Chanyeol suspected… no, he was sure Ken had told Nara to arrange her first date at the Black Pearl because the man had been glaring at him from the counter ever since he'd arrived. And this was the third time he'd taken out the huge butcher's knife on the pretext of cleaning it – though what was it doing here in the first place when this was a coffee shop, Chanyeol wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Besides, he couldn't expect the Beagles' right hand man to be intimidated so easily.

Rolling his eyes, still irritable because of his earlier non-argument with Baekhyun, he focused on the table in front of him, tapping his fingers. He wanted to be calm before Nara arrived but it wasn't working if the slight smoke rising beneath his fingers was any indication.

Sighing, he leaned back and ran a hand over his face, his palm feeling overheated.

So, he might've overreacted – he was willing to admit that much. After all, all Kris had really done was swap places with Baekhyun… something his Shadow was quite generous with, if Chanyeol actually thought about it. It still didn't change anything between them – he thought that as loudly as he could so Kris wouldn't be confused – but he'd be the bigger guy here and admit he'd been getting angry for no reason.

It wasn't like he enjoyed being angry – heck, it went against his basic code and vow to be happy no matter what – but dammit, this was his Shadow, the person he was closest to after his mate. He thought his anger was justified, even if it hurt.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the man sliding in front of him but the sound of a palm smacking on the table made him look up.

Apparently Ken had decided it was time for face to face confrontation.

'What?' Chanyeol sighed, not in the mood to entertain anyone but Nara.

'Just wanted to remind you that I have my eyes on you,' Ken smiled, playing with the butcher's knife in his hand, 'and if you try anything funny with my baby…'

He really was in no mood to listen and the knife was beginning to irritate the hell out of him. So he leaned over and snatched it from between Ken's fingers with ease, smirking at the shocked expression on his face and threw the knife with enough force that it dug into the wall opposite him.

'I heard you the first time,' he told the bartender, 'now leave me alone.'

Ken eyed him up and down suspiciously before standing up and heading over to the wall, probably to pull the knife out. Chanyeol watched the guy struggle for a few minutes before leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

He would think of no one but Nara.

As if his thoughts had conjured her, the door opened and a whiff of her intoxicating scent reached him, calming him down almost instantaneously. An unconscious smile spread on his face as he straightened, glancing around.

She looked prettier than ever and it was enough to drive everything else out of his mind. He waved at her to gain her attention, then smiled when their eyes met. She smiled in return, heading straight towards him, hands holding numerous pages and a laptop – no doubt to share her research and decide what they could add or exclude in their scale - and he couldn't wait to get cracking.

'Ugh,' Ken muttered a few feet away, 'what are you, Merlin?' as he pulled at the knife again before finally giving up. He turned, saw Nara headed towards Chanyeol and glared at the Legend in warning ('Remember!', he mouthed) before heading back to his spot.

'Hello!' Nara said, soon as she was within hearing range.

'Hi,' he called back cheerfully. Let the date begin!

…………………………….

The best and quite possibly the worst thing about hanging out with Nara, Chanyeol discovered, was that she had absolutely no sense of personal space.

She sat too close, leg brushing against his, as she arranged all the papers and her laptop on the table in front of them, then all but leaned into his side as she pointed out the various articles she'd downloaded and read through, discussing various ideas.

He tried to keep up with her the best he could, offering whatever input he could but it was becoming increasingly hard because he kept getting distracted by her profile. And this close, her scent was way too potent, making the beast rise inside him – it was already too close to the surface, seeing as Chanyeol had yet to claim her, along with his earlier tussle.

So he was becoming increasingly aware of the softness pressing against his arm as Nara shifted to press some keys on her laptop, pulling up a window where she'd noted down the different questions.

'I was thinking that a Likert type scoring key would be best…' She turned to look at him, brows furrowed seriously and looking so damn good. Chanyeol swallowed.

'Uh hu…' he mumbled noncommittally, trying to subtly shift away because he was just seconds away from embarrassing himself if she kept pressing into him like that.

She shifted right along with him, one of her hands landing briefly on the inside of his thigh, fingers pressing down and fire shot down his back. He sat up suddenly straighter, hurriedly pulling the hefty book on scale development into his lap. Behind the counter, Ken cast him a dirty look, no doubt guessing what had happened.

'… so there's more range in responses but I think adding a qualitative dimension is necessary.'

He swallowed as her voice went south and cleared his throat loudly in hopes of distracting himself. He hadn't known this but from the way his body was reacting, he definitely had a thing for intelligent talk. Damn, it was so y…

'Chanyeol?' She asked and that went south too. Okay, so maybe it was just her voice.

'Hmm?' He hoped the smoke coming out of his nostrils was his imagination.

'Are you alright?' She looked up at him, too close, and Chanyeol gulped.

'Water…' he croaked out, coughing and grimacing when smoke emitted from his mouth. He flapped a hand, hoping to dispel it before anyone noticed.

She looked concerned as she slid out, hurrying towards the counter and Chanyeol straightened with a groan, picking up the book to ease the pressure off his sensitive areas. Dammit, he hadn't figured this could happen when he'd thought about hanging out with her. Crap.

He took the time she was away to compose himself, breathing deeply and thinking gross thoughts – Baekhyun's stinky feet, Chen's creepy grin when he was pulling a prank, Tao's hairy legs – anything to distract himself from her scent which seemed to be clinging to his skin and had himself almost under control by the time she returned, Ken in tow.

'Everything okay?' he asked, glaring at him suspiciously as he put the jug and glasses on table.

'Cool.' Chanyeol replied, bracing himself for her again.

It was worse than the first time because he was anticipating it. All his senses seemed focused on nothing but Nara – the slightest shift in her body, the light brush of her arm against his, the cadence of her voice, her scent pressing against his nostrils – and by the time their coffee came – they'd ordered before Ken left – he was ready to combust.

'Why do your eyes turn red?' Nara's voice penetrated the thick haze surrounding his brain and he blinked, surprised.

'Excuse me?'

'Your eyes,' she pointed at his with two fingers before taking a sip from her coffee, looking frankly curious, 'Why do they turn red?'

'Er…' He had no idea what to say to that.

'They turned red that time at the basketball court…' She looked disturbingly calm for someone discussing decidedly unusual events. 'And when you asked for water.'

He blinked.

'They're still red.' His eyes widened in surprise, panicking; she smiled around the rim of her cup, 'There's smoke too… like last time.'

Crap.

…………………………………………….

He ended up doing the only thing he could think of – he ran.

'I need to go.' He muttered, standing up and rushing towards the door.

'Chanyeol?' She sounded confused and he felt guilty leaving like this but what the hell could he say?

Don't look back, don't look back…`

If he did, he'd be tempted to stop and explain and he had no idea how he would do that. Besides, explaining his powers in the middle of a coffee shop? Not a good idea.

He was opening the door when she stepped beside him, making him nearly jump out of his skin.

'Nara, what…?'

'We didn't say goodbye properly,' she told him, a faint blush tainting her cheeks.

'Proper…?' He turned, having already stepped out of the shop. She nodded, looking expectant and Chanyeol blinked, momentarily forgetting why he was running off. What was a proper goodbye to a first da- oh. Oh.

She was so not helping him, being so cutely clueless. She had no idea how precarious his hold was on himself right now – he'd barely held back from spontaneously combusting… yes, in his case, it was an actual possibility and now, here she was. Practically asking him to ravage her…

Hold your horses Romeo, he chided himself, she just asked for a goodbye kiss. Probably on the cheek.

Surely he could control himself enough for a single peck, right? And then, he'd run off before she could ask him more awkward questions he wasn't ready to answer.

Glancing up and down the street to make sure it was empty – he did not want an audience if his hair caught fire because he felt too hot – and very glad that Ken was busy dealing with customers at the moment, he leaned down, heading for her cheek.

She rose on tiptoes, catching his lips against hers.

Fire, hotter than any he could create, shot through him, starting from the point where their lips touched and spreading to his fingertips and down to his toes with enough force to make him stumble. His head literally felt like it was on fire and…

SMASH!!!!

…it felt like he'd been knocked upside the head, his knees banging into the wall from the force. 

Wait, ow! He had been knocked upside the head and it was enough to pull him out of the daze she had him under.

The ? Had he… , he had!

The power thrumming inside him gave an almighty churn, making him shudder as smoke rose from his fingertips which had somehow found their way around her waist, yanking her into his body. As the jacket underneath his fingertips began to smolder, he hurriedly pushed her back inside the shop and ran away with all his might.

What the hell had he done?!? , , !!!

It wasn't until he was back at their temporary quarters, locking himself inside his room – he was in no mood to talk to anyone, let alone explain why he'd set the carpet on fire on his way in – that he realized his head was aching and not because there was too much power build-up.

He glanced in the mirror and stared at the dust-covered spectacle in confusion. A broken shard was sticking out of his hair, soil caught in the folds of his jacket and down his collar, covering his neck and blood was mixing into the soil, leaking somewhere from his head.

It was the leaves, seemingly growing out his head that gave it away.

Apparently, a potted plant had crashed into his head.

He got only that far before passing out.

……………………………

Nara was in a shock, both from her rather forceful first kiss and the fact that a pot – thick and very, very hard – had crashed into Chanyeol's head. He'd pushed her back as he responded, quite ardently, to her a mere moment before it had struck him.

She wasn't sure if she was in shock over her near scrape with death or the fact that he had taken a hard hit to the head, possibly sustained serious injury and had just run off without even giving her a chance to check if he was alright.

From the remains shattered into the concrete, thankfully, most of the pot had missed his head but it still didn't exclude the possibility of gashes or concussion, at the very least.

Ken came dashing out a minute later, looking horrified as she felt. 'Oh my god, are you okay? What the hell was that?'

She silently pointed to the floor, where soil and remaining shards of the pot were visible. He cursed under his breath before grabbing her shoulders, turning her around to make sure she wasn't hurt.

'I'm fine…' she muttered, still dazed, 'he pushed me back.'

'Good thing he did, this could've killed you.'

She swallowed. 'It hit him.'   

Ken stilled, glancing at her and then at the remains on the floor before cursing again. 'Where is he?'

'He ran away.'

He let out a sigh, rubbing his palm over his face before pushing her back. 'Go sit down, I'll see if he's okay,' Seeing the reluctance on her face, he smiled reassuringly, 'though the fact that he could still run probably means he wasn't hit that hard, right?'

She didn't say anything. Chanyeol was different, she knew that – why else would his eyes turn red like they did? Or smoke surround him like he was about to combust? But that did not mean he wasn’t seriously injured. At least half the pot had smashed into his head and she was surprised to notice that she was worried.

As a general rule, her worry extended only to Ken and Tae and her immediate family because she didn't make strong enough emotional bonds with anyone else. But she really liked Chanyeol – apparently enough to even worry if he was okay.

She didn't even feel up to celebrating the fact that she could feel this much for someone besides her… friends, instead worrying her lip as she waited for Ken.

He came in around ten minutes later, breathing heavily as if he'd been running.

'He wasn't passed out anywhere on the street, thank goodness,' he told her, holding his side as he caught his breath. 'So I'm assuming he's fine.'

Nara wasn't satisfied and Ken, as usual, seemed to understand. 'We can have Tae ask Baekhyun – he's friends with Chanyeol, right?'

She nodded, relaxing significantly and leaned back into her chair as Ken whipped his phone out.

With her initial worry settled, her mind drifted to the kiss. Her first kiss.

It was a lot more than what Tae had made it out to be, actually. Of course Tae had told her it was extremely nice – and Nara had thought she could understand how kissing someone might be pleasurable after reading so much about it – but Nara hadn’t expected the literal fireworks exploding inside your stomach sensation.

It was amazing. No, it was beyond amazing.

She'd spent the better part of her research on what constituted romance and how she could incorporate it into her relationship with Chanyeol, doing her best to imagine every scenario as explicitly as possible. One her professors had advised her to use imagery to help her concept formation, so she'd done that and she had to admit, she'd been very excited about her date, at the prospect of doing even half of those things she'd read.

Of course, kissing him had been on the top of the list – right after touching his throat, preferably with her lips, as he talked so she could feel his voice; she suspected it would vibrate and she wanted to feel those vibrations travel into her with an intensity that was rather surprising.

So basically, she'd spent a good part of her research time imagining how it would feel to have his lips mold against hers, feel the pliant flesh beneath hers, maybe feel it between her teeth before they progressed further.

It was everything she'd imagined. And more, lots more. She had expected to feel the pleasurable tingle down her spine, the flood of heat in her lower belly.

She'd been wholly unprepared for the feeling like she'd been hit by a literal thunderbolt and the sudden flood of emotions inside her. It had felt like she'd touched something beyond his skin, like with a mere touch of her lips against his, she'd opened up a portal through which she could peek inside him… and all she saw was herself. Needed, wanted, loved.

It had her feeling unreasonably hot and… needy. Like she was thirsty and his lips were the only way to quench it. He'd pushed her back then, against the door and that's when the pot had crashed, jolting her out of the daze. And then, he'd run off.

'Baekhyun says he got home safely, so nothing to worry about,' Ken read the message he'd received from Tae, jolting Nara out of her reminiscence. She felt a tension lift from her shoulders and smiled, finally relaxing.

Then she jolted again, hurriedly standing up and looking around. Ken backed up, 'Whoa, everything okay?'

'I need to note this down,' she fretted, hurrying towards the table where she'd left her notes and laptop, 'before the experience fades.'

'What?'

She glanced over her shoulder, smiling excitedly. 'My first kiss!'

……………………………………

Kris broke down the door to Chanyeol's room to get him out as Baekhyun hovered worriedly behind him, Lay in tow.

Kris had felt the sudden jolt of too much power and the abrupt, phantom ache through his link with Chanyeol and had immediately hurried over, not caring that it counted as abandoning his post. Small fires and sooty footsteps marked the way to Chanyeol's room and it was all enough to have them all worried.

He'd knocked on the door, demanding that he open it when Baekhyun had received the text from Tae, asking him if Chanyeol was alright because he'd taken a hit to the head.

That had been the last straw and Kris, with the others backing him, had kicked his way in, only to find his Shadow passed out on the floor, blood pooling beside his head.

Before he or Baekhyun could panic though, Lay pushed them aside and sank to his knees beside him, picking out shards from his hair and probing around the scalp, looking for the gash. A few moments later, he'd closed his eyes, healing the Legend.

As color returned to Chanyeol's cheeks, Baekhyun sank to the floor in relief. Kris dithered for moment, wanting to respect his Shadow's wishes before deciding what Chanyeol didn't know couldn’t hurt him.

When Lay was done, he moved to the side to let Kris pick Chanyeol up so they could clean him up and carry him off to bed.Afterwards, they gathered into the living room, the others joining them as well.

'Don't run off like that again,' D.O reprimanded Kris. He nodded, not looking repentant at all.

'What happened?' Suho asked. All any of them knew was that Chanyeol had arrived in a real state and had been injured, though no one knew how. Or why.

'Wasn't he, like, on a date?' Sehun muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Tao.

'I asked Tae to ask Nara what happened – maybe she can tell.' Baekhyun's phone beeped at the same instance. 'Oh, she replied. Uh…' He read through the text, frowning a little..

'It seems like an accident,' he spoke, looking up, 'Apparently a potted plant fell from the top of the building and it hit Chanyeol's head when he stepped out from the shop… does Xiumin have any houseplants?'

They looked at each other for a moment before Suho's cellphone rang; he glanced down at it in surprise before answering. 'Hey Xiumin, everything okay?'

It was Chen, calling from Xiumin's phone. 'Ken just told me what happened with Chanyeol… there was a lot of commotion so I came downstairs to check before I left. It seems like something might've displaced one of the pots on the balcony. I checked around the area, nothing seems off though, so I guess this was an accident.'

Suho nodded, one worry put to rest.

'Okay, he took the hit pretty hard but Lay's healed him, so he'll be fine. He's sleeping it off.'

'Thank goodness,' Chen sighed, 'I'll let Nara know – she was quite worried. Xiumin's calling, so I'll hang up now. Bye.'

Assured that it wasn't Evil and that Chanyeol was in no danger except over-sleeping, the Legends dispersed, Suho heading back into the corridor to examine the damage Chanyeol had done to the carpeting and the rest heading back to doing whatever they had been.

Kris hesitated, not sure if the jolt he'd felt was something significant or something he'd imagined before D.O called him. 'C'mon, we need to leave!'

Casting his sleeping Shadow another look, Kris followed D.O out.

………………………………....

A/N

Can you guess what happened?