. “What’s uuuup.”

“We brought you cake!” Chanyeol exclaims, entering the living room with a cake box in his hand and a -eating grin on his face. You open your mouth.

“What?”

“A cake. Because you’re sulky lately,” Chanyeol replies.

“It’s really small,” Kai frowns.

“I didn’t say anything about sharing,” Chanyeol points out. “It’s a cake for Dal. Stop being selfish.”

“You won’t get a gold star for being a good boyfriend today,” Baekhyun tells Kai. Chanyeol puts the cake in front of you as if it’s a trophy and you bat your eyelashes at him.

“You’re my fave,” you announce. Chanyeol mock-swoons and you giggle at him. “You should drop by more often.”

“Yeah, try to do that when you have a -ton of essays to write and lectures on weekends,” Chanyeol scoffs. “What did you want to tell us?”

“She said she has to tell me something,” Kai points out, sitting down next to you. You want to roll your eyes at him affectionately. His fingers brush your thigh.

“But seriously,” Baek speaks up. “You’re not pregnant, right?”

This time you do roll your eyes, but in annoyance. Baekhyun looks at you innocently.

“Just asking,” he shrugs. “Not that I would mind little puppies running around the loft. I’d be the best uncle ever, mind you.”

“I’d be,” Chanyeol tells him, his tone defensive. Baekhyun looks at him and crosses his arms on his chest.

“I’d be much better than you.”

“Lies. You’re ty with children.”

“You never saw me with children. You don’t know how I am with them.”

“Oh my God,” Eun sighs. “Please, stop before it turns into a fight. Let’s just settle on you both being good uncles, alright?”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol both squint at each other and you wonder if they’re gonna snarl or growl at each other, too, but they settle for similar, murderous gazes.

“Guys,” Sulli sighs. “Dal. News. Important. Not about pregnancy. You game?”

You chuckle a little at her tone and straightforwardness and smile when you think about how reserved she used to be, her mind always elsewhere. You look at the bracelet on her left wrist and as you look up, your stares meet. She smiles warmly at you, gratefulness still lingering in her eyes, even after all this time, even if it’s been months since you’ve given her the charm that stops all the voices from bombarding her head.

“I want to start training with Father,” you announce. Baekhyun frowns. Chanyeol tilts his head a little, confused. Sulli blinks, a bit surprised, and Kai leans forward so that he can look at your face from the side properly.

“Father?” he asks, making a face. “As in—Morgan Freeman from the other universe?”

“He’s from our universe, though,” you remind him. “And he wants to train me. Help me out with my magic. Teach me new spells and stuff.”

They don’t reply. They just stare for a moment.

“I don’t need your permission,” you say. You never thought you’d say something like that to your pack, really. “I already decided. And I really hope that you’ll have nothing against it, but—“

“Are you leaving then?” Baekhyun asks, and his voice is suddenly so vulnerable that you feel your heart cracking with awful, bitter pain. You open your eyes widely, shaking your head energetically.

“No, no!” you say. “I’m staying. I mean, for now. It’s not a journey training kind of thing, geez, this is not Dragon Ball.”

Chanyeol laughs. The rest visibly relaxes. You glance at Kai, who seems to be deep in thought, looking at you with intent, but not quite focusing on your face.

“Are you sure?” he asks, gaze sharpening.

“Yeah,” you reply. “I want to train. I want to get stronger.”

*

A few days later you enter Heejin’s café, immediately spotting Kai and Chanyeol sitting by the counter, shoulders a bit hunched, their faces very close, both of them talking in hushed tones. They’re invested in the conversation hard enough not to notice you coming in, which rarely happens, and you frown at them both. Then Xiumin emerges from the kitchen, carrying freshly baked sweet buns, and winks at you when he sees you. Chanyeol and Kai are still talking, forgetting the whole world, and you almost feel jealous.

“Hey,” a voice tells you. You turn to see Heejin. “The usual?”

“Sure,” you reply, smiling at her. Heejin nods, smiles sweetly and goes behind the counter, saying something to Chanyeol and Kai. Only then the boys turn to look at you and suddenly you feel like you interrupted something important.

Kai’s eyes get soft, though, when he finally notices you, and you walk towards them.

“What were you guys talking about?” you ask, sliding into the chair next to Chanyeol. The giant shrugs.

“Just werewolf stuff,” he replies. “We didn’t realize it’s gonna be so harsh, leaving for college.”

You cringe all of a sudden. You’ve been so pre-occupied with your own business and thoughts that you didn’t realize Kai’s anxiety regarding Sehun, Chanyeol and Suho leaving for different places to study. Now you feel bad for interrupting their bonding time they barely get lately.

“Don’t make that face,” Kai tells you, smiling. “It’s all good.”

That’s why they were sitting this close, you think. They missed each other’s presence.

Xiumin finally joins you on the other side of the counter, sliding your coffee towards you together with a piece of chocolate cake. He throws a cloth across his shoulder.

“You guys are depressing,” he says. “Usually when men want to wallow in their misery, they go to a bar.”

“Two werewolves walked into a bar,” you muse, smiling. Xiumin giggles, cheeks rounding adorably, and you purse your lips a little to stop yourself from aww’ing at him.

You notice Heejin looking at you all, frowning and grimacing, and she says, “I’ll never understand what that RPG game of yours is about.”

You all laugh in unison.

Hi triple chocolate mousse cakes :)

This is a bit of a filler chapter. I wanted to establish some facts so that I can continue comfortably with the story.

If some of you are still confused as to who Father is, click. This is the first chapter he appeared in. And here the pack met Father from their own universe (in case you don't remember that anymore). 

Also, I did a thing.

Dal and her tattoos. This is pretty close to what I had in mind of her, tbh. I'm kinda proud.

Thanks for reading <3