Luhan was being ripped apart. His skin was tearing, screaming, into a million tiny pieces, forced outward by a magic he could not explain. His mouth was open in one endless, shrill cry of agony, and all he could do was close his eyes before the world broke around him, pixels feathering up and down his body.

He awoke in the plastic blue chairs, still screaming. For a moment he couldn’t place where he was, sheer panic from the simulation still coursing through his hot veins. His body was on fire. He became dully aware that he was thrashing about, the supervisors gripping him in their cold wooden hands, forcing him back into the chair.

“Luhan!” one of them shouted, slamming his shoulder against the plastic, and he felt his whole body coil inward at the impact. He closed his eyes, crying, his scream hitching in his throat.

He reopened them to the white of the ceiling, rows and rows of perfect tile. His body was still shaking, his very skin cells still feeling stretched and torn. “It’s over,” one of the supervisors was saying. “The simulation is over, Luhan.”

“I don’t understand,” he choked out in reply, all at once exhausted. This wasn’t right- he had beat the simulation, he knew he had, he had done everything they had asked of him, and yet still was slapped with failure. He went limp in the chair, finally letting the supervisors remove the sensory discs from his sweating skin. “I did it that time. I did it, why did I still fail, I don’t-”

“You did much better, Luhan,” one of them said calmly. “You are making good progress. You just need to make more.”

Luhan couldn’t find it in him to argue back. All he wanted was to get out of the plastic chair, get out of the white room, and go curl up on his bed. He closed his eyes again, fighting back a fresh wave of tears.

When he was allowed to leave he went straight to his dorm room. He hoped for a blind second that Minseok would be there, and perhaps give him some comfort over a warm cup of lilac tea, but as expected the KAE student was nowhere to be found. Off with the principal again, Luhan supposed. As he always was these days.

Luhan dragged himself over to his bed, barely having the energy to do so without collapsing. He buried his face into his hands, a wave of loneliness crushing him into a pool of blue. He wanted someone. Minseok, but someone else would do too. Jongin. Sehun, even.

Luhan felt his chest tighten.

He was a Telepath, and although he made it a principal to not invade upon his friends’ thoughts, lately Sehun’s aura had been so strong around him that Luhan couldn’t have missed it even if he tried. He could practically see the emotion pouring off that boy in waves, the sweet scent of nervousness undercut darkly with...with desire.

His insides twisted at the thought of it, of the heat that Sehun brought with him. He was wrong to even acknowledge it, to even let it cross his mind at all. But he liked Sehun, and it seemed cruel to turn him away. There was a cockiness about him, but also sweetness that Luhan found rather endearing. Besides, the boy had no idea that Luhan knew.

He was too tired to think about all this right now. All he wanted was some sleep. And maybe some tea.

-

“Jongin?”

“Yeah?” Jongin answered Kyungsoo’s whisper.

They were wrapped up into each other on Kyungsoo’s bed, Jongin on the edge of sleep. It had become a familiar sight for Kyungsoo in the past couple weeks. They didn’t talk about this during the day, wouldn’t so much as brush each others’ fingertips when sharing a textbook in Maths, but at night they unraveled, spooling out and winding round each other with the security of solitude. Sleep would eventually take them, and then Jongin would rise for his early morning practice, silent so Kyungsoo wouldn’t wake. It didn’t usually work- Kyungsoo was a light sleeper. But he would remain still, not wanting to make Jongin late, and just listen to his movement around the room. Always he would gift Kyungsoo a butterfly-soft kiss on his forehead before shutting the door with a soft click and leaving Kyungsoo truly alone.

Jongin reached out blindly with his mouth, pressing his lips into Kyungsoo’s hair. “What’s up?”

Kyungsoo shifted, pushing himself up so he could meet Jongin’s eyes. His throat felt thick. “Jongin-I...we need to talk about something.”

Jongin blinked himself awake, perhaps hearing the tension in Kyungsoo’s voice. “Talk? About what?”

Kyungsoo felt his eyes drop, his teeth gnawing on his lip. He had rehearsed this conversation in his head countless times, chosen the exact words and tone he would take, but he was overcome by the way Jongin was looking at him, that inquisitive, concerned gaze.

“I...” he began. He had always been good at public speaking, his father had made it so. But even though he only had an audience of one, he felt dizzy with nerves.

He paused to take another deep breath, and then pushed it all out in one exhale. “I really like what we have going on here, and I’m so grateful with the way things turned out, with you...and with us. Truly, I am, Jongin, but my father...I know he wouldn’t approve. He would hate me if he found out about us, and I don’t mean that lightly. If he knew about us, he would probably disenroll me, or at least make sure you weren’t my Guarder anymore. So we need to keep this a secret. We can’t tell anyone.”

There was a quiet for a moment, and Kyungsoo felt himself still avoiding Jongin’s gaze. He forced the tension out from his fingers, his hands going from fists to soft against Jongin’s chest.

“Okay,” Jongin said, gentle. “We’ll keep it a secret.”

Kyungsoo raised his gaze, feeling a whoosh of anxiety leave his body. “Thank you,” he said steadily. “You’re not...mad, are you?”

Jongin smiled, his head falling back against the pillow. “Of course not. I didn’t think the Academy would be too happy about it either, and knowing the rest of the boys...” he let out a small laugh. “I thought it was best we kept it a secret anyway.”

“Oh,” Kyungsoo said. “Okay.” He let his fingers trail past Jongin’s chest and over his shoulders, pulling him in as close as he could.

-

Sehun didn’t knock. Instead he turned the doorknob to Minseok’s dorm room and walked in without a thought, hands full of books.

“Hey Minseok, here’s your- oh,” he stopped. He had forgotten that Minseok shared a room with Luhan. The Telepath sat on the left bed, his head popping up at the sound of Sehun’s voice from where it had been resting in his hands. His eyes were wide with surprise. And tears.

“I-uh, I’m sorry,” Sehun fumbled, taken aback at the sight of Luhan’s wet cheeks. “He said he would be here. I was just dropping these off. These books. For...for Minseok.”

In Luhan’s silence he turned quickly, dumping the textbooks awkwardly onto Minseok’s bed. “Do you, uh, know where he is?” Sehun asked.

“Meeting with the principal,” Luhan answered, his voice steady even though it was obvious he had been crying moments earlier.

Sehun turned to face him. The Telepath had resumed his perfect posture, his eyes shining, watching Sehun with an absolutely unreadable expression. He should leave, now, but he was frozen, the Telepath’s gaze keeping him in place. “Are you okay?” Sehun asked, unable to stop himself.

Luhan didn’t answer, but Sehun could see his lip trembling. Before he could think his feet were carrying him across the room, and he sat down next to Luhan on the bed, their shoulders barely brushing. Luhan stayed staring straight ahead.

“I’ve heard that training has been stressful lately,” Sehun said carefully, after a moment of silence. “Do you want to talk about it?”

To his surprise, Luhan actually answered. "Not really.” He turned to meet Sehun’s eyes, stress and exhaustion seeping from every corner of his angelic face. “I’ll be okay, in a bit.”

Sehun blinked, entranced. For the record, I don’t think it’s a safe idea to go after him, Tao’s voice whispered in his head.

Luhan’s shoulders were trembling.

The voice was gone.

"Maybe I can help," Sehun murmured, and without another thought reached over to work his fingers around Luhan’s shoulders.

Luhan didn’t react, not even a flinch.

it, Sehun thought, not even sure what he was doing, and pressed downwards, attempting to massage the tension out from his body. At first the Telepathic froze, turning to him, not sure what to make of his touch, but then Sehun felt him slowly relax, the muscles going slack beneath his fingers.

Sehun felt light headed. Luhan had turned his chin to the side, gaze focused on Sehun’s hand on his shoulder. Sehun watched his expression, going from blank to a small smile, his eyelids fluttering closed. Lovely. Sehun could only manage massaging a minute or so more, knowing if he went any longer he was going to end up doing something stupid.

He couldn’t help but trail ghosts down Luhan’s back when he was done, not wanting his fingers to break contact. Too soon his hands came back to the bedsheets, pinkie barely brushing the Telepath’s.

Luhan watched him silently, eyes shifting up as their skin met. Sehun jerked his head around, taking his arm with him. "Sorry," he murmured, feeling his face color.

"It's alright," Luhan said quietly. "It felt good."

Sehun glanced at him. "Really?"

"Sure," Luhan said, a ghost of a smile on his pretty lips. "I like massages. And you have...good hands. You didn't have to stop."

Sehun stared, trying his best to keep his face straight. Was the Telepath...flirting with him? "Fine then," he said after a moment, lifting his chin. "Turn around."

Luhan raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I said turn around."

Luhan looked as if he was fighting a laugh, but he turned anyways, allowing Sehun to place his hands over both shoulders.

"You have ridiculously tight shoulders," Sehun said dryly, his heart beating a mile a minute.

"Hmm," Luhan said by way of answer. “Not surprised." He let out a loud breath, completely relaxing beneath Sehun’s fingers. There was a comfortable silence, and Sehun engrossed himself with the task at hand. “I have been very stressed out.”

"What?" Sehun asked, jerking up at Luhan’s voice.

Luhan laughed, and gently removed Sehun’s hands with his own, turning back to face him. “You were right about training,” he said, the smile fading. “I...I have been very stressed.”

“So you do want to talk about it,” Sehun said carefully, resting back on his haunches.

“I shouldn’t be,” Luhan said, not looking at him.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not supposed to talk about my training with any of the KAE students.” Luhan looked up, breathing out towards the ceiling. “Especially someone I’m not even partnered with. But...I can’t tell Minseok. He has too much going on, I don’t want to be a distraction.” He glanced at Sehun, frowning. “I don’t even know how to talk to him about these things. It would upset him.”

“Why?” Sehun asked. “You’re his Guarder, you should be able to talk to him about anything.”

Luhan sighed. “He has too much faith in the Academy. What I’m stressed about- it would…it would taint his faith.” He glanced at Sehun, checking to see his reaction.

Sehun cocked his head, a buzzing feeling of warning starting in his chest. It was a dangerous game to criticize the Academy. “Why is that?” he asked carefully.

Luhan bit his lip, looking down. “It doesn’t matter.” He was quiet for a moment more, before shaking his head. “Thank you though, for being here. I feel a bit better now.” He peered through his eyelashes up at Sehun, the same flirty smile ghosting his lips. “A bit less stressed.”

Something unspoken lay between them. Luhan’s eyes searched his, daring him to say something else.

Sehun swallowed. Now this was something he had experience in. “If only...” he started, becoming intensely aware of how close they were. “If only there was something else I could do to ease your stress.”

For a moment Luhan’s eyes didn’t waver from his. And then they darted down, for a fraction of a second, to his lips.

Sehun didn’t know who leaned in first. He tried his best to remember, after, but couldn’t for the life of him decide. All he knew was that one moment he was looking at Luhan’s lovely face and the next they were kissing, soft and gentle and sweet.

After a few seconds Luhan drew back, prettily flushed. He met Sehun’s gaze again. “That works,” he said. His voice was husky.

Sehun said nothing, almost disbelieving. His lips tingled. Luhan’s face broke into another smile, and in the next second Sehun had him pinned back against the bed, their bodies pressed together in ecstatic hunger.

-

“So,” Mr. Lee said, his voice overwhelmingly loud in the space of the room. “Mr. Wu.”

Kris bowed his head, at once aware that he was lightly sweating. “Mr. Lee.”

There was silence for a moment, and Kris could feel the principal’s eyes raking into his skin. Taking in everything.

Kris straightened, meeting his gaze head on, unable to keep his fists from tightening in his lap.

“How are you liking things?” Mr. Lee asked, abrupt. “Everything to your taste?”

“It’s all very well, sir,” Kris answered, steady.

“Good,” the principal smiled. He shifted forwards in his chair, stare steely on Kris’s face. “Very good, Mr. Wu.” His eyes drifted to the dragon ring on Kris’s finger. “You’ve heard, I suppose? That we’ve chosen someone?”

“I assumed,” Kris answered.

Mr. Lee nodded. “So then, what do you think? Of our decision?” He leaned back into the chair, one eyebrow raised.

Kris swallowed. He knew it would be foolish to put forth any opposition. Not that he any, of course. “Excellent, Mr. Lee.”

The principal smiled. “Good. You believe they’re well matched, then?”

“Of course,” Kris said. “Minseok has known Luhan since they were children. There’s no one better matched than them.”

“Wonderful,” Mr. Lee said. “I thought as much.” He let out an exhale, the smile coming back over his face. “They’ll be honored, I know.” He began to stand, motioning for Kris to do the same. As he reached for the door handle the principal cleared his throat, loud enough for Kris to pause.

“Thank you, Kris, for all your hard work. It won’t be forgotten,” Mr. Lee said.

Kris nodded once, stiff, and closed the door behind him.