Hoshi took the initiative.

He magically called forth a blanket from the crates in the corner and caught it out of the air. Stepping up to the pink haired boy slumped up against the wall, he gently wrapped the sobbing potion master in the musty smelling cloth. He crinkled his nose and touched his wand to the fabric to freshen it up.

Jihoon cuddled himself into the now clean blanket, looking very soft and huggable. A bit like a kitten rubbed dry after a bath. Hoshi didn’t take the risk of actually hugging the boy, though.

“Sorry,” Jihoon mumbled as he wiped the tears away from his eyes.

“Oh, don’t apologize for your feelings. We only just found out you had any.”

Grabbing a water bottle Hoshi sat down next to the boy as close as he dared. With a tap of his wand the water gained the flavor and texture of hot chocolate. That was as close as his magic got him to the real deal without using more complex, time consuming charms. He pressed the warmed up substance into Jihoon’s delicate hands.

“Thank you,” came a very quiet response.

He looks so different now. Almost like an entirely new Woozi. Was that always under that exterior? He’s positively begging to be cuddled and held. I would but I don’t want to risk losing my fingers. How can this boy go around knocking out demons?

“I…”

“Yeah?” Hoshi leaned back against the concrete. His head slightly fallen to the side to keep an eye on the boy next to him, who kept staring at the floor ahead.

“You’re not going to tell the others. That I cried, I mean. Right?”

“You cried? I thought I had summoned some cut onions by accident.”

Woozi chortled. “That was lame. But thanks. ...I’m better now. I don’t even know what happened there.”

His cold, distant façade was already rebuilding. Hoshi cleared his throat. “Maybe we can do this more often. I don’t mean getting locked in. Just, talk. Letting you know that you don’t have to push out a new piece of work every day just to be a worthwhile guy to have around.”

“I’d like that.”

Wow, that was easy.

“And I,” Woozi continued, “can tell you all the things that make you the idiot you are.”

So much for that.

“Jihoonie?”

“Hm?”

“Will I ever get to see that other Jihoon again? The one from a minute ago. The one that doesn’t push people away at all costs. The one who lets me in. Like before.”

The smaller boy slumped even further into the blanket. “I’m sorry. I don’t even want to be like this. I’ve just been like it for so long…”

“How would you like to be?”

For a while it seemed as though Woozi wasn’t going to answer. His features had softened and he looked straight ahead.

“…I’d like to be… with... people. With…”

“With?”

Woozi turned his head to look up at Hoshi. His lips were trembling. While his eyes didn’t look like he was about to cry again, there was an inscrutable sadness present.

What is he so afraid of? With who does he want to-

It was a quick kiss. Hoshi didn’t even realize it had happened before it was already over. Jihoon appeared to have cat-like reflexes when it came to surprising people with actions that said more than all the words he could have used.

“Sorry,” he whispered as he buried himself so deeply into his huge blanket he vanished almost up to the pink mop.

Hoshi kept sitting where he was – pondering. Jihoon was cute. Terrifyingly so, no doubt. The boy was so cute, it hurt to look at him. But this? Was there a part of the tiny, always angry satan that demanded closeness? Even intimacy?

What is my life?

Minutes past in silence, before Woozi’s head popped up again. “Can you please say something? I… We can pretend this never happened.” He forced an artificial chuckle. “I’m low key panicking over here.”

Something clicked in Hoshi’s head again. Something entirely different this time.

Low key panicking… Key!

He squeezed Woozi’s head between his hands. “Genius!”

“Huh?”

His sudden jump startled Jihoon, but Hoshi was already dashing to the middle of the room.

“The embarkation principle,” he explained. “Magic can take an object’s metaphysical properties and convert them into action.”

Slowly, the smaller boy stood up, leaving his protective fabric behind. “But how does that apply? You need a focus object to kickstart the magic and you only have chalk circles in here.”

Hoshi got excited at his own idea and elaborated. “When I tickled the weird thing that made the door vanish, I was acting as the lock. I was the magical instigator. But something else was the key. Do you know what’s in those boxes?”

Woozi turned to the miscellaneous items packed up in the corner. “No? I store my spare tools here to have more room in the lab for all the plants I grow, but… You think there is something magical hidden?”

“The key that locked us up. And the key that can get us out.”

He went on all fours to make sure he wasn’t overlooking anything on the ground, like an object hidden below a loose floor board. In this school you never knew what secrets you could find with a little attention.

He realized that this method of escape would give them both something to do, making Jihoon feel useful again.

If that’s what he needs, I can give him that.

They dragged box after box from the corner and searched through them. In particular they looked for anything that could seem like a key in the abstract and fickle eyes of wild magic. Hoshi used his wand like a divining rod, attempting to find anything with an unusual spectral signature.

The boys unearthed a few treasures and lots of junk. It seemed like whoever had bunkered their stuff here was averse to ever getting rid of anything at all. After casting the third air freshening charm to dispell the rising dust clouds, Hoshi sank to the floor.

“Ugh, there’s nothing in those. Maybe the room itself has special properties? Or the crates are of some magical wood? I can’t find anything that's weird about them, though.”

Jihoon didn’t look at him as he said “If it’s any consolation, I’m okay now. And I’m sorry. For earlier. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s okay. You know, maybe we shouldn’t try to find the key, but recreate the situation of the locking. Let’s see, I was in the center of the room, plucking away at the knot. Could anything have reflected off the walls and hit the boxes from there?”

Jihoon sighed. “To think that I was a second from leaving. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m almost glad I got locked in with you. It did some good after all.” He glanced to the side, meeting Hoshi’s eyes. “Still, I was right at the damn door.”

“Ha, after all that probing the area for a key, the only thing we unlocked is your… feelings,” Hoshi said. He would have said ‘heart’, but ‘feelings’ sounded a lot less like something that would make Jihoon cringe.

He chuckled as the boy cringed anyway.

I really did unlock you, little man. Wait. I… unlocked… you. Right at the door!

“Woozi!” Hoshi shouted excitedly as he jumped back into action.

“Huh?”

“You locked us in here!”

“What?!”

Taking the smaller boy’s cheeks in his hands again he put a quick, hard kiss on his lips, leaving a confused Jihoon behind as he jumped in excitement.

“You’re the key, Woozi. You’re the key to my lock. Stand right at the door. Well, where it’s supposed to be.”

“I don’t get it,” mumbled the boy, referring either to the impromptu kiss or the plan Hoshi was formulating. Regardless, he complied, taking his position by the correct space at the wall.

Hoshi felt the knot again, this time deliberately through Jihoon. There it was. Now all the loose ends made sense. Hoshi hadn’t understood why the congestion in the magical flux had been so mysterious to him. Now he understood what the missing element had been.

Finally, there was a rhythm. Woozi’s heartbeat.

It took only the slightest of plucking and the field unraveled. Reality tore again, along the seams this time, leaving the fabric intact. It was trivial for Hoshi to restore the natural state of the room.

“Ya!” Jihoon yelled in joy as the door appeared. He rushed out of the room as if he was afraid the gate to freedom might vanish again any moment.

“Hoshi? You coming?”

“Yes. ...Wait, you never called me that in earnest before.”

“It’s your name now, though, isn’t it?”

“I suppose.” The caster left the chamber. There was a new corridor next to the exit that hadn’t been there before. A further door was at the end. “Aren’t we at the far side of the building? The knot must have been blocking the entrance to… where ever this leads.”

Woozi dragged him away by the wrist. “That’s enough for today. The strange new corridor can be investigated by somebody else.”

Hoshi grinned. The pink haired boy was taking command again. But the old grim stone face wasn’t back. He truly hoped this would be a lasting change.

Maybe he could help it along. With a little encouragement. Or a kiss. Or two.

THE END

[I’ll be honest. This wasn’t one of my favorite ships in the beginning. I never even thought I would write about them. But then… Seungcheol was taken in this AU already so, who else was I going to pair Jihoonie with? You liked it, though. Right? Because, strangely, I did and that’s usually a good sign.]

The next entry in the spin-off sequence is a Hansol/Seungkwan story called "Chill, Swag and Fairydust". Hope to see you there. (And the strange new corridor will be investigated in the chinaline story after that here.)