As the morning comes, Jongdae is rudely woken by Chanyeol’s tongue lapping at his face. It seems this is becoming a habit. He cracks his eyes open and sees Chanyeol’s face directly in front of him. Seeing that Jongdae has woken up, Chanyeol beams in satisfaction and moves a bit to the side, directing his tongue at someone else.

Joonmyun, who is still lying against Jongdae. Heat immediately rushes to Jongdae’s cheeks. A sleeping Joonmyun is the most precious thing ever. The flames in the fireplace leave a gentle glow on his pale skin. His face scrunches up at Chanyeol’s on his nose and he groans softly. The sound has Jongdae’s hairs standing up, feeling extremely conscious of Joonmyun’s existence. 

As Joonmyun’s warm eyes flutter open, he lets out another groan and stretches his arms out. His fists hit Jongdae in the ribs. Their eyes connect and there is a tiny moment of silence before they both flush a deep red.

“G-good morning,” Joonmyun greets, lifting himself up. Sleep is crusted around his eyes while a drop of drool rests in the corner of his lips.

“Good morning,” Jongdae greets back nervously. He smiles a little.

“Stop flirting you two!” Baekhyun interjects. “We have some serious things to discuss.”

“W-we weren’t flirting!” Jongdae tries to object. It only earns him a scoff.

“Really? Because to me it sure looked like flirting. It even reminded me of the morning after my first night with Soo! We were all shy and—”

“I don’t need to know that.”

“What Soo and I have is pure and when we made love—”

“Okay, Baekhyun, that’s about enough.” Kyungsoo steps in, wearing his infamous glare. It causes Baekhyun to jump away immediately, channeling his puppy eyes in hope of calming his boyfriend. “Aside from Jongdae not wanting to hear it, I don’t want to share it.”

Baekhyun juts his bottom lip out. “Sorry Soo.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Anyway, this morning Yixing came to know about some of Luhan’s plans.”

The words instantly catch Jongdae’s attention. Amidst harboring his crush and Minseok’s betrayal, he has completely forgotten the reason they are here: train to be able to defend the Jeolban when the time comes.

“His plans for attacking Jeolban are already in action. Apparently nymphs are scouring around the area. The police refuses to do anything about it.”

Baekhyun clenches his fists despite having heard this news before. It angers Jongdae as well, this endless dismissal against half-bloods.

“We need to get back to Jeolban right now,” Jongdae insists. “With everything that we know maybe we can force the police to act. Or at least enlighten the teachers of the situation.”

Kyungsoo nods his head. “I agree. The sooner we return the more we benefit from it.”

“What about training? We barely know anything.” Joonmyun’s tone drips with concern. He must be worried about having to fight with his powers as they are. 

“We’ll train back at Jeolban. And maybe Yixing can write out some manuals or something. But right now we cannot afford to lose any time. If the situation escalates before we get back to Jeolban, it’ll be disastrous.”

The look of worry wears deeper into Joonmyun’s features. Jongdae wants to embrace him, tell him everything will be okay and that he will be safe, but now is not the time. They need to get back to Jeolban and fast.

---

“Thank you, Yixing. For helping us.” Kyungsoo cracks a tiny smile, which sends Baekhyun into a flurry of cries. Irritated, Kyungsoo drags his boyfriend into a headlock. “And thank you for not kicking this out.”

Yixing chuckles. “It was my pleasure.”

While Kyungsoo and Baekhyun scurry off to bid Chanyeol farewell, Jongdae steps towards Yixing.

“Thank you for helping me with my powers. I don’t think I would have unlocked them so fast without your help.”

“No problem at all. Your powers are extremely interesting. Perhaps when this all is over… you can come see me again? I’ve never known much about dark powers I’d like to study them if possible,” Yixing requests with a smile.

“Of course!” Jongdae grins softly before waddling over to Chanyeol through the snow. The latter has transformed into his wolf form and is lying belly up. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are a few meters away, their hands joined in Kyungsoo’s mitten. They whisper to each other, but Jongdae can’t make out any emotions, not even from Baekhyun. He gives Chanyeol a thorough belly rub instead and secretly watches Joonmyun and Yixing interact.

Yixing is speaking while Joonmyun nods at his words. The expression on Joonmyun’s face is none other than sullen. Yixing notices his sadness and pulls him into a hug. Once they part he lays his hands on Joonmyun’s shoulder and smiles, which Joonmyun mimics. Joonmyun’s smile is a bit more forced, but Yixing doesn’t seem to mind. He pats Joonmyun on the shoulder one last time before letting him go.

As soon as Joonmyun walks away from Yixing into his direction, Jongdae averts his eyes, pretending he wasn’t spying on them. Joonmyun crouches down on the opposite side of Chanyeol, takes off his mitten and scratches his belly.

“You okay?”

Joonmyun bites his lip. “Just a little sad that I have to say goodbye to Yixing and Chanyeol, that’s all.”

“Okay.”

The two of them pet Chanyeol’s belly in silence. Chanyeol doesn’t pick up the mood between them and thoroughly enjoys the belly rubs – his eyes closed in pleasure and tail wagging happily.

“We have to go, Chanyeollie,” Joonmyun says after a while.

Jongdae gives the wolf one last pet before standing up alongside Joonmyun. That seems to shake Chanyeol, who rolls on his stomach and gives them a questioning looks.

“Sorry, you’re going to have to ask Yixing for belly rubs now.”

Chanyeol stares up at them with puppy eyes. Joonmyun and Jongdae share a sad look.

When Jongdae and Joonmyun reconcile with Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, the four of them wave back at the cottage. Chanyeol has rejoined Yixing and is now tilting his head to the side, confused.  

“Bye Chanyeollie!” Baekhyun yells out one last time.

The wolf’s tail wags for a few seconds before it stills again. Chanyeol questioningly looks up at Yixing. All the wizard does is pat him on the head.

---

Thankfully, there is no looming snowstorm as the four make their way back to Jeolban. The snow, however, is still as thick as ever. It causes them to have slow progress, but at least they don’t get sidetracked like last time.

For a brief moment Jongdae fears Minseok’s return, but Yixing told them he hadn’t heard any voices nearby after the fight. Jongdae figures they’re probably with Luhan, considering Minseok implied he was close with the nymph. The memory of Minseok’s betrayal still weighs heavy on his heart. He can’t imagine how Joonmyun must feel – a best friend for several years just stabbing you in the back like that.

Joonmyun doesn’t show how upset he is, but he has become a lot more silent. His voice is softer and his eyes are emptier. The subtle signs of sadness leave Jongdae feeling helpless. All he can do is try his best to stay positive, and hopefully cheer Joonmyun up a little.

The glowing border of a force field comes in sight around dinner time. It shines a deep red, illuminating the trees and snow in a rather spectacular manner. Once the faint humming reaches Jongdae’s ears, he feels excited.

He no longer feels the thick snow or the icy wind. Only the joy of returning to his beloved Jeolban. The relief of school still standing is immense. They’re not too late.

The four of them run the last few meters, laughter loud among them.

“So… what now?”

“I’m guessing they still have sensors on. We just touch it and the teachers will come running,” Jongdae suggests, shrugging.

“But then they’ll know we were gone!” Baekhyun objects.

“You think they don’t know that already? Four very notable students go missing and you think they haven’t noticed? Baekhyun, the school keeps a closer eye on you than the government does on your taxes.” Kyungsoo shakes his head at his boyfriend.

“Oh, right.” Baekhyun grins awkwardly and presses up against Kyungsoo, trying to win his affections back. Kyungsoo sighs and pats his lower back.

“Okay, everyone put your hands on the force field now,” Jongdae orders, stretching hand out.

Their hands touch the force field at the same exact time, save for Baekhyun who is a few seconds late. The touch is strange. It feels like trying to put n-poled magnets against each other – they will repel.

After they take their hands off, a rather awkward silence falls between them, but it doesn’t take long for figures to appear on the Jeolban side of the field. Jongdae can spot two adults running their way. One of them has a light shining from their hand. When the two come close enough Jongdae can make out their faces – Mr. Yang and headmistress Kang.

As soon as headmistress Kang recognizes the students, she scowls. Mr. Yang, one the other hand, shakes his head.

“Mind explaining where you have been?” the headmistress’ stern tone has Jongdae cowering in fear.

“We have a very good reason!” Baekhyun objects.

“I sure hope so. You should be glad you brought Joonmyun along. If you hadn’t I wouldn’t be so willing to listen whatever excuse you’ll be giving me. Mr. Yang, please get them in.”

Mr. Yang pulls out a wand and draws a circle on the force field. He then taps it once, creating a gap for the students to enter through.

The headmistress guides them to her office. She tells Mr. Yang to wait behind his desk while she interrogates the students.

Once the five of them are in her office, she plops down on her leather chair with a sigh. She leans back and laces her hands over her stomach before giving the four students an expecting look.

“So? Are you going to tell me why you made me worry my off the past four days? And where the hell is Minseok?”

“It’s a very long story,” Kyungsoo tells her.

“I have time. Why don’t you start with where Minseok is? The last thing I need right now is a missing student.”

“He… he betrayed us. The necromancer who was letting the nymphs into the school… it was him,” Jongdae explains, hoping to not upset Joonmyun too much by reminding him of the event.

Headmistress Kang frowns. “How is that possible? He’s been a student here for almost two years.”

“All this time he pretended to be a half-blood. The reason we were so vulnerable to the nymph attacks is because he handed all this information to Luhan. The nymphs got away with their attacks because Minseok provided them with layouts of the school.”

“He was right under our nose the entire time…” headmistress Kang mutters, a numb shock on her face. Suddenly, anger flashes over her face and she directs it at Joonmyun. “How could you not have noticed this? You were his best friend!”

Joonmyun flinches, hurt immediately ebbing into his features. It fuels rage within Jongdae and he covers his friend with his body.

“You can’t blame this on Joonmyun! He did nothing wrong!”

“Fine, get the out then. I don’t even care anymore.”

“Gladly,” Jongdae spits.

He reaches for Joonmyun’s hand and pulls him out of the office, slamming the door as loudly as possible.

Mr. Yang is waiting outside, his look apologetic.

“I’m sorry. Ever since the attacks happened she’s lost all sense of rationality. Try not to take it personally.”

Once Jongdae and Joonmyun are out in the hallway, Joonmyun takes his hand back.

“Thank you,” he whispers. “You’re always standing up for me.”

“You’re my friend. How could I not?”

Joonmyun chuckles softly. “I guess so.”

---

Thankfully, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were able to tell the headmistress Luhan is planning on attacking soon. Apparently it sent the teachers into a panic, because no one is allowed to leave the dorms now. So now Jongdae is alone in his room, reading the guide Yixing had left him. He wants to practice some, but in such a small room and his magic being dark magic, it’s not a good idea.  

A knock on the door ruins his focus on spherical lights, but he doesn’t really mind. Any company that isn’t Baekhyun is good.

Opening the door, Jongdae is surprised to see Joonmyun standing there, a faint blush on his cheeks.

“H-hi,” he greets softly, giving a small smile.

“Hey.” Jongdae is baffled at his presence but doesn’t let it show. “Come in. Or did you need something?"

Joonmyun shakes his head. “N-no. But, you know, Kyungsoo stays in my room. A-and Baekhyun came. They started making out so I left…” He lets out an awkward chuckle.

“Oh, right. That’s disturbing.” Jongdae shares a laugh to filter out the tension.

Joonmyun enters his room and takes a long look around. Suddenly Jongdae feels self-conscious about the mess. The dirty clothes, old food, and unidentifiable stains are quite embarrassing. Most garbage is from Baekhyun, but once you live with a pig you start to make messes too. The one time Jongdae actually provoked him over this manner, Baekhyun had given him the reason: “I can’t help it, it’s my snake parts. We make nests every spring.” To which Jongdae replied: “First of all, you are male. Second of all, snakes don’t make nests for their young. And third of all, it’s autumn.” Needless to say, the argument was pointless and the room remained a mess.

“L-let me clean the bed real quick.” Jongdae rushes to his bed and throws all the dirty clothes and crumpled sheets of late homework on his desk in a hurry, nearly knocking a lamp over.

“Your room is so messy,” Joonmyun remarks with a grin as he sits down next to Jongdae.

“Y-yeah, sorry about that.”

“I don’t mind. It fits your personality.”

“Thanks, I guess? Or is that supposed to be an insult?”

Joonmyun breaks out in laughter. “Maybe,” he then says, a naughty smile on his lips.

God, he’s so perfect. Jongdae just wants to grab him and plant a really big kiss on his mouth.

Instead, Jongdae controls himself. “How are you?” he asks. “I feel like I should be asking that after what we’ve been through.”

Joonmyun’s gleeful expression fails at the question. “I… I don’t know,” he confesses. “I feel empty. Minseok really hurt me. I can’t believe he actually would—”

Tears suddenly start rolling down Joonmyun’s cheeks, his expression contorting in pain. His hands come up to cover his face and Jongdae quickly moves forward to take him into an embrace.

“Why would he do that to me? He knew me for so long and yet—” Joonmyun breaks down in sobs, tears wetting Jongdae’s t-shirt.

“Doing that to you—it makes me so angry. I want to kill him.” Jongdae says these words in a fit of rage, being unable to handle Joonmyun’s tears.

Joonmyun pulls back. His eyes are red and glimmering with tears. “You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”

“Never! I would never do that, I swear. I’d rather die than put you through something like this.”

Joonmyun looks away for a second, a frown appearing on his forehead. When his eyes reconnect with Jongdae’s, Jongdae sees something dark in them. A shiver runs over Jongdae’s back.

Before he knows it, Joonmyun closes in on him, softly pressing their lips together.

Jongdae forgets everything, the only thing one his mind being Joonmyun’s feathery lips. His heartrate picks up, beating in his eardrums. Joonmyun’s lips push harder against his, and Jongdae quickly angles his head correctly, losing himself in the kiss. This intimate touch from Joonmyun has Jongdae filled to the brim with want.

At first it’s innocent kissing, but then Joonmyun pulls Jongdae down on the bed with him. He opens his mouth and lets Jongdae’s tongue slither in. Slick sounds immediately emit from the both of them, but Joonmyun is the one who lets out a soft moan. It sets Jongdae’s skin ablaze. His hand is guided by Joonmyun’s until it’s underneath his pullover, the soft skin of Joonmyun’s stomach directly under his fingertips. The feeling of Joonmyun’s skin in direct contact with his makes his spring to life. Jongdae lets his fingers dance across the expanse of skin while still fervidly kissing Joonmyun. A sudden surge of hormones has Jongdae’s fingertips gliding higher, until his thumb touches Joonmyun’s erect .

As if he’s been shocked, Joonmyun shoves Jongdae off of him. He’s out of breath, his hair and pullover a mess, and his lips are glistening with spit.

“I-I’m sorry,” he rasps, straightening his pullover. “I have to go.” Before Jongdae can do anything, Joonmyun storms out of the door, slamming it behind him.

Jongdae is left on the bed with an and a ton of guilt.

---

A/N: my dear readers, let me tell you a little something: a writer's greatest pleasure is leaving cliffhangers

anyway, at least they kissed right??? thats something LOL

also sorry for the late update. im just in a very busy spot school-wise right now :(

that aside, thank u for voting, subbing and especially commenting!!!
kisses!!!