Summoning

There was only one place Mingyu hadn’t searched yet. He trampled up the stairs to the attic – potion in his pocket – and looked around. It was unlikely, but certainly possible that Wonwoo was taking a nap up there, where nobody would disrupt his slumber.

Stepping over empty boxes, he softly called Wonwoo’s name.

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Wonwoo picked his first spot in the common room. If Mingyu showed up by coincidence he would rub his beanie. With a warm fuzzy feeling of anticipation he drifted into a gentle sleep.

After laying down he remembered that his phone was dead, but getting up to plug it in seemed like less of a priority now that he was already wrapped into fluffy blankets.

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After searching even the basement, Mingyu conceded. Wonwoo was simply not in the building. He went back to his room and sent another text message which got no answer as had all the ones before. He began to wonder how this was going to end if he was already this clingy before their relationship had even started. But he had a clear reason for finding his crush, making the situation more urgent.

The tall wizard spent his time hunching over homework, looking at his phone every few minutes in the unlikely case he had overheard the text message ring tone.

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The next spot was going to be his own dorm room. Wonwoo left the common room, saying his goodbyes to the present company to evoke the impression that he was fully rested and about to do some work. He took the beanie off when he reached his room and fell right into bed.

He’d go find Mingyu later. Daydreaming about the possibilities his new artifact might allow was almost better than doing it for real. A giddy anticipation encased his tired mind.

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Mingyu went back into the common room. If his best friend showed up it would certainly be here.

He was facing a problem. The mixture in his pocket not only looked like milk but went bad in very much the same way. If Wonwoo didn’t run across him soon, Mingyu would have to find a way of cooling it down.

Casting a spell on it was no option. Potions and charms interacted unpredictably.

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Thirdly, there was the lab. Not a good place for a nap in general, but Wonwoo knew for sure that it was empty that very moment. If he slipped in now and fell asleep quickly, anyone entering would think he had studied diligently and became tired over his work. Genius.

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Mingyu decided to take a quick glance into Wonwoo’s room, just in case the boy had returned and gone right to sleep, but he found it as empty as before.

That was about as long as he could afford to wait.

The wizard entered the kitchen. Weird noises came from the ritual room below but that wasn’t unusual. Likely Soonyoung had talked the entire class into practicing something novel and amazing. Mingyu was glad to be one year below the master-dancer so he only had to do the required – and simple – rituals the curriculum demanded.

A group of students from another dorm was stuck to the window, their faces figuratively glued to the glass. Seungkwan was flying rounds outside. Whenever he passed by the kitchen, the students cheered. Someone was taking the time.

Mingyu wondered what the record speed for human self-propelled flight was. If there was such a thing.

The uppermost shelf in the fridge was reserved for Jihoon’s experiments since many potions required to be kept cool.

After drawing a heart on the bottle to make sure he could find it again – Jihoon would never draw a heart – he stowed the magic drink away and made himself a snack.

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Wonwoo looked up, rudely awoken from his slumber. Disturbing noises were coming from above where the ritual room was. Odd, Soonyoung’s class wasn’t until later today.

Looking around he saw the other students in the lab similarly concerned. Everybody glanced at the ceiling, wondering if they should send someone to ask what was going on.

Since nobody rose to the occasion, Wonwoo decided that it was time to switch nap spots at any rate so he might as well appear busy for a moment.

He turned to the students whose names he didn’t know or recall. “I’m just going to hop upstairs and tell them to keep it down if that’s okay with you all.”

Wonwoo rubbed the sand form his eyes while making his way to the door with wobbly steps. Oh, right: The beanie. He had used the headwear as pillow and forgotten to put it back on. He turned back, about to grab his magical fashion item when-

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Mingyu shoved the last bites into his mouth all at once, enjoying the taste of the ingredients mixing together and filling him up. He stood up to get seconds when-

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Seungcheol tightly held onto his beloved angel’s hip, drowning in the sparkling eyes he couldn’t stop looking at. The unearthly odor of Jeonghan’s supernal shampoo numbed his mind like a gentle hand putting warm blankets around all his sorrows.

“Ready to ascend, Cheollie hyung?”

“With you I’d go anywhere.”

A soft light came from the sky and drenched the duo in front of the school entrance in an orange glow. The boys tensed up to be pulled into heaven when-

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-when the school exploded.

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A pillar of fire shot through the ground into the kitchen, bits and pieces of the floor dropping into the infernal space below. Mingyu whipped out his wand and cast the safety teleport charm, getting himself out of harm’s way as the flames crept up on him.

Wonwoo was thrown to the ground by the might of pressurized air as the ceiling broke open and liquid, burning metal dropped onto the lab tables. With high pitched screams the lab students rushed outside, Wonwoo in their midst.

Outside, Seungcheol sighed. The flames reached across the whole front of the building, radiating away from the ritual room, charring the walls.

From the inferno, a creature burst forth. A massive dog, carrying a slumped shape on his back. The dog landed with a heavy thump on the asphalt and slithered a few meters.

All around Seungcheol student’s teleported from the building, many bringing mundane friends out with them. Above their heads the winged Seungkwan flew back and forth between the windows looking for trapped people and directing wizards to rescue those individuals.

Seungcheol tried to count and see if all his dorm buddies had made it out. Almost everybody was accounted for. Only Chan and Minghao were still missing.

The dog turned back, revealing himself to be the missing Chinese boy. The smoking cloth pile on his back contained a timid little boy who spotted Seungcheol and immediately averted his eyes.

“Chan!”

“…Hyung, I thought you were gone.”

“I was. Almost.”

“Sorry.”

“What did you do?”

“I summoned…”

“You summoned what?”

The rising flames along the schools walls, finding each other and combined into a vague shape. Second after second the fire took on a more solid, physical quality. A column of orange, hot, ethereal matter reaching from the lab to the dorm’s kitchen across three levels took on the shape of a radiant man with multiple limbs.

The fire demon began to climb onto the roof, leaving a half collapsed building beneath it.

“M-Mingyu?”

Finally, Wonwoo, now wide awake, had spotted his best friend in the crowd. But to his dismay the beanie was somewhere in the burning part of the building. Mingyu didn’t seem too happy either, looking crestfallenly in the direction of the kitchen. Wonwoo could only assume the boy had lost access to a well prepared snack the moment the school went to hell. Or hell came to the school.

“Mingyu!

At last the tall boy heard his friend shout his name.

“Wonwoo, there you are. I was looking for you.”

“Yeah, sorry. I was napping.”

“Where?”

“In all sorts of strategic locations.”

“Oh.”

“You weren’t there in the morning.”

“I know, I was out all night at a… Doesn’t matter now.”

Around them, wizard students and teachers began to fire beams of icy spells at the growling, horned creature that crouched on the roof, spreading heat.

Mingyu looked back and forth between the ground and Wonwoo’s face.

“Um… I had something prepared for… I guess I’ll have to do this the hard way. There is something you should know and I want you to hear the whole story. You may not approve and now that you’re in front of me I don’t know how I could ever think what I was planning was okay … or necessary. Wonwoo, I hope you will take this the right way. I lo-“

Seungcheol hit Mingyu in the back. “Why aren’t you firing? Come on!”

Puzzled, both boys didn’t know how to process this. Until they remembered that the school was under attack and Mingyu was still holding his wand.

Joining the array of blue beams and projectiles the wizard had to focus and gave Wonwoo a window to speak.

Tugging the hem of his “I Hate You” shirt nervously the boy spoke with a shaky voice. “I’ll let you finish in a moment, but I have something to say, too. Please, don’t hate me but I tried to do something really manipulative. It was a bad idea, I realize that now, but I only did it because... Because, Kim Mingyu I’m in lo-“

The force of Seungcheol’s hit almost sent him down on his back. Wonwoo clung to the red cylinder that his leader had slammed into his arms. A fire extinguisher.

“Come on!” yelled the leader before simply dragging the unresponsive boy along, closer to the flames.

Wonwoo took the courage he had prepared for Mingyu and applied them to the work before him. In one row with other students he battled the flames, allowing the wizards more area for combat.

Maybe, he thought, it was better this way. As he looked back to see the boyfriend of his dreams - and the best friend of his waking life – Wonwoo felt his resolution leaving him. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. The thought hurt. He wasn’t sure if the tears in his eyes came from walking into blistering air, but he was sure that he felt defeat. The loss of his hard earned artifact was nothing in comparison.

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Mingyu couldn’t really spare a thought or else his charm might have wavered. The demon clawed away at the roof, hoping to get inside the attic. But the counterspells were already working. The creature had shrunken to half its previous size.

For a second the wizard boy allowed himself to reflect on the turbulent tempest ranting and raving in his heart. In the literal heat of the moment he had come so very close to confessing. Should he try again later? Perhaps this was a sign to stay quiet and put the issue to rest.

Except Mingyu wasn’t sure he could. Too strong was the urge to hold Wonwoo. To touch and caress him. Even now as the mundane boy was getting black with ash and his fringe sweatily stuck to his forehead.

If the courage had left him again, he would just have to find another way. Magic had to offer more than one option.

“I’ll get him to see me,” Mingyu mumbled. “To see me the way I see him. I need him to like me, to care for me. No, more! I need him to feel the way I feel about him. I need him to adore me.”

[Believe it or not, this fic was originally supposed to end right here. Cruel, I know. But then, I couldn't stop myself, I had to add a second arc. So, there's still half a story left to come. Lucky you.

Drop me a comment. Even if you think you have nothing to say, just tell me what made you laugh or cry. It's my greatest joy.]