Quick A/N: Hi sorry I've been gone so long. I was pretty much going to give up on this story but then I got bored and ended up writing like five new pages whoops. Anyway sorry this is a little choppy and for my terrible updating habits. Also thank you for everyone who has read/ left comments/ left kudos I really do appreciate it.

After training Jongin headed straight to the library. Not because he needed a book or wanted to study, but due solely to the noise of the others. He was in a bad mood, and Jongdae’s chattering with Chanyeol and Tao was doing no help.

He shouldn’t have been surprised when Luhan found him a few minutes later, his favourite new practice robes trailing behind him. He looked a little bit ridiculous, Jongin thought privately, with the piles of white sheer fabric dropping near to the floor, but Luhan had a way of being able to pull off ridiculous.

“Hi Kai-shi,” Luhan greeted him, a tired yet cheeky smile on his pink lips, and Jongin only groaned in response. “You okay?”

Jongin looked up, feeling slightly guilty. Luhan was the one who had been suffering through extra training lately, and it showed on his weary face, yet somehow he was asking Jongin if he was okay. Only natural, he supposed. Luhan was always looking out for him. It had been a while since they had talked privately, what with all the changes that had happened in the past few months, but the Telepathic’s presence was as comforting as ever. “Training was so boring today,” Jongin finally said, motioning him over. “I’m just tired.”

“Then you should go to bed,” Luhan pointed out matter-of-factly, sitting with gentle grace upon the arm of Jongin’s chair. “It’s almost nine o’clock.”

“I need to eat first,” Jongin said.

Luhan shrugged, pulling aside his white robes with meticulous fingers. “Then go eat. The books aren’t going to turn into food.”

“I know,” Jongin replied absentmindedly. “I just wanted some quiet.” He looked down at his hands. And then, because he had long stopped trying to hide things from Luhan, he added, “I was awful in training today.”

“You have been a little bit off lately,” Luhan agreed, without hesitation. Jongin snorted, about to spit out some quip about his lack of support, but then he saw that Luhan’s mouth was pursed in genuine concern. “That’s why I came to find you, Jongin. Are you okay?”

Jongin shrugged. He sensed somehow that Luhan was going out of his way to check on him, and an explanation felt owed. “I think so. I just- I can’t-” he let out an exasperated sigh, unable to explain.

“You can’t focus,” Luhan supplied helpfully. “Something distracting you?” With this he placed a smooth hand over Jongin’s, a teasing smile on his face. Jongin shot him a look. Luhan’s fingers laced in between his, the smile turning into a giggle, and Jongin rolled his eyes. It had been a long time since Luhan had looked at him that way, but one glance was enough to tell that he was kidding. His lithe figure had been a good body to experiment on, back when Jongin first wanted to, but those times were long past, like distant music in the wind.

Luhan took his hand back, his face going serious. “There is something, though.”

Jongin didn’t bother to argue with him on that one. “Minseok will be looking for you,” he said instead, to change the subject. “You should go be see your partner instead of me.”

“He’s with Mr. Lee. He’s been chosen for some special project. They’re discussing it now- he said it might involve me too,” Luhan said, as if it was a tidbit of casual information. “I think that’s why I’ve been doing extra training.”

Jongin raised his eyebrows, awaiting more explanation, but none came. “Anyway, don’t try to change the subject,” Luhan said, amused. “We’re talking about you, not Minseok.”

“I wasn’t talking about anything before you decided to interrupt my peace and quiet,” Jongin shot back.

Luhan laughed, a sweet sound. “Don’t be sassy. I want to help you.”

Jongin sighed, giving in. Recently the supervisors had been particularly hard on the Telepathic during training, and in a way he sensed that Luhan’s sudden concern was his way of trying to earn some of his confidence back. “It’s just been the past week or so. I just can’t focus.” He looked down at his hands again. “I don’t know what’s going on. It’s not like school is hard or anything- honestly, classes are a breeze when Kyungsoo can just explain everything you don’t understand, and my hours are so short right now since I’m just doing analysis in training.” He paused, biting his lip. “Which is boring as hell, but that doesn’t explain why I’m so unfocused.”

Luhan thought for a moment, contemplating this, and then abruptly held out a hand in offer, eyebrows raised. Jongin shook his head. “No. No offense Lu, but I never liked you rummaging around my mind for answers.”

“No, you just liked what came after,” Luhan shot back, his tired eyes twinkling with that teasing sweetness again. Jongin wondered briefly how exhausted the Telepathic must be. He supposed mental training was enough to make flirts of even the most composed.  

“This isn’t the same,” he said.

Luhan shrugged. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still help. Don’t you want to know what’s going on so you can fix it?”

Jongin exhaled loudly, irritated. “Well, yes, but I should be able to do that on my own. It’s weird to have someone else in your head to understand your own problems.”

“An outside perspective helps,” Luhan said patiently. “It’s like therapy.”

Jongin looked at him unhappily, but Luhan could already see he was relenting. He took Jongin’s hand without another word, and they both closed their eyes, lapsing into silence.

It didn’t matter how many times Luhan had done this before; Jongin still hated the feeling of another presence in his head. It was like his skull was twice as heavy, weighted with another set of thoughts. Luckily Luhan’s excavation took under a minute, and he ended it with a knowing “Ah,” his hands leaving Jongin’s with a start.

Jongin’s eyes popped open to see Luhan looking as if he was trying not to laugh. “Well?” he asked impatiently.

“You were wrong,” Luhan said, a smile at the corner of his lips.

“What?”

“When you said this isn’t the same.” His lips tugged up a little further. “It’s exactly the same, actually.”

Jongin looked at him in equal parts bewilderment and exasperation. “What?” he repeated.

“You’ll figure it out,” Luhan said, already gathering his robes around him and standing. “Don’t worry.”

“Luhan!” Jongin called after him as he began to leave. “You can’t not explain my own thoughts to me!” When it was clear that Luhan was not turning back and had no such intention of explaining, Jongin stood too, panicked.  “Luhan! At least give me a clue!”

“Kyungsoo!” Luhan shouted back, already breaking down into laughter, and then he disappeared through the library door. Jongin stared after him, flabbergasted.

Really, he had not the slightest idea what Luhan meant by that.

…Right?

-

Sehun dragged his hands distractedly along the edge of his textbooks, tuning into every other word or so of his friends’ conversation. Baekhyun was doing a painfully terrible impression of the Maths teacher for a laughing Kyungsoo, talking a mile a minute in monotone. They had another fifteen minutes until the next class was to start, and the KAE students were spending them lounging in the hallway that separated the classrooms from the training centre, large bay windows making their shadows harsh against the plush walls. Sehun was perched on one of the many long couches, letting the sunlight from the windows bathe his face in a golden glow.

Kris sat beside him, shoulders tense with agitation. He was displaying his usual sullen silence, amplified somehow by Baekhyun and Kyungsoo laughing a few feet away. Yixing was slumped against him, his eyes closed and possibly sleeping, but unmoving Kris seemed unaware of his presence, gaze fixed into the distance. A common sight over the past few months. Kris always seemed to be preoccupied with something else- personally Sehun thought he hadn’t taken the transition to the Academy very well.   

It didn’t help that the person who Kris was closest to out of the KAE students, Minseok, was missing. He had been absent from various classes for the past few days, gone working and talking with the principal. He was already getting recognition, even after three months.

The same could not be said for Sehun. He hated to admit he was struggling, but the intensity of the program was starting to get to him. He was rightly exhausted, and the thought of enduring another class was painful. He would follow Yixing’s lead and try to nap now, but he didn’t have the balls to fall asleep against Kris. Instead he resorted to playing with his textbooks, trying and failing to study.

He thought again of the Guarders, missing from afternoon classes due to their training schedules. Although it had only been a few months, the KAE students seemed to be lacking when their Guarders weren’t with them. Classes with just the six of them were so much harder than the ones with all twelve.

In particular Sehun yearned to talk to Jongin, who had been especially understanding of his situation when it came to schoolwork. He had been nothing sort of a saviour in Maths.

There was, of course, another face he would not mind seeing.

Sehun wondered if maybe his brain was exceptionally sensitive, because since the Telepathic had first introduced himself inside his mind, he hadn’t been able to get him off his thoughts. His elfin face, his demure smile, the way his blazer sleeves were just a little bit too long- so impossibly lovely.

He had tried to ask his Guarder more questions about Luhan, but Tao seemed to have an immaculate talent of constantly changing IQ. When it came to any personal questions about him or his fellow Guarders, it seemed to drop to number well below 60.

As he fiddled with his textbooks watching Kyungsoo groan at Baekhyun’s terrible jokes, it struck Sehun that there was another way his inquiries about Luhan could be easily answered.

All he had to do was ask somebody else. Like Jongin.

At this idea, suddenly Sehun wasn’t so exhausted anymore. Even the thought of learning more about the pretty Telepathic was enough to make him feel more alive.

-

Kris followed Junmyeon, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. His eyes would not waver from the ground, watching his Guarder’s shiny black shoes take step after quick step. All he could think about was sleep. It was finally the weekend, and a whole two days without classes stretched out gloriously in front of him. But first he had to get through this.

“There they are!” came Jongin’s voice. The hallway opened into a large space, revealing the other ten students lounging about on the common room couches. “We were taking bets on why you were late, Junmyeon.”

“I opted for detention,” Baekhyun chimed in, which earned him an appreciative chuckle from the others. Kris struggled not to roll his eyes, instead taking his seat next to a flustered Junmyeon in front of the TV, his eyes still cast down.

The others began to chat, mostly ignoring the drama playing on the wall-length screen. They had one of these evenings every week, where the Guarders were off training and instead encouraged to ‘mingle’ with the others. Kris wasn’t really sure when they had turned into movie nights, but he had no complaints. It allowed him to pretend to watch instead of talking to the others, which he was currently avoiding at all costs.

Focus, he thought dully, one of his several rings. This particular one had been gifted to him by his father before he had left for the Academy, embossed with a shining silver dragon. It was his father's voice that spoke in his thoughts, quietly urging him on. Focus. It’ll be over soon.

He caught a sliver of reflected TV light in his peripheral and felt his chest tighten. Don’t look, he tried to tell himself, his father's voice fading away, but it was too late. His gaze slid to the right, fingers growing tighter around his ring. It was the metal boy, squeezing and unsqueezing his shiny joints just feet away, casting light in patterns upon the hardwood floor. Like Kris, Tao’s head was dropped downward, his blonde hair falling elegantly just in front of his eyes. As if sensing someone watching him, Tao's eyes shifted, his gaze meeting Kris. For a second they shared a moment of horrible eye contact. Kris swallowed, his jaw tightening into a sneer, and he turned away.

Focus.

-

“Please!”

Jongdae and the other Guarders winced collectively. His body buzzed with agitation, and he felt so sick with electric consummation that it was all he could do not to scream with the voice. The word was followed with another inhuman wail, starting low and then splitting into a screech. The Guarders had been standing in an anxious semi-circle facing the locked door since training had ended, so close their shoulders were touching. Almost every day for the past week Luhan had been kept after hours for extra simulation practice. They had always patiently waited for him, but this was the first time that they had heard him scream.

“This is ridiculous,” Jongin muttered for what felt like the thousandth time. As the minutes had ticked by he had grown only more and more restless. Jongdae was keeping an eye on his clenching fists, one of the telltale signs that he was about to teleport. Junmyeon had put a reassuring hand on Jongin's shoulder, but even he looked worried, the first signs of distress showing in his eyes. Jongdae glanced back at the shut training room door, his hands shaking. The energy from the room was almost consuming him, but he was doing his best not to let it show. This was the first time he had sensed something like this during Luhan’s after training sessions, but he hadn’t told the others. There was nothing they could do, and he didn’t think it would help their states if they knew that Luhan was not just locked in the training room, but was literally drowning in electricity. Jongdae had no idea what it meant, but he knew that the sheer amount of energy in that room could be the sole source of the Telepathic’s screams.

“It’s been twenty minutes,” Jongin said between grit teeth. “What could they be doing to him?”

“He's training,” Tao said from beside him, his voice low. Jongdae turned to look at him. Tao’s stance was totally relaxed, his face serene despite Luhan’s freakish screams. It was unnerving, but Jongdae knew as well as the others that Tao was desensitized only because he had likely experienced way worse than what Luhan was currently going through.

“This is torture,” Jongin spit, shifting from side to side. “I can’t listen to this.”

“Then leave,” Tao said, his face even.

“Tao,” Chanyeol said in protest, but made no real effort to reprimand him. None of them really could get angry at Tao right now, not with the Cuff over his hand.

“No!” the inhuman voice wailed, and Jongdae closed his eyes.

“That’s it,” Jongin snapped. “I’m going in. This isn’t ing training. They have to stop.” He shook Junmyeon’s hand off his shoulder, stepping forward with resolution.

“Jongin,” Jongdae said suddenly, and stuck a panicked arm out to stop him. A wave of nauseating electricity ran down his body, stopping just short of his fingers. “Jongin, I wouldn’t advise that.” He felt Tao shift beside him in surprise.

“And why’s that?” Jongin growled, reaching for the door. Jongdae grabbed for his hand, at first thinking he might be able to just physically intimidate Jongin enough to step back, but his aggression seemed to only anger Jongin further. “For ’s sake, Jongdae-”

“The energy,” Jongdae interrupted him firmly, and felt his own fingers begin to spark as he said the word. “You can’t go in Jongin, I mean it.”

“The hell does that mean?” Jongin demanded, exasperated. “The energy?” He tried to reach for the door again, but this time Chanyeol and Junmyeon held him back, seeming to understand a bit better what Jongdae had meant.

“It’s too dangerous,” Jongdae said faintly, lifting his sparking fingers from Jongin’s chest. “I...I don’t know what they’re doing, but it’s too dangerous.” He fought for his words, glancing at Tao out of the corner of his eye. “The amount of energy in that room...it could kill you.”

“Then what exactly is it doing to Luhan?” Jongin spit out, still struggling against Chanyeol and Junmyeon. Jongdae turned to Tao, as if seeking an answer, but he simply shook his head. At this Jongin practically growled in frustration, his agitation spilling over the edge. “Let go of me!” he shouted, ripping his arms frantically from the others’ grips. Jongdae tried to block his flailing hands, the sparking in his body becoming overwhelming. Jongin screeched, his fists began to tighten, and Jongdae felt himself go into overdrive, launching himself at Jongin as if it would stop him from straight up teleporting himself into death.

“Jongin, listen to him!” Junmyeon was shouting. There was a flurry of yells as the boys fought, not noticing that the screams from the room had gone silent.

“Stop,” Tao said suddenly, and firmly placed his Cuffed hand on Jongin’s shoulder. At the feeling of metal Jongin finally froze, his chest heaving. There was a moment of silence, and then Tao nodded towards the training door. The handle was twisting. The five boys watched, breathing heavily, and Jongdae felt electric air dissipate around him.

The door opened and Luhan stepped out, closing it quietly behind him. His face was shining lightly with sweat.

For a moment the five just stared.

“Lu,” Jongin breathed, sagging from Chanyeol and Junmyeon’s arms. “Jesus, what did they do?”

Luhan shook his head, his cheeks wet. “Nothing. I’m fine.” Before he could finish the word Jongin had wrapped his arms around him, and the others could not help but follow. Jongdae rested his head against Luhan’s back, feeling the pulse of his ragged breath. Dully he became aware that the Telepathic was sobbing. He pressed his forehead into Luhan, feeling the rest of the Guarders’ silent heartbreak.