Jongdae feels all blood drain from his face.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Joonmyun asks. His voice sounds small.

Minseok chuckles in a taunting manner. “You don’t understand? You really are stupider than I thought,” he remarks, sharing a laugh with the nearby nymphs. “Did you really think a half-blood could be this powerful? Presence-sensing, telepathy… it would be a miracle for a half-blood to obtain these powers – let alone have them be strong. God, everyone in that school is not only a half-blood, but a half-brain too.”

“Shut the up!” Baekhyun barks.

Minseok’s eyes flicker to Baekhyun, the smirk on his face broadening. “You might know a friend of mine. His name is Luhan. I heard some of his followers caused you quite a bit of trouble back in your previous school.”

This time, Baekhyun doesn’t respond. Instead, he reaches forward, but is immediately stopped by Kyungsoo, who makes him rethink his decisions with a pleading look.

“You know, I’m actually quite impressed that you kids managed to find all five of my marks and figure out its meaning.”

Jongdae feels his heart skip a beat.

“…You were behind the marks?” he asks, nearly losing his breath.

“Yes. It was me. I am the necromancer,” Minseok answers, a cynical smile on his lips. “The school was so busy protecting the students they failed to see the danger was right in front of them the entire time.”

“Did you let the nymphs through the force fields as well?”

“I did. And I was also behind the kidnapping of Baekhyun. Well, we planned it to happen later but this nymph wouldn’t listen. Taught the kid a lesson. I’m sure you saw the body, didn’t you, Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun stiffens at the mention of his name. Then he starts shaking. Jongdae knows he’s recalling the event as his eyes turn glassy. Minseok did it on purpose and it’s feeding Jongdae’s rage. Kyungsoo shares his fury, glaring at the necromancer.

“,” Kyungsoo spits, clenching his hand around Baekhyun’s arm.

“Luhan knows of your existence, you know. That’s quite the impression you made. He told me to take care of you. I wanted to do it back at the school, but you made it easier for me and just let yourself walk into a trap. I have to thank you for it, though. It makes the job a lot easier.”

The taunting tone has the hairs on Jongdae’s neck rising. But what’s really unnerving is Joonmyun’s passiveness. He hasn’t moved or said anything. Jongdae makes the mistake of glancing over to him and getting his heart broken by the hurt expression on his face. The betrayal must’ve hit him. Jongdae feels himself combust with fury. How dare Minseok take advantage of Joonmyun’s kindness like that!

“I thought we were friends…” comes Joonmyun’s soft voice.

For a millisecond, the cynicism falls off Minseok’s expression, replaced by surprise before immediately turning back to mockery.

“Don’t take it personally. I just needed a weak soul to make this plan work.”

Tears brim Joonmyun’s eyes. “You were by my side for nearly two years! How could you betray me after everything we’ve shared? I told you everything about me! My deepest secrets, my magic, my past… you know what I’ve been through yet you still stab my back?”

“I told you not to take it personally,” Minseok repeats, his tone a bit pressing – irritation now visible on his face.

“But you knew me personally!”

Minseok sighs. “I’ve had enough of this. It’s over, Joonmyun. Get it through your thick head.”

Joonmyun flinches before his expression falls – face now devoid of emotion.

“Does that mean we can attack them now?” A voice in the nymph crowd inquires.

“You are free to attack,” Minseok announces with a smile. Then he takes a step back as the nymphs charge forward, the menacing grin being the last thing Jongdae sees before he disappears in the crowd.

Next thing Jongdae knows he’s being pulled backwards by his collar. A fiercely red force field generates around them and Jongdae turns to find Yixing feeding it energy. The nymphs are fighting against the shield, blasting it with the best of their abilities. While their faces are still as luring as ever, the pheromones and seductive magic cannot pass through the force field. It makes Jongdae feel safe for a few seconds.

But then the bubble becomes smaller – Jongdae has to step closer to Yixing. He hits Kyungsoo on his right side and Joonmyun on his left. It’s getting cramped already.

“What do we do?” Kyungsoo asks in a frenzy. His voice barely reaches over the nymphs’ noise and the humming of the force fields.

“Joonmyun, can you -ugh- generate a force field?” Yixing requests. He grunts as it becomes harder to keep the field up, even his advanced magic cannot withstand an attack from nymphs in such large numbers.

As Joonmyun fails to reply, Jongdae looks over at his friend in concern. He sees Joonmyun is crouched on the floor, his head between his knees.

“Joonmyun? Can you hear me?” Yixing’s voice is desperate. “Come to your senses, Joonmyun! We’ll die if you don’t help me!”

Joonmyun remains unresponsive.

Yixing groans and suddenly the shield shrinks a visible amount, leaving the edge of Jongdae’s shoe outside. He pulls it back in shock and glances over at Yixing in fear.

“You need to help me,” Yixing says to him. “I need you to hold this shield while I blow them away.”

“I-I don’t know if I can,” Jongdae replies in all honestly. His eyes fall on the nymphs surrounding the entire shield and he shudders.

“You are the only one who can.”

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Jongdae nods. He moves closer to Yixing, who grabs his hand and puts it to the roof of the shield. A surge of heavy energy immediately courses through his body, and the color of the shield changes to a deep purple.

“When I let go you just have to hold it for ten seconds,” Yixing instructs. “Tell me you can do it.”

“I can do it.”

“Then on the count of three… one… two… three!”

As Yixing’s palm slides off the ceiling of the shield, all energy drops on Jongdae’s shoulders, nearly causing him to collapse on the spot. It takes an immense amount of strength to keep it up – he feels the energy pulling on every single muscle. The force field gets smaller under his hold, but as lots of the countering force is suddenly gone due to Yixing’s attack, it stops shrinking.

It may only have been mere seconds, but to Jongdae it felt like minutes if not hours before Yixing takes the task back. Jongdae immediately drops to his knees. Not a spark of energy is left in his body. His eyelids are already dropping as he hears his name being called.

---

The first thing Jongdae sees when he wakes up on Yixing’s bed is Chanyeol’s face up close. It startles him a little bit, but what really takes the shock away is the dirt on the poor guy. The next thing Jongdae notices is the bandage around Chanyeol’s shoulder. As the wolf notices Jongdae’s concerned look, he pounces forward and buries his head in Jongdae’s neck. A soft smile makes its way onto Jongdae’s lips before he embraces Chanyeol.

Then he feels a tug on his ankle.

It nearly makes him jump ten feet into the air. There is a strange male sitting by his foot, his glowing hands slowly ghosting over the skin. What is even scarier is that Jongdae immediately notices what this stranger is – a nymph. Images of the assault in the parking lot and the earlier fight flash through his mind. Jongdae instantly snatches his foot back and draws his legs in. 

The nymph looks startled by the extreme reaction before his eyes soften. “I’m not bad,” he murmurs, slowly inching towards Jongdae.

Jongdae kicks the reaching hand away. His body shakes with fear as the nymph does not back down. He’s in a powerless position with someone whose race is well-known for its senseless hate for half-bloods.

“Stay away!” Jongdae yells as he trembles on the spot.

“I’m not going to hurt you!”

“Jongdae?” A new voice calls. Jongdae glances over to the doorway and sees Kyungsoo’s figure storming in. Concern is immediate in his face. “Jongin, you need to step back. You’re scaring him.”

The nymph, Jongin, complies easily, though his eyes stay on Jongdae.

Kyungsoo steps closer and gives Chanyeol a pat on the head before kneeling down by Jongdae.

“Who let him in?” Jongdae asks, voice still shaking.

“Yixing did. I know what you’re thinking, but Jongin will not hurt you. He would have already done it if he wanted to.”

Hesitantly, Jongdae’s eyes slide to the nymph. Jongin looks trustworthy, but then again all nymphs do. Kyungsoo’s argument does make sense – if this nymph had any desire to kill him Jongdae would be long dead.

“Then what was he doing with my foot?”

“He was trying to heal you. That’s why Yixing called him in. Baekhyun dropped you while he was carrying you back to the cabin. It was an unlucky landing but nothing broke. We all have some minor injuries, but none of us have healing abilities and we need to be in good health as soon as possible.”

“But why him? Why a nymph out of all people?”

“He was close by,” Kyungsoo answers.

Jongdae squints his eyes at Jongin, who is looking the other way. Trusting a nymph doesn’t seem like a great plan after all that happened. He wonders how Baekhyun could have possibly let this nymph in. It must’ve been Kyungsoo’s persistency.

“Just let Jongin heal you. After you’re done… please try and get a word out of Joonmyun.”

The mention of the wizard immediately has all of Jongdae’s attention. “Is he okay? What happened?”

“Well… you know he kind of fell into this… numb state during the battle, right?”

“He hasn’t snapped out of it?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “He’s just… sitting by the fire, ignoring everyone.”

“What makes you think I’m the one who will snap him out of it?”

Kyungsoo gives Jongdae a pointed look. “Come on. We all know you two like each other a lot more than you care to admit.”

Blood rushes to Jongdae’s cheeks. “Baekhyun told you, didn’t he?”

“I was the one who told him,” Kyungsoo says with a smirk before walking out.

A sigh escapes Jongdae’s lips as he pats Chanyeol’s head. Then Jongin clears his throat, alerting Jongdae that he’s still here.

“Can I heal you now?”

“…Just don’t try anything.”

As Jongin starts to heal him, Jongdae feels curiosity awaken. And not because Jongin’s hand and eyes are glowing blue. Jongin doesn’t seem to care about the fact that he’s a half-blood, neither that Jongdae openly expressed his dislike earlier.

“Why are you so… not nymph-y?” Jongdae decides to ask. “Aren’t you supposed to be repulsed by every inch of my half-blood being?”

Jongin chuckled. “Your friend asked me the same thing.”

That could have been no other than Baekhyun.

“I’ve never been part of these… cliques nymphs tend to have. Always been much more of an alone person. It’s mostly because the nymphs completely rejected me.”

Jongdae frowns, scanning Jongin’s figure up and down. The latter doesn’t seem like he’s unfit to be a nymph looking that gorgeous and all, but perhaps it’s an opinion. Nymphs do have a tendency to reject anyone who doesn’t agree with their values.

“You see… I’m not a full nymph,” Jongin confesses.

Not a full nymph? Does that mean he’s...?

“I’m a half-blood, just like you.”

Jongdae’s mouth falls open. “A half-blooded nymph? That-that’s unheard of…”

“It was an accidental pregnancy. No sane nymph would want a child with anything other than a nymph.”

The conversation falls silent and Jongin finishes healing soon after.

“It should be fine now,” Jongin tells him as his eyes and hand stop glowing.

Jongdae wiggles his ankles and feels nothing out of the ordinary. “Thank you.”

Jongin shrugs. “No problem,” is all he says before walking out the room.

As Jongdae tries to get up, Chanyeol suddenly jumps in his lap in his wolf form. Jongdae hadn’t even seen him change! “Agh, Chanyeol! Get off, I need to go see Joonmyun!” Chanyeol completely ignores his request and starts nuzzling his head against Jongdae’s shoulder. It’s a little touching. “Are you that happy that I’m better? I wasn’t even that badly injured in the first place.”

The only response Jongdae gets from that is a few in his face.

---

When Jongdae lays his eyes on Joonmyun, his back is turned. As Kyungsoo said, Joonmyun is just watching the fire, looking rather numb. Jongdae slowly approaches his friend, feeling himself get more worried with the second. Joonmyun’s face comes into view and Jongdae is sad to find him looking empty. Without a word, he gives his friends a look and they all evacuate.

Jongdae grabs the blanket he slept under last night before gently placing himself next to Joonmyun. The latter doesn’t even flinch. Jongdae then casts the blanket over the both of them, which does catch Joonmyun’s attention – he gives Jongdae a short glance before putting his hands over the blanket.

“I heard you’re not feeling too well,” Jongdae says softly. He presses close to Joonmyun, their sides touching. No comment is made, suggesting Jongdae’s implication is probably true. “Are you okay?”

Joonmyun clenches his fists at that. Out of nowhere, Jongdae gains the courage to lay his own hand on top of his, lacing their fingers together. Joonmyun stares at their intertwined hands with an expressionless face.

“I’m fine,” he then mutters.

“Are you sure about that? Do you want to talk about… you know, what happened.”

“No.” A firm answer. Jongdae understands he shouldn’t press the matter any further.

“Alright.”

An awkward silence falls, in which Jongdae realizes he’s still holding Joonmyun’s hand. His dainty though veiny fingers feel soft laced in his, and Jongdae finds him his thumb over the delicate skin. A blush appears on Joonmyun’s cheeks and suddenly the mood transforms into quite something else.

“Is your leg okay?” Joonmyun asks softly, unlacing their fingers and laying his hand on Jongdae’s thigh.

Jongdae feels his breath shorten. The hand on his thigh reminds him of the dream he had, the one where Joonmyun was in the and— Jongdae gulps, shaking the thoughts off.

“It’s fine,” he manages to answer despite his nervousness. “Jongin healed it.”

“Jongin?”

“Yeah, he—” Jongdae’s words fall short as Joonmyun suddenly leans his head on his shoulder. His scent wafts towards Jongdae’s nose, a scent that is so Joonmyun it has the hairs on Jongdae’s neck stand straight up. “—he came to heal our injuries,” he finishes, albeit a bit shakily.

Joonmyun snuggles closer, and Jongdae can’t resist putting his arm around him. While his heart may be thumping erratically, Jongdae still finds a certain peace. Holding Joonmyun like this is cozy, and it just feels right. Slowly, he feels himself start to drift off, finding comfort in Joonmyun’s body heat.

Jongdae completely surrenders. The feeling Joonmyun gives him is too intense to be called friendship.

It’s love.

But the thought of being in love with Joonmyun doesn’t scare him at all – admitting it relieves him instead. Jongdae falls asleep with a smile on his face.

---

A/N: im back!! told u i would stick to regular updating
except im gonna have to break that promise because i have to prepare some really important exams rip

there's not much to say about this chapter imo, just a bit of a breather after some heavy stuff. but hey, at least u got some cute suchen!!!!!!!

anyways,  thank you so much for subbing, voting and especially commenting!!!
love u guys!!!

kisses!!