In true Hunter fashion when it came to newbies though, Taekwoon was not in fact privy to any updates until the whole matter was sorted. Frustratingly, it took three stupidly long days. During which time he was left to act like nothing unusual had happened and keep following up on the usual menial or benign calls they often got during the daytime hours.

               One case was a minor scuffle between a fairy and an elf in the Green District. He didn’t even remember what they’d been fighting over anymore and since they had been nothing more than a nuisance, no major charges had been pushed by anyone. Another had been a call from a suspicious human in the buffer zone claiming he’d seen a shadowy figure running around the area. That had been nothing to worry about at all as he was a repeat offender of paranoia, but they were required to check in just in case. Yet another had been a magical creature swearing up and down they saw an Exile in the area, which could have been true, but when Taekwoon dutifully went to check (single reports like that one were taken with a large grain of salt), there was no sign of any vampire anywhere nearby.

               And through all the calls, neither Kyuhyun nor Kevin nor Xiumin nor Youngmin gave any crumb of information about the Crone and the Anansi he’d found. Or of Hakyeon for that matter. Suspiciously, Youngmin got all too quiet when he asked, pretending innocence with feigned ignorance. It made Taekwoon at least a little nervous.

                It didn’t help either when he re the morning of the fourth day to notice a familiar figure waiting just outside the Hunter building. Taekwoon stopped to rub at the sleep from his eyes and make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Nope. Still there. But why was the question. Giving the new man a wary look as he approached, caution in his steps, Taekwoon hesitated at the bottom of the stairs.

                “There you are,” Hakyeon smiled, uncrossing his lithe arms to wave at the hunter with a genial expression.

                Taekwoon nodded once and started to move up the stairs before Hakyeon took a half step into his path. His eyes narrowed with a slight frown pursing his lips. “Yes?” he asked, the question almost sullen in nature.

                “I was waiting for you,” he grinned harder in response, placing his hands on his hips and leaning forward playfully.

                “Why?” was the immediate and confused first word.

                It made Hakyeon laugh, one hand rising to politely cover his mouth. “That’s what you do for your partner,” he winked. When Taekwoon’s expression flattened further with a raised brow, he laughed once more and shook his head. “I take it Kyuhyun didn’t tell you.”

                “You’re not my partner,” Taekwoon grumbled, firming his resolve to get around the man without actually nudging him aside. He didn’t know what he was and he had no particular desire to find out right now, but he didn’t want to stay out here and debate the matter either.

                “No?” Hakyeon chirped in amused surprise. Surprisingly, he did move aside so Taekwoon could get past him, and then shadowed him eerily closely on the way in.

                “Taekwo- oh…!” Youngmin started to say before cutting himself off quickly, his bright smile fading a little with surprised albeit pleased confusion.

                “Morning, Minnie,” Hakyeon waved, the overwhelming sweetness of his voice almost nauseating to Taekwoon. He tried to move forward but a soft hand on his forearm bade him stay. As much as he might have wanted to move, he almost felt compelled to remain rooted where he was.

                Youngmin waved at Taekwoon as he tried to split his attention effectively but was pulled back by his own curiosity. “We weren’t expecting you this morning, Hakyeon.”

                “I know,” he giggled, clearly delighted with himself. “But I wanted to see my new partner and maybe help him get a better understanding of things,” he winked, taking that moment to sling his arm around Taekwoon’s shoulder and lean on him in a friendly gesture.

                Taekwoon stiffened and Youngmin spluttered, “P-Partn- oh… I see.”

                “He’s not my partner,” Taekwoon reiterated, fully ignoring the man on his shoulders while he looked to Youngmin for some sort of help. Surely the agrabuamelu could do something.

                “Actually…” Youngmin cringed almost apologetically.

                As if to add insult to injury, Hakyeon leaned closer, making Taekwoon edge away just a bit, and whispered, “You don’t have a donor yet and I’m… special.”

                It should have been nothing more than a brag but the way it was spoken, it sounded like absolute fact. Taekwoon was almost curious despite himself. Almost. He took a small breath to steady his nerves and awkwardly slipped out from under Hakyeon’s arm. “I’m gonna go see Xiumin. He’s in, right?” he asked, the question a formality as he simply walked past the front desk and started up the stairs. He couldn’t quite help but overhear the quiet conversation behind him though.

                “This one’s prickly. I like it.” That was obviously from the newcomer.

                “Hakyeon…” Youngmin sighed with a likely shake of his head and a bemused smile.

                “The challenge,” was the immediate snort in response.

                Taekwoon wrinkled his nose and resolutely finished his climb before striding into the second floor office. Xiumin was there, as he hoped, but oddly enough, he was seated behind his desk and frowning fiercely at the computer screen in front of him. That did not bode well… “Xiumin?” he called quietly, stepping closer with uncertain hesitation.

                Dark eyes flicked up to register him before focusing on the screen again, moving rapidly under the flop of wavy black hair atop his head. “Yes?” he asked distractedly when Taekwoon simply waited him out.

                “Just…” he started to speak, mouth partially open as he reached to gesture back towards the ground floor, but he couldn’t really ignore the way his superior was acting either. “Is everything okay?” he asked, not entirely sure he’d get an answer.

                Xiumin wrinkled his nose like he’d tasted something bad and then worked his jaw briefly. “Yes and no,” he grumbled eventually, glancing around like he was checking to make sure no one else was here. “Tradeborough is fine,” he added with a shrug, leaning back to cross his arms over his chest. “But Wandermoot lost a new vamp recently. Not a coven creature but still,” he shook his head, exhaling forcefully.

                Taekwoon frowned and he immediately fell into the thought patterns of a Hunter. Losing magical creatures was part of the game but this one seemed to be bothering Xiumin so there had to be a larger meaning. Or at least possibility. Not infighting with only one missing. Could be a standard missing person though it was strange with a young vamp in particular. Then he recalled a case not that long ago and he grimaced. “The chimera?”

                The other hunter shook his head with a shrug and exhaled again. “No way of knowing. It just doesn’t sit right and Kyuhyun is off trying to get a better understanding of the situation. He got Ailee to give him a port late last night,” he explained, shoving the computer desk so he could push himself away a bit.

                “Ah… So Kyu’s not here?” the younger hunter wondered regretfully.

                “No. Why?” Xiumin questioned, perking up on the change in behavior.

                With one hand, Taekwoon gestured back towards the ground floor and mumbled, “The new guy said something about me being his new partner?”

                “Hah!” Xiumin’s bark of laughter startled Taekwoon as much as it confused him. “Kyuhyun’s not gonna be happy about that,” he went on, clapping his hands with a shake of his head.

                “Huh?”

                “It’s nothing,” he assured the younger man with a wave of his hand.

                “So he’s not my partner?” Taekwoon tried to confirm, relief flooding him for a brief moment.

                “Oh, no, he is,” Xiumin nodded, dashing the other hunter’s hopes. “Or at least he will be anyway,” he corrected, shrugging.

                “I don’t-“

                “You don’t have a donor yet and Hakyeon is about as good as you can get,” he stated simply, shrugging with a hint of wistfulness. “Or so the records from previous Hunters say.”

                “Eh?”

                “He hasn’t told you what he is yet, has he?” Xiumin wondered, a bemused smile tugging at his lips. Taekwoon’s frown was answer enough. “Ah well. That’s the way they are sometimes. Undoubtedly, he’ll fill in the blanks soon enough.”

                “But… I don’t want to be his partner,” Taekwoon blustered, completely thrown off guard by the events of the morning.

                “Why not?” the other asked, genuinely confused.

                “He’s… annoying,” he finished lamely, knowing how silly that sounded.

                It was clear Xiumin tried, really hard, to school his features, but the snort laugh just managed to escape. “You made yourself the perfect target didn’t you?” Taekwoon gave him a look like he was crazy and it only made Xiumin smile harder. “Now I don’t know Hakyeon personally, other than our recent meeting, but I have read the reports on him from other hunters. And it’s not uncommon for those as old and strong as him to just assume that any Hunter worth his salt would be happy to see him.”

                “I heard that!” came a distant voice from the first floor.

                “I figured!” Xiumin shot back without missing a beat. Taekwoon gestured with his hands wide as if asking for some sort of help. “He’s probably listening with his ear to the floor pipe. Might as well try to make it work.”

                “But he’s not a Hunter,” Taekwoon stated firmly, resisting the urge to actually stomp his foot on the ground.

                “No,” Xiumin conceded slowly. “But he is a donor and what we would consider a Hunter agent or consultant. By our records, he hasn’t been in Tradeborough for quite some time. If he wants to be your partner, you’re strangely lucky,” he admitted, nodding all the while.

                Taekwoon didn’t feel lucky. He mostly just felt annoyed. And frustrated. And maybe just a little bit curious. He didn’t know what Hakyeon was and beyond his, what he would consider obvious character flaws, there had to be something about him that made the other Hunters respect him as much as they did. Not to mention the Crone knew him and that was strange in and of itself. Then again, maybe he could use that. “Do you need any help with the vampire in the Wandermoot case?” he asked, more for the sake of being thorough than actual interest.

                “Nah. I’ve gotta get in touch with Kyuhyun anyway to tell him the news from this end. Of course Hakyeon would make a move when Kyu was gone,” he snorted once and shrugged. “We’ve had no calls this morning either so you can just head on down. Oh,” he perked up, suddenly recalling something. “We did get a call from Namjoon but that was a courtesy call. They’re down one vamp right now with the mentee training.”

                “Down one?” Taekwoon wondered, knowing he should remember something about that.

                “Yeah. About halfway through the training, one of their vampires usually goes quiet for about a month. They won’t tell us what they’re doing – secrecy and all that, but they at least try to keep us in the know in case something comes up outside of the coven. I imagine whatever it is is a holdover from the old days but I guess it’s better to know all the ins and outs before you really decide to become one,” he admitted with a look that spoke volumes.

                “What do you think it is?” the younger hunter asked, head tilting to the side.

                Xiumin looked to the side at the same time that Taekwoon tensed up. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” an already irritably familiar voice murmured beside him. “You should let me tell you about it over breakfast. I know a delightful little restaurant not that far from here,” he grinned, close but careful not to touch Taekwoon this time.

                “I’m not hungry,” Taekwoon grumbled, looking to Xiumin for some sort of support.

                “That’s not what your stomach is saying,” Hakyeon winked with a quick glance down.

                “That’s cheating,” the Hunter scowled, irritated with his betraying body. It hadn’t been loud but apparently Hakyeon really did have good hearing.

                “And we’re both hungry, so come!” Hakyeon cajoled, deftly grabbing Taekwoon’s arm and dragging him along.

                “Hey!” the Hunter yelped, taken aback by the speed and hidden strength with which he was abruptly… kidnapped. And neither Xiumin nor Youngmin did anything to help him. Traitors…

                Hakyeon’s taste in restaurant’s seemed at least a little questionable. Taekwoon hadn’t imagined they would go to a diner of all places, especially one in the neutral zone north of the Red District. It was a small place called the Magical and Mundane Eatery, a strangely appropriate name for the clientele he saw upon first glance, but the menu looked about like any other human based restaurant. The biggest plus seemed to be the staff had no qualms about magical creatures and were apparently adept at recognizing them.

                The young man that approached them gave a bright smile, dark eyes dancing under short black bangs. “Welcome to the Magical and Mundane Eatery. Just the two of you today?” his name tag jumped on his shirt, moving as he did, the name Hoseok typed neatly on the surface.

                “Yes,” Hakyeon smiled back, deftly taking the lead from Taekwoon.

                “Magical, mundane or doesn’t matter?” was Hoseok’s next question as he gestured at opposite sides of the diner.

                “Actually, we’ll take that table,” he gestured at an empty spot. “Used to be my regular table,” he explained quietly, leaning closer to Taekwoon in the process.

                “Oh! You’re a regular here?” Hoseok asked, his earnest curiosity equal parts endearing and annoying if you asked Taekwoon. That could have been the company he was in though.

                “I used to be,” Hakyeon agreed before pointing his finger at the human. “You’re certainly new though.”

                Hoseok shrugged and glanced around. “Two years and counting so I guess it has been a while, hasn’t it?” Hakyeon nodded in quiet agreement and took the lead to get settled into the short booth. “Can I get you something to drink to start off with?” he asked, hovering close with an almost nervous energy, casting expectant glances at both guests.

                “Water.” “Coffee, please.”

                “Coming right up!” he nodded, reaching over to grab the menus from between the napkin holder and the condiments and laying them on the table. Then, he was gone, leaving them in quiet peace.

                Taekwoon just kept his eyes mostly trained on his pseudo abductor. For the life of him, he couldn’t see what was so special about him. “What are you?” he asked in a quietly curious voice. He was well aware the blunt question was undeniably rude but he wasn’t in much hurry to make nice with the practical stranger across from him.

                “You know, this restaurant is one hundred and seventeen years old,” Hakyeon explained as if he hadn’t heard the other man. He grinned down at the menu in almost childlike delight. “It’s almost exactly the same as I remember if from the last time I was here, too. Hoseok notwithstanding,” he chuckled, glancing up at Taekwoon before looking over at the approaching waiter, drinks in hand.

                “Here you go,” Hoseok chirped, placing the water in front of Taekwoon and the steaming coffee before Hakyeon. “Are you ready to order or do you need a minute?”

                “One of everything please,” Hakyeon surprised them both by answering.

                “O-okay!” the waiter nodded, recovering quickly. At least he was professional enough for that one not to rattle him too much. Taekwoon was not so quick to recover.

                “One of everything?” he frowned, glancing down at the lengthy list before them.

                The other man shrugged. “You can try what you want, eat what you like, and anything left over, I’ll take care of. Plus, I’m curious to see if anything has changed since the last time I was here. A lot can happen in forty-two years,” he winked, gaze sliding to the kitchen door in the back. “I wonder if Fei is still cooking here,” he mused, one brow rising thoughtfully.

                “Fei?” Taekwoon couldn’t help but ask. Obviously not a human if it had been forty plus years ago.

                His companion laughed once and nodded. “An elf with superb cooking skills. She could make kappa water taste divine if she wanted to.”

                The description made Taekwoon shudder involuntarily. Kappas were usually very clean creatures but their living water often developed a sticky film from their bodily secretions and an almost swampy smell if they didn’t change it frequently.

                “My point exactly. Ah. Here we go,” he brightened, seeing Hoseok coming over with a couple of the first plates.

                “We figured it would be best to bring your food out in rounds as they prepare it,” he explained, handing off the first platters and looking between them expectantly.

                “Thank you,” Hakyeon murmured appreciatively, though his gaze turned a shade harder as it was obvious he would rather be left alone now.

                “Oh, right. Excuse me!” the human half bowed and stepped away, taking no offense at the change in demeanor. It probably happened a fair bit.

                “You try first,” Hakyeon encouraged, pushing the plates towards Taekwoon with obvious delight. The hunter made a face but did reach for the fork nearby so he could start tasting things. He got a mouthful before his companion asked a question. “I take it spiders are your weak point?”

                Taekwoon coughed and covered his mouth, trying not to spit the – unexpectedly – good food all over the table. “No,” he denied in a grumpy tone.

                “The Anansi?” Hakyeon prompted, one brow rising as a smile tugged at his mouth.

                “Was a huge spider person thing,” he grumbled, grip tightening on the fork in embarrassment.

                “She was a child,” the other man reminded him gently.

                “A giant spider person child,” Taekwoon muttered under his breath, though there was no real heat to his rebuttal. It was irritating but Hakyeon wasn’t wrong. She was just a child, but he could still feel her spider legs wrapped around him and see the way her fangs curved in the shadows and it made his skin crawl.

                “Minzy.” Taekwoon blinked in confusion. “Her name,” the other man clarified, going quiet as he accepted more plates from a curious but silent Hoseok. When the waiter was gone again, he went on, “A runaway from mixed parentage. Fairly normal childhood but the signs were there for sure,” he explained, picking up a piece of toast and nibbling on it as he watched Taekwoon with interest. “Her shadow probably never quite looked right and I would imagine sleeping anywhere near her was interesting on the best of days.”

                “So what happened?” Taekwoon asked, risking another bite of something that looked like a fruity pancake.

                “What often happens with those of us that are more monstrous in appearance,” he shrugged, eyes shifting minutely from their dark brown to an eerie yellow and back again. “A little too much stress or embarrassment and… poof! Hello magical creature. According to Hyuna, she used her webs without realizing what they could do and she scared herself as much as she scared her parents.”

                Taekwoon grimaced as he recalled the short lesson that covered Anansis. While they could be physically dangerous, it was their webs that truly made them stand out. “She wove her fear and anger into the webbing and caught her parents?” he guessed, feeling his stomach twist at the thought.

                “Close enough,” Hakyeon agreed with a nod. “In the end, they didn’t want her back after all.”

                “Ouch,” Taekwoon cringed, hearing it said aloud hurting all the more for the flat certainty of Hakyeon’s tone. “So she’s staying with the Crone then?”

                “Yes. Hyuna will take care of her. She always does,” he smiled, the expression warm and fond and completely at odds with his otherwise typical persona.

                “What is she?” he asked, genuine curiosity making his tone softer than usual.

                Hakyeon chuckled and shook his head. “The only thing you need to know about Hyuna is that she is, for all intents and purposes, the absolute mother of any abandoned or misunderstood child she takes in. Forever trying to fill a void she can’t,” he sighed, the sound so low Taekwoon suspected he wasn’t really supposed to hear that last part.

                He paused again as more food came out. “Is she like you then?” Taekwoon asked as the server went away, his obvious desire to linger and listen in losing to his professionalism – and other customers.

                “Old and powerful and thinks that anyone she’s willing to help that isn’t one of her children should be grateful?” Hakyeon teased, his previous mirth returning quickly with the playful smile. Taekwoon’s mouth flattened into a thin line but he nodded. “But of course!” the other man finished strongly, gesturing towards the Hunter with both hands.

                “Okay. But really. What are you?” Taekwoon asked, pulling a plate close to him so he could start working on a steak dish of some kind.

                “You’re not gonna let that go are you?” Hakyeon laughed lightly, reaching out to snag a wedge fry from Taekwoon’s plate. The Hunter pulled it closer with a disapproving look. “What? I’m paying for it, aren’t I?” Taekwoon’s glare didn’t change and Hakyeon laughed again. “You really are a challenge.” He took a breath and sighed pleasantly. “If you must know, I’m a were. I don’t think I’m the last of my kind but I haven’t seen another like me in quite some time,” he admitted with a  shrug, scratching at his bottom lip as he looked up in thought.

                “A were?” Taekwoon questioned to make sure. That didn’t sound particularly intimidating considering what all the other creatures in existence were usually like.

                Hakyeon could obviously hear the disbelief in his tone. “Well, think of it this way. You know vampires have their hierarchy. Rank 1, 2, 3 and so on,” he explained, hands gesturing fluidly with the numbers. “Well so do weres. Unofficially of course. Wolves are somewhere in the middle with creatures like tigers a step above and then there are creatures like me,” he winked, the words sounding like they should be a brag but spoken with such certain conviction it came off as an honest explanation.

                Taekwoon looked at him skeptically. He certainly didn’t look like anything powerful, but then again, most magical creatures didn’t until they changed. And he couldn’t exactly deny that feeling he’d had when he felt Hakyeon’s growl the other day. “So for the sake of comparison, would be you be on an Exile’s level?” he wondered, head already spinning from that possibility.

                “Eh…” he trailed off, tilting his head to the side and laughing once. “I could probably put up a good fight, but few creatures are anywhere near an Exile’s level,” he admitted with a laugh.

                “Huh,” he grunted once, taking another bite of the steak. It was surprisingly good. “So, speaking of vampires,” he prompted, stalling as Hosoek came back again, this time bearing more side dishes and at least one dessert. They waited as he awkwardly made room and pulled another table up to give them more space for what was left.

                “Right,” Hakyeon snapped his fingers, nodding as he remembered. “The one that is currently down for the count. If I remember correctly, they’re probably doing feeding, or not, demonstrations,” he explained with a thoughtful frown.

                “So… he might be starving himself?” Taekwoon tried to fill in the blanks. Hakyeon nodded once. “But don’t they just go-“

                Hakyeon’s hand was on his mouth before he could finish the sentence. “That is not common knowledge and take care of where you say such things,” he reminded the young hunter.

                Annoyed and slightly embarrassed, Taekwoon glared harder at the other man. Like humans, if a vampire didn’t eat, they grew weaker and weaker. Unlike humans, after a certain point, they just went comatose instead of dying. It was different from the voluntary slumber they could fall into if they wanted to let the years pass by. Slumber they could wake from easily and resume life as if nothing had happened. Starvation literally made them as vulnerable as a baby. Apparently, it was one of the tricks the humans of old had used to make the younger vampires easier to dispose if they were able to trap them somewhere.

                “But yes. You are correct. Part of the process of becoming a vampire is learning about the positives and the negatives that come with it,” Hakyeon explained simply with a shrug. “Their newbie is about halfway through now. This last bit should be the end of most of the negatives. If the kid doesn’t mind after this, the fun stuff begins,” he grinned, the expression almost catlike.

                “Huh,” Taekwoon sighed with a frown as he mulled the information over. Contrary to the misconceptions of several popular movies, frenzies didn’t happen from hunger. They were rare and mostly because they occurred in battle. But he couldn’t deny that he was curious about what a comatose vampire looked like. They didn’t really have examples in their database. For good reason too. The last recorded cases had been decades, if not literal centuries ago now. “Any thoughts on the Wandermoot case?” he asked, hoping to catch the other man off guard.

                Hakyeon didn’t even act like he heard as he looked over the food and picked at a plate of lightly fried vegetables. Taekwoon opened his mouth to ask again and stopped when the other man spoke first. “It’s likely very much what you suspect it to be. Can’t say for sure as I wasn’t there, but it feels like something of that nature,” he grimaced, expression lightening when he munched on what looked like a carrot. “I bet Fei is still here,” he grinned, examining the vegetable with a strangely familiar fondness.

                Taekwoon glanced up when Hoseok returned, a slightly excited smile on his face. “Did I hear you mention Fei?”

                “Maybe,” Hakyeon teased, shifting his focus to the server.

                “Oh!” he grinned enthusiastically. “If she’s a friend of yours, I’m sure she’d be delighted to see you. Everyone here knows she’s been around for forever,” he laughed with a quick nod. “I should have mentioned a regular had shown up,” Hoseok sighed, lamenting the missed opportunity.

                “It’s alright,” Hakyeon waved him off. “When we’re done, I’ll pop back and see her myself. Would be nice to catch up,” he winked, glancing at Taekwoon with an impish smile.

                “Okay,” Hoseok nodded putting his finger to his lips. “I won’t ruin the surprise.” He placed his hands on his hips as he looked at the items on the table and then at the two guests once more. “Looks like we’ve brought everything. Is there anything else I can get you?” he asked professionally. Hakyeon raised his mug at the same time that Taekwoon raised his cup. The latter made a face at the synchronized motion and looked away. Hoseok seemed to miss the facial expression – apparently willingly – for his next words annoyed Taekwoon. “I’ve gotta ask, are you two, you know?” he questioned, gesturing between them suggestively.

                “Yes,” Hakyeon answered with saccharine sweetness while Taekwoon snapped a quick, “No!”

                “We’re just partners,” Taekwoon insisted, immediately cringing when he realized what he’d said.

                “Of course we are,” Hakyeon grinned, his tone obviously only implying that he was playing along as he winked at Hoseok.

                To his credit, the human was only confused for the briefest of moments before he fell into step with Hakyeon’s alignment. “Oh, I see,” he nodded in quick understanding. “Well, I’ll just leave you partners,” he added with emphasis, even adding an obvious wink with it, “alone-“

                “No,” Taekwoon tried to interrupt with a raised hand before the server continued without pause.

                “-and you let me know if-“

                “We’re just…”

                “-you need anything else,” Hoseok finished happily, clapping his hands in front of him before scurrying off to another table that needed his attention.

                Taekwoon mutely took a breath through his nose as he glared at Hakyeon.

                “What? Some people just love to believe what they want to believe,” he explained with a shrug.

                “We’re hardly partners,” the Hunter grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the other man.

                “But we are partners,” Hakyeon smiled in response, completely unphased by the glare. In fact, he seemed more delighted by it than anything.

                “Ugh…” the Hunter groaned, head dropping to rest on his chest as he shook it. “Why me?” he asked quietly, feeling like he was being punished or something.

                “I told you,” the were answered with an obvious shrug. “You need a donor and I’m willing. I like a challenge and you are one. And quite frankly, my dear Hunter,” he started to say in a tone that pulled Taekwoon’s gaze up to meet his. “You have a great deal to learn in your line of work if you are going to survive to become a good Hunter.”

                “I’ve made it this far, haven’t I?” Taekwoon asked defensively.

                Hakyeon’s belatedly stifled laugh was not reassuring. He put his finger to his lips to keep any further sound from escaping and nodded once. “Feel free to eat what you want. I’m gonna say hi to Fei and I’ll be back soon,” he winked, gesturing at the table before standing up with inhuman grace and sauntering towards the kitchen.

                “Insufferable ,” Taekwoon mumbled under his breath as he watched the other man go. He stiffened and his eyes widened when Hakyeon paused and gave him a side eyed look with an obviously amused smile. “,” he scowled. That was going to take some getting used to. Whatever kind of were he was, he had stupidly good hearing.

                Feeling all manner of out of sorts, Taekwoon sniffed once and turned his attention back to the table full of food. It was far more than he was capable of eating, but most of it looked good. And if Hakyeon was going to play cleanup, he should probably try what he could while he was here. It was only practical after all.

(a/n: Hello my lovely readers. I know I was hoping that NaNo would keep me on track but it hasn't been as strong a force as I was hoping. I'm still planning and plotting and trying to get things down, but my muse has not been kind lately. Admittedly, I do mostly write for myself and the sake of the story, but especially during these times, it would be nice to connect with people. I am happy for readers, always, and I will never not like upvotes, but I can promise you that even a small comment / question / response can and will go a long way in helping me stay on track. Just a thought. Thank you regardless to my readers and I hope you enjoyed this latest update. As usual, I will try to do better about getting the next update out and, in the meantime, have a good day!)