Chapter 14

Mingyu was NOT skipping class.

But even if he was, he wasn’t about to tell anybody why. If anyone knew that the reason he was currently speed walking through town during school hours was because he was trying to get home and store the anime figurine he’d just bought without any of his class-mates catching him, he would probably jump off a bridge with his dumb plastic obsession in-hand, drowning himself along with it. 

He had waited in line for TWO HOURS, two hours for this dumb little doll with baby-pink hair and little white horns. Mingyu nearly regretted this decision, when the balls of his feet began to ache, and the chatter of annoying nerds around him rung around his head insufferably.

He wasn’t saying he wasn’t also a nerd, he supposed, but it was different! He was… okay, he was a nerd.

Again, he nearly began to regret it. That is, until the voice announcement sounded from a short girl with a megaphone, and the line began to move. Having arrived extra early, Mingyu hardly had the chance to wait for his prize. In the nick of time he was cashing out at the register, and not soon after that he and his goods were out the door.

He peaked into the big brown bag with a smile, feeling giddy.

Now generally, Mingyu had a habit of keeping his gaze low when he walked, he slouched a lot. You know, to avoid walking into children below his eyesight. He was tall, so it had become common courtesy to him. As he walked down the street today, however, he had become distracted by his own fruitless attempts to 'lay low', and avoided looking at anyone altogether. His gaze was high and shifting, and even though the bag he carried was inconspicuous, he kept it clutched tightly by his side. He probably looked more suspicious than if he had just walked normally, unfortunately.

Mingyu was so distracted by his own fleeting reputation, that when a person flew into him, it took a good second for him to register what had happened.

The kid he had knocked to the floor was breathing hard, whimpers of pain coming between breaths of shallow air. Mingyu was shot with pangs of guilt, standing there like an idiot as he contemplated what he should do. When the kid looked up with round, red-rimmed eyes, and flushed cheeks stained with tears, Mingyu bent down to him with worry.

The boy flinched first, but as Mingyu slowed his approach and outstretched his hand, he seemed to relax.

“Are you okay?” It probably sounded like a stupid question, obviously he wasn’t okay.

He didn’t answer, his lips trembling as if on the verge of blubbering. Mingyu panicked, getting on his knees to get eye-level. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Don’t cry, I’m sorry…” His hands hovered over his shoulders, almost as if touching him would set off a bomb. At this point the important brown bag had been dropped beside him, forgotten for the moment.

Mingyu inspected him with a worried gaze. He was in a baggy grey sweater, far too big for his tiny frame, black shorts, and barefoot. He looked to be pretty overdressed for the hot weather, but the skin he could see visibly was pale and bruised. His hood was hanging low over his forehead, casting shadows over a frightened expression. Underneath the hood, disheveled strands of pink hair stuck to his forehead, slick with sweat. Mingyu shook the image of the doll he’d just purchased from his mind, although he couldn’t help but think they looked a bit similar. Both childishly adorable, with short pink hair.

“Are you okay?” He asked again, trying to bring a soothing tone to his deep voice. This time the child managed to nod, but it was obvious that he wasn’t really fine. “Here, lets get you up.”

Mingyu got his hands under the kids armpits, helping him stand. The moment he put pressure, the child winced under his breath, biting hard against his bottom lip. He hadn’t even been holding him that hard, so when he saw tears well up in his eyes, something clicked in Mingyu’s brain.

“Shi-uh, jesus. You’re hurt. Really hurt…” He kept his hands on the boys waist for support, but no matter where he held him, the boy’s face contorted in pain.

“I’m Fine.. I’m-” he groaned as he attempted to get away, his legs giving out the moment his foot hit the pavement. Mingyu managed to catch him before he could reach the concrete, sitting him on his knees and worrying over his leg. What the hell happened to this kid?

Cogs were turning in his brain, until suddenly, everything made sense. The situation before him cleared like smog. This kid was obviously beaten up, and judging by the fading bruises he could spot on his legs, the bandages, and the fact that he had been running barefoot when they met, could only mean one thing…

He had run away from home, or from some other bad situation. He had probably been abused or something, and just ran without even bothering to put shoes on. That, or he didn’t own shoes in the first place. Mingyu’s heart ached just thinking about it. Just to be safe, he should probably get some confirmation. “Did you… run away from home?”

The boy’s eyes widened a bit, mouth stuttering. “Y-yeah.”

He attempted a smile, despite feeling on the verge of crying himself. He pulled himself together, hoping to offer some comfort. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’m gonna get you safe, okay?”

Jihoon couldn’t help but feel shy when the stranger ruffled his hair, a gesture he had grown accustomed to as an act of caring. His whole body was aching, and he had a feeling it wasn’t going to heal fast enough for him to get to Seungcheol on his own. Although being coddled over made him want to kick this guy in the face, he was going to have to wait for his legs to be usable first. For now, he supposed he’d accept some help.

He nodded silently, eyebrows furrowing stubbornly despite accepting the boys offer.

Taking that as his green light, Mingyu swept the boy up into his arms with ease.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Jihoon held onto his hood in a panic, stopping it just in time to keep it from exposing his horns. Looking down from where he was lying, he seized up, which only caused the stranger to grip him tighter. Heights were never really Jihoon’s forte. Turning to the tall boy with a mixture of confusion and fear, he struggled to find a retourt, opting to stare anywhere other than the long ways down.

The human merely chuckled in response. “Don’t worry, I won’t drop you.” Turning to walk, Mingyu nearly forgot his bag, making a beeline to the item. The boy curled up nervously when Mingyu leaned down to grab it, scared of falling out of his arms. He had to admit, he was pretty cute. “I’m Mingyu, by the way.”

“Huh.” Jihoon stared at the sky, his face red. His heart was beating obnoxiously fast.

Mingyu cleared his throat as he thought up a quick and easy path towards their destination. The safe thing to do would be to get him some professional help. “Um, what’s your name?”

“Why?”

Geeze, what kind of attitude was that towards the person helping you? “Uh, hahaha well, I told you mine, it’s only fair.”

Jihoon pouted, avoiding the human’s face by staring at his hand, curled in his lap. He supposed if he was gonna have a fake name, he might as well use it. “I’m Woozi.”

Mingyu snickered, hoisting Woozi up to a more comfortable position. For a kid, he was rather big. “okay Woozi, hang on.”

When they began to move, Woozi wrapped an arm around Mingyu’s neck instinctively, although his broken arm continued to flop along his side uselessly. “Hey! where are we going?”

Mingyu didn’t stop, smiling forward as he held Woozi tightly by his side. “I’m gonna get you to the police station, buddy. They’re gonna be able to help you.”

His eyes widened. “N-no! , please, please don’t take me there. I can’t... Put me down.”

Mingyu was shocked when the boy nearly lept out of his arms, only managing to stop him in the last second. He attempted to ignore the suspicious whispers of the surrounding crowd as Woozi struggled for freedom, bringing his voice to a whisper. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

“Let me down, I won’t go there!” He glared, pushing against the taller boys grip.

“Okay, okay!” His grip was slipping, but at those word’s his panic appeared to settle. “We won’t go to the police.”

He sighed in relief, wrapping his arm over Mingyu’s neck once again. Mingyu thought for a moment, he watched Woozi’s other arm lay immobile at his side with a frown. That would need to be taken care of.

“At least, will you let me take you to the hospital?”

Woozi looked at him again. Though his expression was an attempt at being angry, Mingyu could tell by the quiver of his lips that he was terrified. “No, I can’t. If you’re going to make any more stupid suggestions, put me down now.”

He let out an exasperated breath. “You’re really slimming down the option’s here, buddy.”

Woozi bit his lip in frustration.

“Okay, where do you want to go?”

How was he supposed to explain this? He had no idea how to describe Seungcheol’s home. “I, uh… The buildings there are shorter, and there’s more grass.” that sounded stupid. Well how was he supposed to know the directions? Until today he’d never even set foot outside that stupid house!

A kid his age should at least have remembered his home address. Mingyu found himself chuckling at the vague description, although this did put him in a pretty tight situation. “How’s this sound; I’ll walk around with you for a while and you tell me if you see anyplace familiar, okay?” he was frustrated, but he kept his voice high and positive, not wishing to bring the boy any more misery. He must have his reasons for not wanting to get his parent’s in trouble.

Jihoon nodded quickly, and Mingyu began to walk again.

“Don’t be shy, just tell me if you see anything.” Mingyu grinned, earning a shy expression. “Worst case scenario, I’ll bring you back to my house and help you get patched up myself.”

As they walked, Jihoon tried, he really did, but he supposed he had run without thinking, without looking. They were likely too far away from Seungcheol’s house for him to recognize anything… Not to mention the fact that before today, he had never even seen the outside of the house. Something about it was nice, being able to see the world with his own two eyes, although he could think of a better scenario. Being carried around like a useless doll by some stranger wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time.

After an hour of wandering aimlessly, Jihoon could feel Mingyu’s arms shake under his weight. The demon patted him on the shoulder.

“What’s wrong? Does it hurt?”

“That’s enough… Nothing looks familiar.” His voice sounded broken.

Mingyu clicked his tongue. “Okay, let’s take a break. Are you hungry at all? Or, do you need to use the toilet?”

Jihoon’s blood rushed to his face, his mouth quivering as he struggled to piece together a responce. “Wh- you- aren’t you embarrassed asking something like that? What the ?”

“Woah!” he cooed, “That’s quite the mouth you have. You don’t have to be embarrassed, Hyung is gonna play guardian for a little while, don’t be shy about asking me for anything.”

Now wait just a ing minute. “You!”

“Huh?”

Jihoon glared, pushing against Mingyu in order to stare down at him. “How ing old do you think I am?”

Mingyu stuttered for a moment, taken off guard. “Ah… Sorry Woozi. I know, you’re a big boy. I’m not trying to patronize you or anything.”

“Wha-… I’m 19, dip!”

What. “What.”

“I’m not a child! What the , is everyone in this place a moron?!”

Mingyu couldn’t think. He nearly dropped Woozi in the process of his mental shut-down. “But you, you look… You’re an adult?”

“Put me down, right ing now.”

“Oh my god, you’re older than me.”

“Put me down!” Mingyu complied, sitting Woozi down gently against a short garden wall. He stood there sheepishly, no longer coining the ability to look directly at him.

“Jesus, I am so sorry. Oh my god.” He couldn’t believe what he had just done… He just spent the last hour treating a 19 year old man like a 12 year old. Where was that bridge when he needed it? He dropped to his knee’s, clapping his hand’s together in apology.

When Woozi said nothing, Mingyu finally peaked up, inspecting the adult man’s expression for some kind of forgiveness. He looked far more humiliated than he was angry, and Mingyu couldn’t help but find that a little funny. Woozi being an adult didn’t make sense at all, and not just because he had such a young appearance… How was he supposed to interpreted the whole ‘beaten up and running away from home’ situation now?

“Quit looking at me like that!”

Mingyu turned his eyes to the floor quickly, blood rushing to his ears as he realized he’d been staring.

“What a ing day this is turning out to be, my whole existence.”

Wait a second. Mingyu Thought about it, put the new pieces of the puzzle into their places and really visualized it. It must be a domestic violence situation! He- “Hey! What are you doing?” Woozi used one arm to push himself off the wall grunting painfully. Mingyu jumped up to support him before his feet could even reach the floor.

“Hands off, bastard. I don’t have time for this .” He slapped away his help, his face scrunching up as he took his first few steps, cursing along as he went.

This guy has got to be joking. “You’re not going to get far like that, uh, sir.” Like a puppy, Mingyu followed close behind, afraid of Woozi collapsing. Just watching him try was distressing.

“Shut up! I’m fine, I just need to, ugh, get back.” Jihoon was embarrassed as it was, he wasn’t about to ask this guy to carry him again, like a ing child. God, it hurt like a though.

“I’m sorry, okay? For thinking you were younger… I want to help." At this point, he was practically begging, his shame reaching new heights through the course of just a few hours. "I can’t just leave you like this.”

“Yeah, you can.” Woozi stepped on his foot at just the right angle for him to double over in pain. A broad arm wrapped around his waist before he could head- the concrete.

“No, I really can’t.” Mingyu’s mouth stretched into a crooked, apologetic grin, as Jihoon’s arms and legs hung in mid-air. Jihoon grumbled incoherently, staring at the ground as he weighed his options. He supposed if there was any time for him to up his pride, it was now.

“Fine.” He muttered.

Mingyu sighed in relief, setting Woozi down and crouching in front of him with his back faced to the grumbling boy. He twisted his neck and looked at Woozi with the dumbest, most puppy-like expression he had ever had the displeasure of feeling weak for. “Get on.”

~

Despite he himself calling Seungcheol a moron for jumping out the window, he supposed standing around with no clues left in the house, was just as stupid as running into the sunset blindly. After a good long moment of contemplation, Jeonghan had run after Seungcheol (although, at least he used the back door.)

When he finally caught up, Seungcheol was frantically searching, paying no mind to the odd looks and whispering old ladies, who had been watching his suspicious behavior from the sidelines. Jeonghan grabbed him by the shoulders, staring into an expression he seldom saw in Seungcheol. He was so scared, he stared into Jeonghan with such distraught that Jeonghan nearly forgot he’d meant to slap the hysteria out of him.

“Seungcheol, you need to calm down.”

“Ho-” He was still catching his breath, uncomfortably trying to escape the eye contact Jeonghan and he shared. “How the hell am I supposed to calm down?!”

“You’re drawing attention, Coups! People will get suspicious of you, and right now the last thing we need is to draw unnecessary attention.”

“He’s out here somewhere!” Seungcheol spoke sotto voce, his head whipping to stare down the faces around him, hidden behind whispering hands. “If I don’t find him this whole crazy situation is going to blow way beyond our abilities. Jeonghan, if he’s caught, we’re ing dead… Woozi’s dead, god, why did I even go to school today?”

Seungcheol was breathing hard, little panicked spirts of breath. His hand came up to clench his chest as he leaned into Jeonghan’s grip for support. He was having a panic attack, and Jeonghan wasn’t sure what else he could do except sit him down on a bus bench and try to talk some sense into him.

“Hey, Seungcheol? Look at me, breath, in and out. That’s good.” He held his friend’s face, ensuring he was looking nowhere else but into his eyes as he spoke. “As far as we know, Woozi hasn’t been caught, right? We’re going to find him, but first you need to get a hold of yourself. Breath deeply for me, okay?” Seungcheol was nodding, trying to find comfort in the familiar calmness in Jeonghan’s voice. He took deep breaths, slowly until his vision stopped spinning.

“Okay… I’m sorry.” Seungcheol was calming down, but his hands shook. Jeonghan was afraid to think this way, but it had been a long time since Seungcheol had acted so impulsively, a long time since he had been this panicked.

“Let’s go look around. He couldn’t have gotten too far.” Seungcheol attempted a smile in return as Jeonghan helped him to his feet. They were both pretty out of sorts over this, Jeonghan was just a bit better at keeping it on the inside, he supposed.

They kept a conversation going as they searched, it stopped them from thinking too irrationally when an hour had passed, with no fruit to bear from their search.

“Do you think that dream you had is related?” Jeonghan peered down an alleyway, shadowed by tall brick walls. There was nothing down there aside from a stray cat with tattered grey fur, frightened out of a garbage bin.

“To Woozi? I think so… No, I’m sure of it.”

“I wonder if that’s a result of the bonding spell.”

Seungcheol watched the sun slipping behind the horizon, worrying his bottom lip. It would be dark soon, looking for him after dark was going to be a lot harder. “I don’t know. I mean, this has never happened before. Even when Woozi was attacked by the black magic spell that last time, I didn’t feel anything.”

“What does the bonding spell even do, then? It seems pointless.”

When he thought about it, Jeonghan was right. Woozi didn’t follow his orders or anything, and obviously he was still able to run away without consequence. What was the point of them being bonded? “Maybe that’s something we should figure out, it could help us get a clue about the reversal spell.” His eyes scanned the area for pink hair, there was nothing. “But that dream was so real, it had to be magic.”

Jeonghan scratched his head in thought. “Do you think… Maybe it was the blood?”

Seungcheol went slack-jawed. No way, Woozi’s blood mojo?

“Well, it’s the only thing that’s changed since the last attack. Maybe drinking his blood has, like, connected you two.”

He scoffed. “Connected us? As far as I know drinking blood made me go all ‘Hulk smash~’ and attack him. It kind of did the opposite of making us closer. He didn’t even look at me after it happened!”

Jeonghan turned away with a knowing smirk. “He was embarrassed, maybe sharing blood in the demon world is something special.” Plus you kissed the living daylights out of him.

“God, I’ll never get used to all this demon stuff.” He shoved aside the little thump of giddiness in his heart. Now wasn’t the time to feel ‘special,’ he shouldn’t allow himself to be distracted as long as Woozi was still missing.

As the sun began to hide, the sky was turning orange. The muggy air was cooling in the low light’s of traffic lamps, and the bustle of afternoon activity had settled into the occasional person shuffling past without a word. Seungcheol and Jeonghan were beginning to feel hopeless.

“Maybe he found his way back?”

Seungcheol kicked a littered can in his path, frustrated. They couldn’t give up now, the longer they waited, the bigger the chance of disaster. Unfortunately, though, they had wandered all throughout town without finding so much as a clue. “Let’s start retracing our steps,” he huffed.

Jeonghan hummed in agreement.

“If he’s not back, I’m going to keep looking.”

“Me too.”

They started back, following a similar path they had taken to get there. It was only a few blocks away from the house that Seungcheol caught sight of a cute brother duo, one tall guy and his little brother on his back. The sight of short, pale legs peaking out from black shorts tugged at him, but it was probably just a kid. They stopped at a traffic light, side by side to the strangers who Seungcheol could barely make out in the low light. That is, until a passing car illuminated a familiar face, and a flash of pink hair shook Seungcheol out of his thought.

The symbol to walk beamed brightly, but before the duo could make a single step, Seungcheol caught the taller boy by the shoulder and spun him around, fully intent on punching him in the face.

His fist froze, the moment that Seungcheol recognized him.

“Hyung?”

“Mingyu?” The person in question looked as though he had been thrown out of exhaustion, his eyes wide. Seungcheol relaxed the tension in his fist sheepishly.

“What are you doing here?” Seungcheol and Jeonghan were staring at the boy he was piggybacking, the person they had been frantically searching for was sleeping against Mingyu’s back, a sight that was hard to accept as reality. Mingyu followed their gaze, letting out an awkward laugh. “Uh, I bumped into this guy. It’s-um-it’s a long story.”

Seungcheol exchanged a look with Jeonghan, who shrugged with an desperate contortion of his face that said ‘don’t look at me, if I know what to do.’ “What happened? Do you know him?” Did Mingyu know that he was a demon, more importantly?

“No, I literally just bumped into him. He fell, and I think he’s injured… I don’t know what’s up but he didn’t want to go to the hospital, or the police, and he doesn’t have a clue where he lives, he-“ Mingyu sighed exasperatedly, bringing his hand up to whisper, not wanting sleeping Woozi to overhear. “I think he might have been abused, but he won’t tell me anything.”

Seungcheol let out a breath without even realizing he had been holding it in. It seemed like Woozi’s identity was safe, and he could assume safely the injuries were related to what he’d dreamed about.

“Is he okay?” Jeonghan chimed in. Seungcheol took note of his expression, it was obvious he was just as worried.

“He can’t walk well, and I think his arm is broken… I didn’t want to leave him, so I’m gonna bring him back to my place. Maybe Wonwoo has something in his books that could help fix him up.” Mingyu twisted his neck to check on Woozi, who continued to snooze. As light as Woozi was, carrying someone around town for a couple hours was a tough workout.

There was a bit of an awkward silence as Seungcheol examined Woozi. He had one arm thrown around Mingyu’s neck for support, but the other one was dangling by his side. The sweater sleeves hung low, but he could see that the finger tips peaking past were an ugly shade of purple. It was heartbreaking to see him so beat up, and it did nothing to calm the storm brewing within him. Just what the hell had happened?

“Well, I should get going. This guy is lucky he’s small, I don’t think I can carry him much longer.” Mingyu adjusted the demon against him, provoking a small-pained whimper from Woozi, who stirred, but didn’t wake.

Seungcheol felt his heart sink.

“Wait! Maybe I can help.” Jeonghan grabbed Seungcheol by the sleeve, dragging him to Mingyu’s side before he could get any further. “I’m a healing major, you know.”

“Oh , that's right!” Mingyu breathed out in relief. “Man, I had no clue what I was going to do. Are you sure? It’s pretty late.”

Seungcheol trailed along, praising Jeonghan internally for being a genius.

“It’s no problem, We're happy to help. Right Coups?”

“Yeah! Of course, we're here anyways, haha.” Seungcheol managed, shaking himself out of his rut and tagging along. He kept an eye on Woozi, tasting metallic as he worried his bottom lip.

When they arrived at Mingyu’s apartment, Woozi was laid down on his bed with care, although it did little to diminish the agony which was made clear by Woozi’s whimpers.

“What do you need to work with, Hyung? I think I have a first aid kit stored somewhere.”

Jeonghan hummed, leaning down to inspect Woozi’s situation clearly. His hands stopped at the hood of his sweater, gulping when he realized not much could be done with Mingyu in the room. “Yes, bring me that… But, after that you both need to give us some privacy.”

“Huh??” Seungcheol and Mingyu answered simultaneously. “But-.”

“No buts. I can’t work with you two leaning over my shoulders.” He glared at Seungcheol, who got the hint rather quickly.

“fine…”

After the two of them had left, leaving Jeonghan with a small box of basic healing supplies, and a battered demon lying before him, Jeonghan got to work. He started to remove the hoodie carefully, paying extra attention as he pulled the sleeve off his broken arm. He tried to ignore Woozi’s gasps of pain, it wasn’t going to help anyone if Jeonghan stopped every time he felt remorse.

He wanted to gag once he had gotten him out of his sweater. Woozi’s arm was broken worse than he’d ever seen. The fractures were oblique, visibly prodding against the inside of his flesh and jutting out, in multiple area’s. It wasn’t a simple injury, and certainly not one he would have been able to deal with without magic. Thankfully, at least the bones had not pierced through his skin. Both of his hands looked irreparably mangled, bent in every which direction and purple down to the wrist. He felt the bones in his palm, feeling thankful that the colour was only bruising. Only his fingers were actually broken.

He lifted Woozi’s shirt, carefully maneuvering it over his head. His chest was black and blue, but thankfully his ribs weren’t broken. Maybe just bruised. His legs were fine as well, but he had twisted his ankle and he’d likely been unable to walk due to the pain he was feeling everywhere else. Jeonghan brushed the hair away from his forehead with a frown. As much as he loved to tease Woozi, he never wanted to see him like this; face littered with ugly suffering.

His eyes drifted to the choker Woozi wore, covering up his mark of bonding. This dumb bonding spell which, apparently, did nothing to stop Woozi from getting lost away from home. He pulled at the string, unlacing the knot and stripping the collar away from milky white skin.

His hands froze where they were, his eyes stuck on the copper collar fit snugly around his neck like branding. Specifically, he stared into the centre of the collar.

It was broken, right down the center.

A/N: Lol was it being Mingyu too obvious? I want you guys to know that I'm writing another short Jicheol fic, also on this account. The first chapter is out so please read it if you'd like😊. Thank's for reading this chapter <3 I love seeing your guys' feedback. I promise the next chapter will have more Jicheol hahaha