word count: 2.4k

pairings mentioned: chansoo, chenyeol, baekchen

“I should’ve known he was going to be with you from the moment Kyungsoo told me that he saw the both of you talking to each other in the library!” Sehun yells, the candle in his hand leaning a little too close to Xiumin. The power hasn’t been restored and Baekhyun hasn’t woken up either. “Maybe then he wouldn’t have passed out in your hands,” Sehun pours all the blame on Xiumin, the older scoffing at such an accusation.

“Jongdae’s the one who caused this, so go yell at him! You’re lucky I even came to you of all people to take care of Baekhyun!” Xiumin counters, sparking an argument between the two.

“Like you could do a better job,” Sehun’s eyes grow darker as he glares at Xiumin, the older beginning to do the same. Xiumin backs away from the bed post that he was leaning on and steps closer to Sehun.

“Do you really want to start another ‘who’s better’ argument, Oh Sehun?” Xiumin raises an eyebrow in question as he recalls the last time Sehun had called the elites out. Sehun was young, arrogant, (cocky if you will), and drunk. Long story short, it didn’t end well for him. Sehun lets out a short scoff, noticing the icy air trailing out of his mouth.

“Why do you like Baekhyun so much?” Sehun’s candle flame wavers as Xiumin’s face drops at the sudden question, the temperature of the room going back to normal. Shortly after, Xiumin breaks into a smirk, a small laugh echoing throughout the dark room.

“Don’t ask questions that you already know the answers to, Sehun –it’ll get you in big trouble someday.” Xiumin brings his head down, another short laugh leaving his lips. His flame begins to waver as well, his face becoming serious as he focuses on the bright light. “A half mind, half spell power with the mere ratio of 3 out of every 10 persons has the ability to cause a blackout on half of a university’s campus; the whole campus, if he inflicts it himself. Interesting, don’t you think? Not to mention the amount of power that took over his body when he connected it to Jongdae’s brilliant power –he’d be dead if it weren’t for those immortality potions that the school supplied him with. Very Interesting, indeed.” Xiumin begins to think out loud. Sehun snaps at the statements coming from Xiumin. He puts out both of their candles with a single blow from his lips before grabbing onto Xiumin’s collar, pushing him up onto the nearest wall.

“Baekhyun isn’t gonna be one of your little lab rats –I’ll make sure of it!” Sehun spits at the older. Instead of being intimidated, Xiumin finds the sudden act quite amusing.

“Now, who said anything about ‘lab rats’?” Xiumin’s tone is a pitch higher than usual. Clearly, mocking the younger. “It’s not my fault your new roommate has more potential than you,” Xiumin snickers before darting his eyes over to the lights hanging above them. He begins mouthing numbers, stopping Sehun from hitting him in anger. Three, two–

The lights turn back on.

Baekhyun’s once sluggish and sore body is now sitting upright on the bed as he adjusts his vision to see the situation that is being carried out in front of him. Baekhyun blinks a couple of more times, the blurry image of Sehun dropping Xiumin to the ground clearing up. Several sections of Baekhyun’s hair are standing up, frizzy, with little static surrounding him. There’s bruising around his temple and he has a major headache. He also takes notice that he’s still wearing Jongdae's sweater as he gets up from the bed, losing his balance and nearly falling as he does so. Sehun makes his way over to him, his hands unconsciously attaching themselves to the older’s shoulders.

“Are you okay?” Sehun asks, his tone and expression full of worry. Baekhyun looks over Sehun’s shoulder, finding Xiumin still sitting on the ground, lost in his thoughts.

“I-I’m fine,” Baekhyun stutters. “Just a little dizzy, that’s all.” He reassures, relieving Sehun as he slides his hands down Baekhyun’s sides in a comforting way before bringing them down to his own sides. “Where’s Jongdae?” Baekhyun asks, his eyes wandering around the room for any sign of him. He doesn’t remember much of what had happened with Jongdae, but he knows that he was with Jongdae before he passed out, which means the latter would be able to inform him. Xiumin groans, picking himself up from the ground and dusting himself off.

“Jongdae left earlier,” Xiumin answers, side eyeing Sehun as he makes his way over to the bed Baekhyun had been laying on. Baekhyun sits down next to him, Xiumin then leans over, whispering to him, “Chanyeol came and said they ‘needed to talk’,” Xiumin backs away and shrugs. “Knowing them, it’s probably nothing too big,” He continues, mindful to Sehun’s eavesdropping. Xiumin leans over once more, “I’ll text you later.” he simply says before getting up and seeing himself out of the dorm.

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Classes begin and Baekhyun hasn’t heard of Jongdae since the incident –partly because Sehun had “punished” him into only hanging out with his group of friends. Baekhyun didn’t mind, however. It was the moment that he shared with Jongdae that he missed, after all. It wasn’t like the two of them were ever remotely close to each other and it wasn't like Baekhyun liked Jongdae. Just the moment, that’s all. He was still able to talk to Xiumin every now and then, though only because he would sneak out to meet up with him at the cafe or library. Xiumin had told him that he knew about what happened with Jongdae and that Jongdae was sorry. Sorry for what? Baekhyun would ask and Xiumin would just shrug his shoulders, telling him that Jongdae didn’t say anything else, and figuring that he might’ve been referring to the whole power-transfer thing that he tried to pull.

Taking his mind off of such thoughts, Baekhyun returns to the assignment in front of him. Classes were organized by spell powers and mind powers, as well as where you stand in the ranks. Though, being the half spell half mind powered person that Baekhyun is, he has to take a handful of both types of classes and one specialized class for students with such powers. His work amount doubled, to put simply, and by his last class, all Baekhyun wanted to do was collapse onto his bed and sleep.

Find the source of connection between you and you power, Baekhyun reads his Mind Power History Class’ assignment. Easy, he thinks. The lighting system located in his brain allows it to work along with his cerebellum, making it easy for him to perform spells with a single thought. Make a diagram of the connections and make sure you’re able to present it to the class by the following week, Baekhyun reads on and he regrets ever taking a class that assigns a project on the first day.

Class finally ends, much to Baekhyun’s content, and he’s greeted once more by several stares from his fellow classmates. He sighs, trying not to acknowledge them, and continues to walk out of the mind powers department and into the courtyard. Everyone knew that it was Baekhyun who caused the blackout a few days back, hence why so many people knew him or were even intimidated by him. Baekhyun didn’t understand how such information went out so fast, but considering how small the university was and him soon realizing that he really was the only student who possessed the power of light, there was really no question as to whether it was him or not. On his way out, Baekhyun spots Jongdae walking out from the elites dormitory entrance and into the cafe. Baekhyun then turns his attention to the other side of the campus where he finds Chanyeol heading into the library. Jongdae wasn’t in many of Baekhyun’s classes, nor Chanyeol, seeing how the both of them had spell based powers. Xiumin’s power, however, was a mind power which allowed for Baekhyun to have small conversations with him in the hallways before class started. Xiumin never mentioned what Chanyeol and Jongdae had talked about that day, or about the two of them in general, so Baekhyun's curiosity gets the best of him as he makes his way towards the library.

Upon entering, Baekhyun finds a seat in one of the far corners of the library, hoping that no one would see him as he immerses himself into his history textbook. He glances over the top of his book, looking for wherever Chanyeol might’ve gone. Without much luck, Baekhyun resorts to studying, mentally cursing himself for even following someone he shouldn’t be worrying about. It was all Jongdae, Baekhyun concludes as he turns to page 14 of his textbook. He had seen Jongdae once or twice just walking around the campus. Baekhyun hesitated on going up to him, but the younger looked as though something was bothering him, so Baekhyun didn’t want to add to the burden. Was it the talk with Chanyeol? Was it me? Thoughts and questions overflow Baekhyun’s mind as he tries to figure out why Jongdae was ignoring him. Baekhyun turns the page, trying to rid himself of such thoughts. It’s not like Jongdae’s mind is filled with thoughts of you! Baekhyun slams his textbook down onto his lap, catching the attention of the students around him. He silently apologizes to them before catching a glimpse of Kyungsoo in the corner of his eye, and putting his textbook back up to his face. He watches Kyungsoo struggle with his books as he makes his way out of the library. His face is flushed and his neck is lined with burn marks. Two, Baekhyun counts, the puzzle pieces to Xiumin’s “riddle” coming together. Soon after, Chanyeol leaves the library. Baekhyun tries to act normal, flipping through pages of his textbook, and forgetting about the sudden scandal happening between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo for a short while.

☆✧☆✧☆✧☆✧☆✧☆✧

Baekhyun looks down at his messages. Dorm number 21, he darts his eyes over to the side of the door he’s standing in front of before knocking. He had texted Xiumin earlier, telling him that he wanted to meet up with him. The house Baekhyun went to for Xiumin’s “before classes start” party happened to be his parents’ house and the elites are students of EASP after all, so Xiumin’s dorm room was the only private place where the two could meet up. After putting his phone back into his pocket, Baekhyun goes to knock once more, but is beat to it by Xiumin who opens the door and greets the younger with a smile. Baekhyun enters, smiling back at Xiumin, and notices the grand difference between the beginner’s dorms and the elites’. It’s definitely bigger in size, but still has two –more comfortable looking– beds with side tables on either side. Their lights are adjustable and their desks have more storage space than his own dorm does, as well as closet space.

“Your dorm is really nice,” Baekhyun comments.

“Oh, this isn’t my dorm,” Xiumin says, his eyebrows furrowing in disgust. “I would never have a double dorm,” He clarifies, making his way over to the bed farthest to the left.

“Then who’s–”

“This is Jongdae’s dorm!” Xiumin interrupts Baekhyun. “Well, Jongdae and Chanyeol’s dorm.” He adds, a small smile forming on his lips. Baekhyun's eyes widen slightly at the new information.

“Jongdae?” The one person Baekhyun doesn’t want to think about finds a way to get back into his mind. “Is something wrong with your dorm?” Baekhyun tries to make himself comfortable by sitting at the foot of the bed Xiumin is laying on.

“No, it’s just that I knew you were going to talk to me about Jongdae, so I figured this setting would be best.” Xiumin explains and Baekhyun is 100% convinced that the older developed his second power already. Identify, it was more like an add-on power in Baekhyun’s view. A power someone can develop on their own with enough practice and knowledge, more known as a simple secondary power. Identify allowed for the holder to read people based on the way they acted or spoke. Sly, Baekhyun remembers Junmyeon saying when he was explaining Xiumin to him.

“You aren’t wrong,” Baekhyun says. People with the secondary power identify are usually never wrong, unless their intentions are to trick you. “Are Jongdae and Chanyeol still together?” Baekhyun gets right to the point, catching Xiumin off guard.

“What? One sleazy makeout session with Jongdae and you’re already wanting to date him?” Xiumin jokes, flustering the younger.

“No, it’s not that,” Baekhyun feels as if he were telling a lie to the older. “Remember when you told me that the two of them were a peculiar couple?” He tries to steer the conversation in a different route –the correct route.

“So, you finally caught on?” Xiumin sits up in interest. “What did you see?” He asks, hoping for some juicy gossip to help fuel his secondary power. Baekhyun lets out a small laugh at the sudden burst of interest Xiumin got with a single question.

“Two burn marks on my friend Kyungsoo’s neck.” Baekhyun shortly describes. “I saw him leave the library with them and then Chanyeol leaving a short while after him.” He adds, Xiumin humming in understanding.

“So, you believe…” Xiumin speaks up, trying to help Baekhyun in putting together all the pieces.

“...That Chanyeol is cheating on Jongdae.” Baekhyun answers and Xiumin sighs in defeat.

“That’s only the half of it,” Xiumin says, attaching his hands to Baekhyun’s shoulders. “They don’t love each other." He straightforwardly says in an attempt to clear up the picture for Baekhyun. The younger just furrows his eyebrows, confused.

“There has to be some kind of love between them.” Baekhyun tries to defend the couple. “Wouldn’t they have broken up if there wasn’t?” He continues to question. Xiumin takes his hands off of Baekhyun and gestures for him to continue. “So, instead of using their powers on each other, they use it on others, which is why they're such an odd couple–”

“Bingo~!” Xiumin exclaims, stopping Baekhyun’s train of thought. Even though Xiumin makes it clear that Baekhyun had figured it all out, the younger is still left feeling as though there’s more to the story than just the two of them not loving each other.