Luhan ran; how could he not when he knew that Junmyeon was somewhere out there, in need him. Well, probably he didn’t actually need him; Junmyeon was a stubborn little thing and he had been showing everyone how much people shouldn’t cross him, manifesting, in a more obvious way, his personal growth.

Nevertheless, Luhan ran. He could deny and say it was purely out of concern for a close friend, but that would be a blatant lie; Junmyeon was more than that, everyone knew that. It had been a real pang in the heart for Luhan when Junmyeon told them they should be friends, their overly complicated emotional baggage had interfered a lot, however, it had been nothing compared burst of pain that he felt when he was told that the raven haired man was in a death or life situation, in danger. He felt the floor escaping from underneath him and his stomach vaulting quickly from his throat to the bottom of his abdominal cavity; the air didn’t seem enough as the quantity he needed and his skin was on fire.

There was also a possibility of Junmyeon being dead, body lying on the ground like the cadavers that he had already seen sprawled on cold floor but Luhan refused to imagine that as an option, or even think about that, ponder over it, Junmyeon was alive. He was! So Luhan ran.

Minseok had conceived that plan and although he thought he would regret it several times over, since it was his life he was risking, he found out that, in the end, he hadn’t regret it one bit and would done everything again if needed. He was horrified at the sight of the dead bodies; he felt pity for those who had to surpass this tragedy and even more for those who had lost beloved people in this massacre. He surely felt delighted that he and Minseok had found little to no problem up until now and he was so very happy when he saw Baekhyun; little Baekhyun with soft smiles and shy glances, who managed to outrun two assassins and landed directly in Minseok’s arms, telling Luhan where to find Junmyeon. As he ran away, to Junmyeon, the only thing he wished for was for them to be safe and sound, for Minseok and Baekhyun to be okay and to reunite with the final side of their romantic triangle.

So he ran. He ran and he ran and he ran.

Luhan checked all the ceramics rooms; he hadn’t gone to this college, he didn’t know which one Baekhyun had been referring too but it didn’t stopped him from searching high and low, all the rooms he could possibly see in his field of vision: he was going to find him. He would find Junmyeon.

Junmyeon was still sitting down, with Amber, behind the useless oven at the unused ceramics room. It was unnerving to say the least, he had no contact with whatever was going on the outside and he didn’t know what to do: should he go? Should he stay? It was agonizing.

Amber was a good company though, she tucked herself into a little ball and resorted to talk to him through glances and stares, not words, which made Junmyeon immensely happy; he was safe thus far and he intended for thing to be kept that way. She knew how to act in this kind of situation, it was clear that she was intelligent and she kept him company during this whole ordeal, she was the best life threatening situation partner anyone could have, thought Junmyeon bitterly.

He wondered idly about Baekhyun and if he had managed to get into somewhere safe, if he was hurt or not. He didn’t even dare to think that something could have happened to him, he would feel forever guilty if something happened to Baekhyun because he knew that the thoughts of him protecting them and making himself a bullseye just to do so wouldn’t be able to let him sleep.

He wondered about of things actually, in the huge amount of time he had to do it; at least, it seemed like a long time. He pondered over the relationship he now had with his parents and if he had been wrong by cutting them off of his life with such little remorse, he pondered over the fact that he really wanted to go shopping with Jongdae and go buy an engagement ring for Chanyeol, since his brother already hinted that he had one in mind and might even propose soon enough; he pondered that he should have spent more time of his life doing things he wanted to, maybe create a list and just check all of the items there, adding more and more each time a new experience sounded appealing; he pondered that he should spend more time with Yixing, the man had been his friend for years and he wanted to bring their relationship to what it was previously, before he had let his job and his parents interfere. He pondered over Jongin and his strong will, his mature demeanor and level headed persona to whom he wished to create bigger and better bonds with, a solid friendship. He ponder how lovely it would be if Kyungsoo and Yifan adopted another child and over the fact that he should be a more present godfather in little Zitao’s life. He pondered that it would be really great if Sehun and Baekhyun could, finally, mend all the bridges they had with Minseok, forgive him and then do wonderful things together; it was a strange relationship between the three of them but it worked at the same time: there was impulsive and childlike Sehun, who wanted attention but could be insanely rational in worst moments, there was Minseok, who was brash and proud but who could provide to people and be very dependable and have sweet words and a cuddle for anyone who wanted and then there was his little Baekhyunnie, shy, introvert but capable of loving with all his heart, with radiant smiles, gentle hands and a sweet dispositions.

And then, in a rank of its own, was Luhan, the man who had managed to turn his life upside-down in the best and worst way possible, opening doors in his heart and in his mind that he kept firmly closed all these years, battling him and making him rethink a lot of things he had done so far. Luhan was special and he knew it. Junmyeon knew it too and he kind of wanted Luhan to be with him at this moment, if not by the current situation they were in, to hug him and tell him everything was going to be fine. Luhan was warm and soft and Junmyeon wanted him so much that his chest hurt. He had much to solve with Luhan and he was certain that he would speak with the man as soon as he got out of this mess, if he could make it, to at least, fix some of the tension between them.

However, he had to admit that he didn’t’ know what to say to Luhan, there were a lot of questions that were demanding an answer and he felt like going insane by the lack of them. In the end, all he knew is that he wanted him but at the same time he felt like he was just beginning his journey as someone who was tied free from the multitude of strings that commanded him to do what they wanted him to.

His ears captured the sound of very faint footsteps and Junmyeon immediately looked up in alarm, staring into Amber’s terrified eyes and she looked back at him. He leaned a finger against his lips, telling Amber to keep quiet and not make a sound.

The footsteps sounded cautious, Junmyeon’s fast mind was telling him that the sounds that he heard, the soft tapping of hard soles against the linoleum, was too random and very light. Despite Amber’s warnings he stuck his head out, looking at the room.

The sight in front of him almost made him faint: there, in the middle of the room, looking confused and lost, in all his blonde glory, was Luhan. His Luhan! He couldn’t help but to gasp the name out loud, gaining the attention of the said male whose head whipped in his direction with such velocity that it actually gave Junmyeon whiplash.

When Luhan’s dark eyes encountered his they lit up, shining brightly in relief and something else that Junmyeon could only glimpse at, since the minute after he was scrambling out of his hiding place, with Amber in tow, to throw himself at the other man, breathing his scent greedily, feasting on the sense of security that it brought even if his mind was yelling him that it was still not safe.

“You’re here! You’re safe!” mumbled Luhan into his neck as he hugged the man tightly, his fingers opening and closing, trying to feel the skin beneath them and assure himself that he hadn’t been dreaming, that this was real.

“What are you doing here?” asked Junmyeon in wonder, completely awed by the other mere presence; he really didn’t know how Luhan could be in here; he was sure that the man wasn’t supposed to be in there.

“I heard you were here…I had to come.” Told Luhan quite honestly making Junmyeon lost for words.

“Are you insane?” managed to mumble Junmyeon, overcoming his own shock at the other’s words. “There are people in here killing students.”

“I am aware of that but I couldn’t simply let you be here without trying to help, without doing something to safe you. I know we promised to go our own separated ways but I that promise did not include you being in a position where your life is in danger.”

“I know that you probably have a lot to say to each other,” began Amber from behind them, interrupting them and their little moment, bringing them back to reality. “but we need to either get out of here or hide; there are people out there trying to kill us.”

“One of them was being led outside by Minseok and Baekhyun.” Relay Luhan. “The other one was out there somewhere.”

“Minseok is here?”

“Of course he is…Baekhyun is here too!”

“Chanyeol is inside too!”

“I know but I don’t know where he is. We need to get you both out of here first.” When Junmyeon looked like he was about to fight his words, Luhan continued. “I know that you don’t want that, I don’t want that either but there is a possibility that Chanyeol might not be alive. I don’t even know if Baekhyun and Minseok managed to bring the other thug to where they wanted. I need to get you out of here first, then we can all think of a solution or at least the Special Forces can do something about it.”

“Joohyun is in here too.” Revealed Junmyeon “I hid her and some other students in the refrigerating chambers of the school’s kitchen after we heard the first shots. I managed to mess up the switch outside but then they were trapped inside when the power went out.”

“Okay.” Breathed Luhan. “Okay, we need to tell that to the agents outside, that’s important.”

Junmyeon nodded, his body relaxing a little and hurting all together due to the stiffness that it had been submitted by the horrifying incident.

“Lovely! Can we do something?” repeated Amber, clearly anxious at being so in the open, much like a waiting duck.

“Where did you come from? How did you get inside?” asked Junmyeon, grabbing Luhan’s arms and squeezing them tightly.

“The greenhouse; Minseok broke the glass pane and opened the door.”

“Isn’t the area surrounded by police?” asked Amber this time, her eyebrows scrunching in confusion.

“It is, we used the sewer passage at the station nearby and used it to approach the greenhouse. The paths brought us near the gym area.” Explained Luhan, grabbing Junmyeon’s hand. “But that was getting in, we need to reach the green house and get out of here using it.”

“That is fantastic!” replied Amber with a look of relief on her face. “Let’s go.”

However, the radiant look on her face, at the prospect of having a way out, morphed into a look of horror as she looked at something behind them, immediately receding a couple of steps, back colliding against the oven behind her, the one she had been hiding in.

Luhan and Junmyeon knew what that expression meant, there was no doubt in their minds, despite that, they still turned around, facing the entrance of the room and stopping to look at Seunghyun’s face, gun raised in midair, ready to shot at the tiniest movement that they could possibly make.

Junmyeon felt a rush of panic growing inside of him, just by looking at the enormous man. He could feel Amber’s shakes from where he once and the only thing that kept him upwards was Luhan’s hold on him.

Luhan…Luhan was the picture of calmness; and if he was true to himself he really wasn’t feeling panicked, although he wasn’t sure why. All he knew, all that it was blasting on his mind was the fact that he would protect Junmyeon even if it was the last thing that he would do; that was the priority. He wasn’t even afraid to die if that meant that Junmyeon was safe.

However, the words coming out from the man’s mouth surprised them all.

“I won’t hurt you.” He told him, a deep bass voice that contrasted with the softness of the sound.

At the incredulity painting the faces of the trio in front of him, Seunghyun sighed deeply before leaning on the wall, his hands moving to remove all the bullets from the gun and dropping them to the floor.

“You know,” began Seunghyun in a low tone of voice. “at first, when Jiyong wanted to do this, when he talked me into this, I agreed. I agreed to easily. I was with him when he found his sister you know? Lifeless, on top of her bed, a bottle of pills beside her. I saw how broken he was. It was never easy to live his life, with so many hardships and trying so hard to fill in the shoes of the pillar of his broken family of his family and all of this happens! They were pushed into a problem that wasn’t even theirs to begin with and all this happened. I wanted revenge. I wanted revenge just as much as he wanted. But, after I got inside and start actually shooting people, feeling the warm blood spraying on my skin, seeing the bodies, the lifeless bodies, hit the floor and realizing how many families I just broke made me feel guilty.”

The trio was just looking at the taller man with wide eyes, feeling confused and honestly horrified at the words that came out of his mind.

“I could kill him you know? The kid with the bright eyes; the kid that was holding her” he said pointing at Amber, who mumbled a little ‘Baekhyun, catching the attention of Luhan and Junmyeon who looked at her in surprise. “and looked over me terrified but so ready to sacrifice himself for her. And I couldn’t…I just couldn’t. Like I can’t now! I can’t; I can’t keep doing this.”

He let the gun fell to floor, looking so weary and so defeated that for a second Junmyeon felt a surge of affection, mixed with enormous amounts of pity, for the man.

“I cannot keep doing this. I’ve broke to many families for the man I love, I destroyed many things I believe in and I don’t to do it anymore. Her sister would be devastated.” He told them nodding at Amber. “I know your sister. She’s nice and she always speaks so well of her family.”

“And you, you two are so in love with each other. It’s so noticeable…Just go!” he said finally “Go and live your lives. Tell them I am here and I am not armed. I’ll be waiting.”

With an air of serenity and peacefulness, as if he was perfectly aware of his fate, and didn’t care a , Seunghyun moved to the large window of the room, looking outside with a contemplative look.

At first, no one moved, afraid that this was a sickening game on the man’s part; that somehow he was going to turn back on his word and killed them when they weren’t expecting.

The first to actually move was Amber, losing the fear and moving tentatively forward; it was only a small step but that small step gave her strength to one more and then another until she began running out of the room, tears of relief falling from her eyes and she went.

Junmyeon and Luhan remained where they were, tightly holding each other, in disbelief, not knowing what to do. The man’s speech had left them without any reaction, paralyzed.

Seunghyun didn’t look at them but his soft voice reached them clearly.

“Go. Don’t waste another minute in here, run along and live a long, loving life together.”

And that was what made them move. They didn’t hesitate like Amber, they didn’t even pause to fully listen to Seunghyun’s deep, soothing voices, they simply grabbed each other’s hand and they ran, outside, where everybody was expecting them.

Time, they decided, wasn’t to be lost, especially given what they had gone through, instead, they thanked heavens above the gift of being alive and prayed that everyone was also okay, like them. Just like them.

As soon as Junmyeon and Luhan were out the police immediately came to them, asking a vast amount of questions, mainly concerning their health and the other shooter, to which they replied swiftly, trying to weave their way into the crowd and get to someone that he knew; Junmyeon also let them know where Joohyun and the other were hidden but being far too concern about his closest friends to actually stay and see, with his own eyes.

The first thing he saw were Yixing and Jongin looking worriedly in their direction, trying to access who was rescued out of the building. As soon as they noticed who it was, they burst forward, hugging them tightly, and relief evident in their faces.

“God!” mumbled Yixing into Junmyeon’s hair, squeezing the man to himself, while Jongin patted Luhan’s back, helping the blonde man to sit down since he was a little bit winded due to the intensive running he had done. “I was so worried about you two. Everybody was already out and Baekhyun told us you were there…”

“Baekhyun managed to get out?” interrupted Junmyeon, suddenly far more concerned about the other male since he, himself, was doing okay, just a little shaken.

“Yes, he did!” confirmed Jongin. “He was out with Minseok and Chanyeol did too. Everyone is at the hospital though, they were sent there after an evaluation from the paramedics?”

Junmyeon’s expression turned worries and his eyebrows furrowed at the words coming out from Jongin’s mouth.

“What happened?” asked Luhan, voice cracking up in the middle of the sentence, worried that the answer he could, possibly, get.

“Chanyeol jumped from the building he was in to the infirmary rooftop, he might’ve broken his nose; his face is a little bruised. Wendy was with him and she broke her arm, she was a little battered. Baekhyunnie and Minseok arrived like half an hour before you got there. It was frightening to say the least, the shooter open fire at them and managed to hit Minseok but it was very superficial, just a bandage necessary but Baekhyun fainted a little after. Paramedics said it was probably the shock of the experience; Sehun almost had a heart attack: he first sees a bloody Minseok and then, after they put him in the ambulance to take him to the hospital, Baekhyun collapses. But he was fine. They both are.”

“I need to go to hospital. We all need to go and find out their current state right now.” Declared Junmyeon firmly “We need to check on Baekhyunnie, Minseok and Chanyeol, make sure that Sehun isn’t stabbing someone to death because of his lovers and to see how my brother is fairing…He was here wasn’t he?”

“Of course he was. He rode with Chanyeol to the hospital. He was worried, of course but since Chanyeol was rather okay, Jongdae was okay too.” Nodded Jongin, who now approached Junmyeon to give the man a gentle hug, knowing that the older must have his nerves all wrecked; this situation, although surpassed, was proven to leave everyone slightly frazzled.

“I just want to see Joohyun and then I want to go to the hospital to see them.” Told Junmyeon to Jongin, leaning against the hard planes of the younger man, suddenly feeling very tired.

“Joohyun? You found Joohyun? Wendy was asking for her, she knew she was here.”

“Joohyun is safe, I helped her. The agents must be getting her right now and the others hiding with her.”

“How did you manage to escape?” asked Yixing, hand coming to wipe his own face, his tiredness catching up with him, now that the relief was finally settling in.

“He let us out.” Mumbled Junmyeon, now needing Jongin’s help to sit on the ground, the events that had recently transpired finally catching up with him.

“What?” asked Yixing, not really understanding Junmyeon’s words.

“He let us out Yixing; he told us he couldn’t do it anymore, that he had started and that he couldn’t finish and simply let us out.” Replied Luhan tiredly.

Yixing and Jongin eyed each other, surprise and shock painting all of their faces.

“Don’t ask; we don’t really understand it either.”

A commotion behind them made them look back and they saw a handcuffed Seunghyun, his expression calm and serene despite the situation, walking through the school ground and being put inside of a car.

Jiyong, who was in another car, was screaming bloody murder; he was too far for them to actually understand anything that he was saying, they could see the desperation in his eyes when he noticed what was going on. What Junmyeon didn’t know was if it was desperation that his plan hadn’t worked as it should, or that he was seeing his lover being arrested. A part of him, sympathetic, but not quite, with Seunghyun, wished that the correct option was the second one, especially after noticing how much love the taller male held for his smaller counterpart.

As the police cars drove away, Junmyeon saw as the rescue teams brought frightened students out, including the group where Joohyun had been. The girl had been ecstatic to see him and even hugged him, tears in her eyes, thanking him for sacrificing himself to ensure her and the other’s security.

Despite his words, Junmyeon and the other actually stood on the grounds until the body bags begun to be brought outside. He had declared, very softly, almost in a whisper, to Luhan, that he didn’t have the stomach to watch the scene, so they got inside Yixing’s car, who gave his keys for Jongin to drive, stating that the younger was the one in a better headspace at the moment,

The journey to the hospital had been silent and Junmyeon, who was sitting in the back next to Luhan, actually burrowed himself into Luhan’s side, enjoying the comforting heat of the other’s body. Everyone was tired and some of them had a lot of unwanted images flashing incessantly through their heads.

As soon as they enters, Junmyeon chose to actually see Wendy first, feeling reassured that the girl was being put a cast on, Joohyun at her side, as her parents and older sister, supporting them. She had given her a warm smile and trade kind words with everyone present. Yixing had questioned his choice, asking him why he chose to visit other people first, instead of just going where he wanted to.

Junmyeon kindly explained that he needed to see the people that had been helped by Chanyeol and Baekhyun, to assure Chanyeol and Baekhyun after, he knew they would ask. He also revealed that seeing them, helped to control the anger he felt at the fact that his friends had been hurt; that he could then go inside their rooms and not feel so bad, and knowing that their state helped someone in the process.

After Wendy, Junmyeon stopped to talk to Amber, someone that Jongin had revealed that Baekhyun had helped. It had been very brief, just a smile and a hug before moving to see Minseok.

Minseok had been in a room and greeted them with a tired smile, a nurse near him putting a large bandage on his wound, telling Minseok all of the cared he should have given his stitches.

“You had to be stitched?” asked Yixing, approaching the man as the nurse felt the room.

“Yeah…” replied the other male “Weren’t that many though: six stiches to a small patch were the wound was a little large, but it was otherwise fine. I am a little more worried at Baekhyun though.”

“Did the doctors say what the problem was?”

“It was the shock really. He was tired due to exams; the situation was a very stressful one and he just collapse. He is resting but okay. Sehun was with him but I would rather one of you just takes him home… he was crying his eyes out early on and he his exhausted due to all of his projects for finals week. He needs to rest and this isn’t helping, he had an anxiety attack when Baek collapsed and the paramedic even suggested giving him half of a sleeping pill just for him to sleep properly through the night.”

“We’ll take him to my house.” Concluded Junmyeon with a nod “It’s familiar, he spends a lot of time there… Actually, let us all spend the night in there, I have available space, I can give Chanyeol and Jongdae my bed…And we can move a mattress into my office, for you both. We need to stay together today; we need the reassurance.”

Yixing nodded and didn’t oppose; no one did: the words just spoken by Junmyeon made perfect sense: every single one of them was very tired and the emotions that ran throughout the day had made them frail and in need of human contact and reassurance; in other, simpler, words: they needed each other. They needed each other, to see each other and touch each other, to guarantee themselves that everything was alright.

Minseok jumped from the stretcher he was onto and slipped into to shirt that his tall lover provided him; Sehun was a big t-shirt and shirt abider and he had immediately donate his shirt to him when he noticed the ruined shirt he had been wearing; although it was a little big on him, Sehun was much taller, but rather tight since Sehun was also a little lither than him, he was far more buff, after all, no one liked sports like he did.

“Thank you Junmyeon!” he told him gratefully, with a warm and relieved smile.

“It’s not a problem.” Smiled Junmyeon, before making a small gesture that indicated he would like to keep his visits, a gesture that was immediately agreed upon by the others, especially Minseok.

They asked around and managed to find Baekhyun’s room without any problem, easily finding the small raven haired man sitting on a bed, seeming very alert, while Sehun was next to him fussing about the small male, who smiled at him gently, despite the tiredness crinkling around his eyes.

“Baekhyun…”

“Minseok! Are you okay?” asked the smaller man while Sehun moved from one man to another, firmly encasing Minseok in his arms, gathering the small man in his arms and squeezing him, glad that he was okay. There was a whispered conversation between them and Junmyeon let them be at the moment, moving forward to hug Baekhyun.

“I am so glad you are safe!” mumbled the older man into the younger’s hair. “You are positively insane! What were you thinking, having him going after you like that? What if you had been hurt?”

“I’m okay Myeon.” Comforted the younger, using the nickname he used on the older man so many times, a sign of their affectionate relationship they had. “We are all fine. Let us rejoice over the fact that we are alive.”

Junmyeon looked at the younger man, with misty eyes, and just nodded, not really wanting to argue with the other and his, in Junmyeon’s opinion, rash behavior earlier. Well, Junmyeon thought it as rash, at least, since his heart went straight up into his mouth when he realized what Baekhyun had done.

“Are you okay?” he asked to the younger.

“I am. Just tired and a little anxious; I feel like I have just arrived from war. The things I saw…I can’t un-see them, they are constantly running on a loop through my mind and I feel…I don’t even know how I feel.” Expressed Baekhyun, picking a piece of lint from the bedsheets and twisting it in his hands; he did in fact, look like he had aged a couple of years in some mere hours, but then again, Junmyeon believed all of them did. What he had seen, was not a joke and he was trying his best to erase the images from his mind although he was certain that they would gave them nightmares for a long time.

“I know! I know.” He told Baekhyun sadly, gently running his fingers through the soft hair. After a few moments of silence he questioned Baekhyun about being released from the hospital.

“The doctors said that I should be able to go home tonight. They are just waiting for the saline solution to be gone,” He said pointing to the IV drip connected to the back of his hand. “to do another checkup but they say I am fine enough.”

“That’s good. Are you feeling okay?”

“Physically? Yes! Otherwise, I am not so sure.”

“Understandable.”

After that there was not much to be said. Although they had survived, they both knew, Chanyeol as well, what it was like to be trapped in a situation that they didn’t want to, a deadly one. Luhan and Minseok, although to a lower level, knew and understood what they have seen and how horrifying it had been, but the actual running around, hiding and tiny spots, escaping that and feeling much like a prey waiting to be killed… that was all on them. They had been there since it’s started and had surviving all, but while they did survive, and were actually glad for it, they couldn’t help but to think at everything that they had seen, experienced and lived.

When Minseok and Sehun finally ended their conversation, with a long and desperate kiss, they both moved to cuddle with Baekhyun, who greeted them with open arms, they left the room. Jongin and Yixing told them that they were going quickly to the hospital cafeteria to eat something up, finally gathering some appetite, after the gut wrenching ball of nerves that hadn’t allowed them to do so yet, while Luhan and Junmyeon moved to Chanyeol’s room.

Chanyeol was happy to see them, strangely happy, with an excessive amount of hysteria that was atypical; Chanyeol was usually very calm and composed.

“Pain killers.” Jongdae’s voice told them, guessing the question solely by their faces. His brother stood up from the chair he had been sitting, next to the taller man, and opted for sitting at the bottom of the hospital bed. “They realign his nose and his face is… a little messed up, so they gave him some pain killers and, as you can see, he is not very good with it.”

Chanyeol, with gashes adorning his cheeks and cheek, looked slightly like a raccoon. The fall he had, which made him land on his face, while not grave enough to scar him, had broken his nose and the bruise had extended from the bridge of it onto his cheekbones and eyes. It was not a pretty sight but Junmyeon was glad it had been something minor.

“Is he coming home today?” asked Luhan behind him, looking with raised eyebrows at the tall man.

“He is the doctors are just waiting to see if he has any type of reaction to the medicine they gave him.”

“Junmyeoooon.” Sang Chanyeol, looking slightly drunk and pretty much out of it, making Jongdae slightly grimace when his voice cracked. “Dae is my official fiancé. He asked me to marry him.”

Junmyeon turned into Jongdae with surprised eyes, looking at his brother, trying to confirm the news. When he saw the sheepish smile on Jongdae’s face, he knew that it was true.

“Oh my…congratulations!” he cheered, approaching his brother to hug him tightly; he could see so well the happiness radiating from his brother and it had been such great news to brighten up such a horrible day. Also, he was very much aware that his brother and Chanyeol were meant to each other; never once in his life had Junmyeon seen someone who loved as strongly as the both of them. “I am so happy for you!”

“I know you are.” whispered Jongdae in his ear while Chanyeol asked Luhan for a hug too, since he was also part of the engagement, making Luhan laugh hoarsely before complying. “Because you love me as I love you.”

“I do!” whispered Junmyeon quietly, feeling the curve of Jongdae’s smile against his skin.

“You should. You are my best man!” revealed Jongdae to a rapidly honored Junmyeon. “Who else would I chose?”

“When are you getting married?” asked Junmyeon excitedly.

“Well, we are on March and while I love the spring time, I would rather prefer a fall wedding, so maybe September or October. Chanyeol agreed on that, so maybe between those.”

“Tell me more!” begged Junmyeon, sitting beside his brother and happily chatting with him, for once content at something and clear of the dark thoughts that, once in a while, roamed too far from comfort in his mind.

They left the hospital in the evening, Jongin driving a car with some of them while a taxi took the rest, courtesy of Yixing. The ride to Junmyeon’s house had been very quiet, everyone feeling drained beyond reason.

With everyone else’s help, it had been fairly easy to distribute everyone into a nice, comfortable place to sleep. Jongdae and Chanyeol had taken Junmyeon’s bed while the trio, Minseok, Sehun and Baekhyun, went to the latter’s room, the bed barely enough to fit them all, which none of them minded, since the lack of space was actually welcomed. Yixing and Jongin had stayed in Junmyeon’s office; the room was spacious and ample, which allowed them to put down a mattress, the old mattress of the bed that used to be on Baekhyun’s, now, bedroom. Junmyeon had meant to give that to charity, since it was had a good quality and in great condition, but he had never done so which proven to be useful today. With clean sheets and doughy comforters, along with soft pillows, Jongin and Yixing had been left to sleep very comfortably.

He and Luhan were meant to sleep on the sofas at the living room and while Luhan was doing so, eyes closed, resting all cocooned on his blankets, the silent of the house being more than enough to fall asleep soon, Junmyeon found himself too anxious to sleep.

He wasn’t quite sure that it was due to the events of the day, although they played a big part, but now, being in the same space with Luhan, after the said events, after the two of them had hugged each other to death, despite having a promise to let each other go…it was too much, it was awkward and asphyxiating; he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Junmyeon let his warm blankets fall to the side, feeling the cold air hitting his skin causing goose bumps to appear. He contemplated Luhan’s face for a while, feeling a swirl of confusing and not that confusing feelings resurface and dominating his heart, numbing his head all together.

Without making any noise, he padded into the kitchen, turning up the lights and regulating the intensity of it to a dull glow that wasn’t bright enough to blind him after being so much time in the darkness. With a small sigh, he grabbed his trustworthy tea bags from a cabinet and boiled water to make himself a hot tea. Maybe it would sooth him enough for him to be able to sleep and rest.

When done, he poured the tea into his favorite mug, a bright colored mug that Jongdae had offered him, and walked to the window, gazing into the night as he sipped his beverage.

It was quiet; it was calm, until a soft voice brought him up from his reverie.

“Can we talk?”

Junmyeon turned slowly, his heart beating wildly when he saw Luhan’s silhouette in the doorway. It took him a while to answer, torn between saying yes and now for a moment, before placing is mug on the kitchen island, with a small sigh.

“Yes! We can.”  

A/N: Hello everyone, how have you been doing? I am really hoping that very well. I apologize for the lack of update for so long but work started and it's been a struggle to go back into routine, especially with newly added tasks that I am still trying to get the gist. I hope you like the chapter, as I promised, every single one of them is very much okay and were not harmed. How did YOU feel about the chapter? What do you think of it? About Seunghyun's words? About the little gestures by Junmyeon? Please, let me know all about it either by a simple subscription, an upvote, a comment or a private message.
The next chapter will be the last one and 'Smoking Mirrors' will reach its end. Such a journey!
As usual, please, be safe, be healthy, love and be loved and be so very HAPPY!
Lots of love to you all, have an amazing weekend!
<3