Arcanism

The trip to hell and back had taken its toll on Mingyu. Being around Jihoon and having to follow his every order had been even worse.

And still, he held the Adore-Me. There was no way he was going to take a nap now, not when he was so close. As soon as Jihoon told him to lay down the bags, he dropped everything they had harvested and – against the pink haired boy’s protests – waltzed out the door, back into the school’s hallways.

His first objective was reaching his own room, but he didn’t intend to stay there for long. He took the liberty of slipping into a less sweat stained shirt and rushed to Wonwoo’s room.

Only precious few minutes until he could use the amulet on his love interest. He assumed he’d find out how to use it when he got that far. Theories formed in his head as he made his way through the corridors.

*************************

Wonwoo took a much more deliberate effort. Not being a wizard himself he couldn’t count on intuition guiding him, or a sudden burst of supernatural power fixing things for his pleasure. He had to go the strategic route and do actual research. Except the internet wasn’t a proper resource this time.

He’d have to go to the library.

With the Adore-Me half in his back pocket he left his room and started walking in the direction of the school’s reading room. Then the piece of metal began to move.

Slightly surprised by the vibrations near his buttocks, the boy pulled the amulet out of its hiding place and slowed down, coming to stand just past a corner.

“What’s going on with you?” he whispered to the object.

*************************

Mingyu arrived at Wonwoo’s room and found it empty. He rolled his eyes as he got a sense of déjà-vu. Was he going to keep running past Wonwoo again until a demon ruined his plans once more?

This time the wizard was better prepared. He had learned a clairvoyance-spell just in case he had to find Wonwoo again. Or any other person in the school for that matter.

Oddly the Adore-Me half in his pants began to tremble. He pulled it out and saw that it was indeed vibrating, but not doing anything else suspicious – like catching on fire, exploding, turning into a black hole or whatever else magical artefacts tended to do every so often.

With his free hand he cast the charm and was pointed in Wonwoo’s direction.

“Gottcha, loverboy,” he thought, already indulging in the idea of calling the handsome boy his.

*************************

Wonwoo was getting worried. The Adore-Me’s vibrations had kept rising in intensity as if something big was about to hit. It was becoming uncomfortable just holding onto the half disk. Maybe the thing didn’t want to be used by him. Was it because he wasn’t a wizard. Or perhaps it didn’t like to serve a sinister purpose. He wondered if he should rethink his approach. Was enchanting Mingyu a good idea? Especially like this, with an object he had no understanding off?

Doubts crept up on him as the amulet shook more and more violently. Was is possible that he and Mingyu weren’t meant to-

He didn’t get to finish the thought as he was shoved against the wall. Somebody tall had rushed around the corner and crashed into Wonwoo. He looked up at the flailing boy.

“Mingyu!”

“Oh, Hey!”

Their eyes met and so did the amulet’s halves. Jumping out of each boy’s grip, the Adore-Me completed itself before they noticed what was going on.

Nobody else was there to experience the blinding glare of the artefact recombining into a greater whole, but the disturbances rippling through the magic field were felt by the student and teacher body, magical and mundane alike.

*************************

Time was no longer.

Mingyu was twelve and blew out his birthday candles. The cake was chocolate and all his friends had come.

Wonwoo was nine and had fallen of the swing, with no one there to comfort him.

Mingyu was four and his best friend was an orange teddy bear. He screamed at his parents because they wouldn’t let him take the bear with them on vacation.

Wonwoo got his first flu shot and all he could think was how impressed his friends would be if they heard how courageously he had taken it.

Mingyu bled from his mouth into a sink and listened to his parents telling him it was okay, as he held the first baby tooth he ever lost.

Wonwoo’s first day of kindergarten went by without incident, but he spend the whole time being terrified out of his little mind.

Mingyu came to Pledis School and felt like an impostor from the very beginning, seemingly never good enough to hold up his own.

They relived their lives. Ups and downs. Alternately, in parallel, simultaneously, each got to see and feel and live what the other had gone through. Every crush, every scar, every delight, every insecurity. The rooms they inhabited as children. The thoughts that had kept them awake in bed. And always, throughout every memory since the first day they had met, they had been a constant in each other lives. And they saw all.

The time Wonwoo had stolen from Mingyu’s private candy stash and blamed it on Chan. The time Mingyu had faked sick to stay in the dorm and watch cartoons while his classmates did their group project without him. The time Wonwoo had built a blanket fortress and waited to jump out and scare Mingyu once he would come but fell asleep in it instead. The time Mingyu had snuck into Wonwoo’s room to copy last year’s homework without asking.

And of course, the whole story with the love potion and the beanie. And the crushing. And the pining.

*************************

*Pa-Ling*

The Adore-Me hit the ground - fully reforged.

As the light faded and their minds separated, returning from a timeless beyond, they found their fingers had automatically become entwined. The boys kept looking at each other, saying nothing. They didn’t have to anymore.

*************************

Seungcheol sat down at the kitchen table, hungry as a wolf. If that wolf had spent his day fighting his way out of a book.

Chan seemed to feel guilty about something as he kept trying to make sure the dorm leader was as comfortable as possible. But Seungcheol had no indication that the maknae was responsible for the mess in the library and chose not to investigate the matter.

“Channie, this chicken is delicious. Just a little dry. Would you-?”

“Yes, right away.”

The youngest boy ran back to the counter and grabbed more sauce. He poured plenty over Seungcheol’s dish. “Anything else, leader?”

“No, it’s fine. Sit down and have a bite. It’s really good. But are you sure this isn’t turkey? It doesn’t taste quite like chicken. Close but-“

“Erm, sure why not? More friend egg rice?” answered Chan in haste before switching the subject by asking everybody else about their day.

Soonyoung recollected the events at the beach, slightly dramatizing everything.

The angel stood up from his place and Jisoo – sans rosaries – followed him. Seungcheol expected them to vanish into their room as always, but they came up to his side of the table. He stopped moving the food, his hand frozen midway to his mouth. How were they going to make fun of him now? Probably mention once again how he had puked all over heaven. Must have been something he ate though he had no idea what. He’d never live that down.

“Cheollie?”

The leader sighed. He could only hope this humiliation would be a quick one.

“We - that is Jisoo and myself - wanted to know if you’d like to take a trip with us. Jisoo needs a lot of new rosaries.”

Seungcheol looked up and tried to make a suspicious expression but seeing the face of Jeonghan up close only brought back all the longing and pain that was so difficult to hide. “You need someone to pay for your shopping spree. That’s it, right?”

“What? No.”

“Someone to carry the bags for you then?”

“No. What makes you think I’d mistreat you like that, Cheollie?”

It was hard to get angry at the angel, even more so in front of half the dorm. But at least a little frustration found its way into the leader’s voice. “You’re going to lead me on and then drop me again. Like always.”

“Aww, it’s just because you’re so cute when you get rejected.”

“Well, you’ve rejected me plenty of times.” Seungcheol didn’t dare to meet the angel’s eyes, afraid he wouldn’t be able to say what he needed to. “So I’d appreciate if you left with your boyfriend and didn’t keep leading me on.”

“Boyfriend? Ha. …Hahahah,” Jeonghan laughed his monotonous, but heartfelt laughter. “Jisoo just likes spending time around an agent of the lord.”

Jisoo shook his head slowly. “Yeah, I can’t sully my flesh with such worldly urges that boyfriendery entails. No way.”

“Then…” Seungcheol looked up.

“It’s a date. If you want. That is, if you don’t mind Jisoo third wheeling.”

“A…date…”

Terrified that it was all a ploy to humiliate him again, the leader rose from his seat and tried to get a grip on reality, his sanity having become a bit slippery over the events of the day.

Mingyu and Wonwoo entered, holding hands. Every head turned to them. Every pair of eyes fixated on them, expecting them to speak up and explain. But they didn’t seem to realize they weren’t the only people in the world.

Seokmin broke the silence. “Hello you two. So… I guess we all want to ask. Does this mean you’re finally… more than friends?”

“Yes”, said Wonwoo.

“We are more than friends,” said Mingyu.

With one glance into each other’s eyes, they spoke in unison. “We’re… best friends.”

*************************

Thirteen boys munched on meat that didn’t quite taste like chicken. Three of them were closer than usual, planning a shopping trip. Three more – called the dino troopers for reasons they would never give away – kept exchanging looks to make sure no one suspected the food. And a duo that had always been fairly close, couldn’t stop looking at each other.

As the sun set over Pledis School for the magical and the mundane, a certain amulet sparkled one last time in its new hiding place as the last solar rays of the day hit its golden surface. Had anyone been able to observe it, the Adore-Me’s gleam could have looked quite smug.

THE END

[Finally done.

Originally this was supposed to end after the fire demon attack but I had so many ideas left. My longest ever fanfiction. I really, really hope this was worth it.

Tell me what you thought. What was great, what less so? My greatest fear is that somebody will tell me I completely forgot to ever mention one of the boys. How can they have so many members? Do they not know how hard it is for fanfic writers to put thirteen main characters in one story?

Enough rambling. Thank you, if you read all the way through.]

Note: I'm writing four spin-offs. Yes, really.

After spending so much time in this universe I couldn't let it go. I just have to spend some time with other pairings before I can move on. The four stories will be connected by a common thread, but tell seperate tales that can be enjoyed on their own each.

These will be as follows:

Jeonghan/Seungcheol in Mom and Dad are going to Heaven

Jihoon/Soonyoung in Lock and Key

Hansol/Seungkwan in Chill, Swag and Fairydust

Jun/Minghao in Desire and Affection and Zombies

I hope you like them just as much as this one.