After Jongin cleaned up the water on the floor, Luna noticed how uncomfortable Jongdae was. It was sort of obvious from the way he stood awkwardly beside Jongin as he finished wiping the mess. Telling the two boys to sit at the table, she went to get drinks, which made Jongin stand up and insist that he’d do it instead, but she sat him back down, saying she was capable of doing such a simple task. She also added that they were the guests, and she, the host, so it only made sense that she was the one who would do the job.

Jongdae looked at the smooth, white surface of the table and did his best to avoid touching it, as to not dirty it. Jongin, however, comfortably relaxed in his seat, one arm on the table and the other on the back of his chair as he watched Luna pouring water into the cups with a smile. She walked over and placed the beverages on the circle shaped table before sitting in the middle of the males.

Luna took a sip of her drink. “So I’m not going to punish you for touching the television, though, you are going to clean it. It came out recently on the market and we only got it last week, so I won’t tolerate any fingerprints.” She gave him a smile, and Jongdae blushed under his mask. “You don’t have to be so tense, Jongdae. I’m not that scary, am I?”

He shook his head. “N-no, you aren’t scary at all, Ms. Luna.” He bowed his head. “Oh! And I-I apologize for touching the television, I didn’t know what it was and curiosity got the best of me, and I wanted to know what it felt like and it felt pretty smooth, but then the fingerprint was on there and I didn’t know that would happen. I’m sorry.”

Luna giggled. “It’s okay, Jongdae. I’m not mad at you, but you’re lucky my father wasn’t the one who caught you. You would have been in very big trouble.”

Jongin nodded. “You got that right. First couple o’ times I came here I broke one of them vases when I was cleaning his room, and he went crazy, screaming and yelling at me like a madman.“ He dramatically shivered and shut his eyes, as if he was reliving the moment. “Oh man. I swore that he was ‘bout to hit me but he didn’t.” His lips then formed a childish pout. “I was workin’ garden duty for six dang months after that.”

Luna smacked his shoulder with a chuckle. “Oh come on Jongin, it's not that bad.”

“It is when it’s always super hot or raining. And then you gotta walk all the way home in that weather!” he replied with furrowed brows.

Jongdae watched as she snorted and hit his shoulder again. He asked, “Are you guys dating?”

She raised a brow and let out a chortle. Jongin blushed, turning his head to the side away from her. “No,” she said, “what made you think that?”

“You guys just seem really close.” Jongdae moved his hair out of his face.

“Jongin and I are just very good friends,” Luna explained. “I’ve known him for a few years and we’ve helped each other out on a few occasions, which ultimately led to our friendship.” She took another sip of her drink. “It must be a little strange to see two people from different social classes to be such close friends, isn’t it?”

“No,” he responded. “Not strange, it’s just a little rare to see these sort of relationships, but it certainly isn’t strange.”

Luna’s head tilted to the side in what he assumed was mild curiosity. “So you’ve seen this kind of thing happen before?”

He was hesitant to tell the truth to her for a second, because she was upper class, and he knew nothing about her other than that she seemed all right, and he decided it wouldn’t hurt to tell her a little about himself. She had been quite kind to him so far.

“My best friend is a wealthy man. He taught me everything I know,” he told her, nervously playing with the glass of water in his hands. He didn’t want to give out too much information, mostly because he didn't know about Sir Yesung’s current whereabouts or what exactly was happening with him. Jongdae knew it couldn’t be a matter that was extremely dire, though, it had to be something big enough where the man was left with no choice but to leave for the East without a word.

Jongin grinned. “This is the one who told you ‘bout that Christmas thing, right?” he asked, scratching his neck. “He sounds pretty awesome.”

Jongdae felt the sides of his lips curl up slightly from the statement. “Trust me, I know.” He touched the mask and messed around with the bands. “When I was twelve, he went away on a business trip to the South for a few days, and I had to work at another person’s house that I went to every once in a while when he was gone.

“It was horrible, to say the least. There was constant shouting and insults, I managed to get the flu and threw up on their floors right after I spent hours working on them, and then I somehow was accused of burning their kitchen while trying to make a roast or a stew or something like that, and the funny part was that I wasn’t even on cooking duty.” He tugged at his hair just thinking about the stressful memories before the little smile came back. “And then, he came back and defended me, saying I was an intelligent kid who was capable of doing great things. He almost punched the man in charge of the house, but I managed to stop him in time. He gave me a bunch of red canes and books, too, when we got back to his house.”

Luna let out a hum as she finished her drink, setting it on the table as her nicely manicured fingernails tapped on the glass. “That sounds cute,” she commented. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I’m curious to know who this friend of yours is. I’ve never heard of a man in Sector Three who befriended and openly defended a commoner.”

Jongdae didn’t know if she was trying to intimidate him, or was actually trying to be friendly and was genuinely curious, but he did know that when he saw her staring at him shivers traveled down his spine. His lips formed a straight line as he avoided her gaze and stared at his glass. 

“I…” What if she knew who Sir Yesung was, and that he was from Sector Two? What if she connected the dots and realized that Jongdae was from Sector Two, and then she looked at him and realized he was a wanted man? He would be executed. All of these thoughts made him subconsciously grab at his hair again, and he winced when one of his nails accidentally scratched the gash he received from Jongin’s mother.

“I don’t think Jongdae wants to talk about him,” Jongin stated as he took a large gulp of his water and sighed in content. “He was sayin’ yesterday that his friend left without telling him nothing, so I don’t think he wants to think any more about him right now. It might hurt him.” He patted his chest. “In here.”

Jongdae nodded as he tightened his grip on the glass, so it wouldn’t be obvious that his hands were shaking. “Y-yeah, I apologize if I came off as r-rude, Miss.”

Luna narrowed her eyes before shrugging. “Alright. It’s not any of my business anyways; it was just mild curiosity that’s all. Sorry if I brought up any unwanted memories or anything like that.”

Relieved, he let out a sigh, his tense shoulders slouching as Jiyoung chuckled at him. “It’s fine,” Jongdae told her. “I just don’t like to think about it all that often.”

Luna pursed her lips. “Did he really just abandon you?” She scoffed. “You can’t trust anybody these days, I swear,” she muttered with disdain.

He raised his hands up, shaking his head. “No, you’ve got the wrong idea of him! He told me ahead of time he was leaving, but he just never said when.” Running a hand through his hair, he his lips and looked into her sharp eyes before averting them. “He’s a good man, and I know he had a reason as to why he left without saying goodbye. I just… I just don’t what could have possibly been that reason.”

Luna leaned forward, visibly interested at his troubles. “Well, was there anything he might’ve mentioned before that could be a clue?” she questioned.

“No,” Jongdae replied. “He was an honest man who had nothing to hide. Sir –“ He fiddled with the bands again. “He always said what was on his mind, even if his words were harsh, he never lied about anything. He was a business man, and one of the most intelligent men I’ve ever met or seen.”

“How old?” Jongin asked.

“Only twenty five.” Jongdae let out a chuckle. “By age eight, he had shocked his teachers and fellow students when they noticed how advanced he was in his studies. The surprising part was how he had previously been uneducated and poor, so just imagine the looks on those peoples’ faces when they saw a mere peasant getting higher grades than those who had been taking classes since they were toddlers in only a matter of months.” When the insult left his lips, he had spit it out spitefully and bits of anger and frustration were heard.

Luna’s eyes widened in astonishment. "Remarkable. A simple poor man was able to do that?” A small grin adorned her colored lips. “Amazing. And I thought Jongin was smart for using the word, complain, the other day. He’s an idiot compared to you and your friend – what am I saying, he’s a full blown moron compared to you.”

Jongdae’s eyes widened as he silently pointed to himself. Me? Did she just imply that I'm smart?

“Hey.” Jongin playfully pouted as Luna giggled. “Why you always complaining, hm?” He scooted his chair over to her and put his head on her shoulder, snuggling closely as she laughed and tried to shove him off. “You know, that I know, that we both know that you love me.”

“And now you sound like a complete imbecile.” She pushed him off, snorting when he almost hit his head on the table.

“Hey! I dunno what that means but whatever it is it don’t sound nice.” His bottom lip jutted out childishly and he ruffled his unruly hair so it stuck out in multiple directions.

She took both of her hands to smooth the strands down, taking his face in her hands. “Aw, Jongin.” She then squeezed his cheeks, grinning devilishly as he began to flail around in her hold. “You’re so cute.”

“I’m sorry. Let me go, I swear I’ll be a good servant just let me go!”

She giggled and dropped her hands. He dramatically fell back in his chair, panting and wheezing heavily as he placed both hands on his red cheeks. “For a moment –“ He took another exaggerated gasp. “For a moment I was thinking I was done for.”

Jiyoung snorted. “You sure you both aren’t dating because you guys are awfully close,” she teased and Jongdae observed how the red from Jongin’s cheeks quickly spread across his face, neck and ears.

“W-we ain’t dating,” the boy stated quickly. He quickly saw the questioning look from Luna and beamed reassuringly. “I mean it ain’t what it looks like…?” He shot Jongdae a look that basically screamed help me out here, but the boy was too busy being confused.

“Jongin, who are you talking to?” Luna quizzed. Leaning forward, she whispered into his ear, to which he nodded, relaxing a bit in his seat.

“Don’t worry, Luna.” The red on his skin had faded, but there was still a faint, pink tint covering his tan skin. “Jongdae’s just like me, we don’t have to be secretive about it.” He turned to Jongdae, who only stared at him blankly. “Luna knows about our powers. She’s the one who gave me that idea about that whole Robin Hood thing.”

She glanced between the two boys, curiosity taking the best of her, and quickly ran out of the room before coming back. “No one’s around right now.” She leaned forward on the table, laying her chin on intertwined fingers, staring at him with excited eyes. “Tell me everything.”

Jongdae fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat and glanced at Jongin before looking at Jiyoung for help. She would have shrugged if she could. “If she already knows then I guess it wouldn’t hurt, and don’t worry, if something seems off or I suspect she’s even close to snitching about all of this, then I can wipe her memory using a spell.”

He shook his head, letting his hair cover his face as he tilted his head down. “No,” he quietly said. “If you keep on abusing your powers while you’re in this state, your aura will diminish and we won’t be able to find your physical form. You already have a limit to your powers and that amount has been split because of the situation, and if you’re going to continue to use your magic without restraint we might as well just stop this mission of ours and give up, because I am not going out there without you.”

His tone was harsher than he meant it to be, but he had to tell her. Jiyoung’s powers had already given up on her when she tried to protect him from those officers, and frankly, if there was a time they desperately did need her powers and she used them up, then everything they had done so far would be a complete waste.

She groaned. “You’re right, you’re right, oh God, you’re freaking right. It’s irresponsible of me to carelessly use my abilities, I’m sorry.” She huffed. “It’s just hard, you know. They say old habits die hard for a reason. I used to be the best damn sorceress across the lands, the kingdoms, hell; I was probably the best in the galaxy! And now look at me. It’s pathetic.” Jongdae kept his head down as he tried to think of something consoling to say; he settled for silence.

Jongin was watching the two speak. He glanced at Luna. “Hey Jiyoung.” Said girl let out a grunt. “There any way that you can make it so Luna can see ya?”

“Well, I haven’t tried it but doing so would mean we need to be somewhere away from wandering eyes. Because if she can see me then that’d probably also mean other people would be able to see me, and that really wouldn’t help anyone, now would it?”

He nodded and turned to Luna to explain the situation, but Jongdae intervened. “You can’t be serious, right?” His eyes widened at Jiyoung before he turned to the two. “You can be bounty hunters for all I know - I could be the next guy on your list! I am not taking any chances.”

Jongin shook his head. “But we ain’t like that I swear.”

“And how do I know that? You could be assassins, murderers, hell, you could even be those hunters for all I know.”

“You don’t know, that’s true,” Luna agreed, “but we could also be good people and possibly even important allies in the future.” Her fingers interlocked on the table. “How about we make a deal. We tell you a secret of our own – one that could get us executed in a second – “she snapped her fingers “-if anyone ever found out, and if you believe we are trustworthy then you’ll tell us – well, me – about the s