A sweet, alluring scent enters Baekhyun’s nose. The instinct to reach out to it is immediate. He wants to lift an arm, get on his legs, try anything to get closer to the scent, but his body doesn’t comply. He lies stuck in the powdery texture of snow, unable to move any part of his body. His eyes refuse to open at his command, the sense rendered completely useless.

His ears, however, work completely fine. Once Baekhyun gets past the realization he cannot move or see, his ears take over. The first thing his hearing focuses on is a nearby brook. The water moves fast, giving the information that it is lively. He hears birds, a soft wind, and the occasionally snapping branch. For a while it stays that way, no distinct sounds that one wouldn’t hear in a forest.

But just as Baekhyun tries to remember how he ended up paralyzed somewhere by a brook, he hears a voice.

“If you ever disobey orders from Luhan again I’ll send you down to hell along with those half-bloods!” A stern voice seethes.

“But he was inches away! How could I not—”

The snow crunches with footsteps, and a gurgle comes from the second voice.

“Listen to me,” the first voice says, authority in the tone. “It was too early. Too soon. We wait for a little more. During that time, you will not try to kidnap any of those kids. Is that clear?”

 “Y-yes.”

The spluttering of those words is the last thing Baekhyun hears before he slips back into unconsciousness.

---

Water hitting him in the face is what wakes him up again. It’s not so much the coldness of the liquid that wakes him so brutally, given that he doesn’t feel it as a creature of cold blood, but more the surprise. This time he can move his limbs, which is more than welcome. His eyes react to his will as well, vision focusing on three figures up close.

“Hey, you okay?” A deep voice asks. Baekhyun’s eyes follow the sound and there is an extremely pale man with fangs protruding over his bottom lip staring down at him.

“Wow, look at his eyes! They’re crazy yellow!” A second voice comments.

“Shut up, Zitao!”

Baekhyun now sets his eyes on the other two figures. The first thing he notices is the owner of the second voice being topless. This Zitao has his bottom half dunked in the creek, resting his upper body on the snowy bank. Then his eyes move to the third figure, who is in the same position as Zitao: lower body in the water, upper body exposed.

“Can you tell me your name?” The pale man with the deep voice asks.

“B-Baekhyun,” he stutters out, eyes darting between the three.

“I’m Kris,” the pale man introduces, “that’s Zitao and Sehun.”

“What happened?”

“Well, we found you like this on the bank. No idea what happened to you or that guy,” Zitao explains, his finger pointing behind Baekhyun.

Baekhyun turns over, but he didn’t expect to see a nymph corpse lying only one meter away from him. He jerks back in shock at the dead look in the nymph’s eyes, the usual enchanting aura and attractive visual completely drained of life. His breath catches in his throat at the sight of a dead body. He’s never seen one before.

“D-did you kill him?” Baekhyun gasps, fear prickling his skin.

“What? Of course not! We found both you like this,” Sehun answers, crossing his arms over his pale chest.

“Let’s get you fixed up,” Kris suddenly says, getting up and stretching out a hand. Baekhyun gapes at his tallness but takes the hand anyway.

“Don’t get too friendly with him!” Zitao commentates, which Kris waves away.

“Don’t be so jealous, Zitao. I’m just helping.”

Zitao grumbles something incomprehensible which just makes Sehun sigh. Baekhyun, frowning in confusion, is pulled to his feet by Kris’ strength.

“My cabin is not far from here,” Kris tells him. “It’s somewhere along this stream.”

Now that Baekhyun has calmed down from the initial shock of being somewhere unknown, meeting three new people and a dead body, he grows conscious on the wounds Kris desired to fix. His neck throbs eerily, there’s scratches along his arms and a deep, bleeding claw mark along his thigh. Feeling like a fool for not being able to remember what happened, Baekhyun focuses on the steady sounds in the water.

Zitao and Sehun have not come out of the water, and now Baekhyun sees why. They’re mermaids. Baekhyun is awestruck, seeing one for the first time. He knew they existed, but was always told they were shy creatures who preferred sticking to their own kind.

Sehun notices his awed staring and smirks. “Never seen a mermaid before?”

Baekhyun blushes and shakes his head. “I thought they lived at sea only. Secluded at that.”

“We were born in sweet water so we can’t live at sea,” Zitao explains.

“What about you?” Baekhyun asks Kris. “You must be a vampire.”

“Correct,” Kris affirms.

“How are you out in the sun? Aren’t you supposed to be dust by now?”

Kris gives him a blank stare at the blatant question before sighing. “I believe such fantasies only count for Dracula. It’s true that the sun drains my power, but I’m by no means weak in sunlight.”

“That’s strange. My friend who is a half-blood vampire gets a sunburn— Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun suddenly gasps, remembering his friend who is probably worried sick looking for him. “Oh no, he’s going to kill me!”

Kris’ hand lands on his shoulder. “Please calm down, Baekhyun. Let’s not get too—”

“You get that hand off him!” Zitao screeches from the river.

Sehun cups his ear in pain. “Ow! Don’t scream so loud!”

In a matter of seconds, the company of four turns chaotic. Baekhyun panics about Kyungsoo, Kris tries to calm him down, Zitao is beyond pissed off, and Sehun is in pain.

The chaos calms down when they arrive at Kris’ cabin. It’s a small wooden cabin with plenty of decoration inside. Baekhyun seats himself inside as Kris goes back out to carry Sehun and Tao in. When Kris returns with Zitao in his arms and sets him on the bed, Baekhyun’s mouth falls open at the sapphire-scaled fishtail, having never seen anything like it. When the tail moves, little tints of emerald show themselves. Baekhyun is so enamored with the sight that he instinctively reaches out to touch it. Zitao doesn’t react to their contact, but does send him a blank glance.

“Are you some kind of lizard?” Zitao then asks, just as Kris comes in with Sehun. Sehun’s tail is pink and white in color, even more eye-catching than Zitao’s.

“I’m half of a lamia,” Baekhyun explains.

Zitao then sends a questioning look to Kris, who immediately explains. “A lamia is a human with the lower body of a snake.”

“A snake…” Zitao mutters in fascination.

“My friends say I’ve got the personality of one too,” Baekhyun remarks with a grin.

“Where are your friends, if I may ask? You didn’t come here alone, did you?”

Baekhyun’s expression becomes somber. “I… I don’t know. I don’t even know how I ended up here. I was unpacking my lunch with Kyungsoo and Minseok. Next thing I know everything turns black.”

Kris frowns as he grabs a medical kit from a shelf. “Why are you in these parts to begin with? The weather is the worst and there’s virtually nothing.”

“We were going to visit this wizard named Yixing. He’s going to help us improve our powers.” The three raise an eyebrow at that. “You see, we’re from this school named Jeolban. You might have heard of it – it’s a school for half-bloods only. Jeolban is in danger and we want to help, but since all of our power is either weak or useless, we decided to pay Yixing a visit. He’s a powerful wizard who will help us for sure.”

“That must be that nymph uprising I’ve heard about,” Sehun mutters, frowning to himself.

Baekhyun smiles bitterly.

“I sincerely hope nothing bad happened to your friends,” Kris says, sending Baekhyun a sympathetic look. “Nymphs tend to cross the line way too far.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

---

When the sun has gone into hiding and the moon rises, knuckles rap against the cabin door. Zitao, who had been sleeping alongside Sehun, jerks up in shock, obviously feeling more on edge outside the water. Kris sends the blanket-wrapped Baekhyun a reassuring look before opening the door slightly. A goat stands by the door, which confuses everyone but Baekhyun, who jumps from his seat in delight.

“Jongdae!” Baekhyun calls happily before tumbling outside with the goat in his arms. The goat immediately clambers away from him to bleat loudly. Kyungsoo, Joonmyun, and Minseok come forward from the bushes, relief in their expression and posture. Jongdae collects his clothes from the ground before hiding behind a tree to transform back and dress himself. Meanwhile, Baekhyun gets a pat on the shoulder from Minseok and a genuine smile from Joonmyun. Before he can look over to Kyungsoo and receive whatever punishment he’s thought of in the meantime, Jongdae comes running back out, tackling Baekhyun into a hug.

“We were so ing worried!” Jongdae tells him, embracing tightly.

“Tell me about it! I woke up alone in the snow! Well, there was a vampire and two mermaids—wait! How did you guys even find me?” Baekhyun asks in bewilderment.

“Turns out Minseok has this little perk called presence sensing,” Jongdae explains. “He can sense whenever someone is near. That’s how they always found us doing stuff we weren’t supposed to back in Jeolban.”

Minseok smiles giddily, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. At least I know now and at least we’re reunited again.”

Jongdae grins, “I’m so relieved, you have no idea.”

“I did get hurt but this vampire and his two mermaids found me! They patched me up. Let me call them!” Baekhyun skips a few meters back to the cabin, poking his head inside. “It’s my friends! You can come out.”

Zitao reached his hands out to Kris, “Carry me back to the water.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Moments later, a campfire is made. Kris set up a tent so they could spend the night close to the cabin and reach Yixing first thing tomorrow. All this time, Baekhyun hasn’t looked at Kyungsoo once, and Kyungsoo hasn’t even tried to approach him. Now that they’re all surrounding the fire, Baekhyun can feel Kyungsoo’s gaze on him.

“Excuse me,” Kyungsoo suddenly says, his tone stern. “Baekhyun and I need to collect some more firewood.”

An awkward silence falls, but Kyungsoo pays no mind to it. He jerks Baekhyun out of his seat and drags him to the back of the cabin with a painful grip on his wrist. When the voices in the background pick up again, leaving no eavesdroppers, Kyungsoo gazes at Baekhyun. The look holds no anger, only relief in sadness. Baekhyun feels his heart begin to beat faster at the intensity of the stare, but he doesn’t act on it. But Kyungsoo does.

He pulls Baekhyun into his arms, embracing him tightly.

“I was so so worried,” Kyungsoo whispers in Baekhyun’s ear, making him shiver. “When you just disappeared I—”

“I’m here,” Baekhyun replies softly, nuzzling into Kyungsoo’s neck.

“Don’t ever disappear on me again, .”

Baekhyun smiles.

“I won’t.”

---

The fire goes out eventually and the group decides to go to bed. Zitao, Sehun, and Kris sleep in the cabin while the Jeolban students sleep in the narrow tent, huddled in blankets and sleeping bags. Baekhyun, however, is still quite overwhelmed by today’s situation and chooses to sit outside for a while longer, just out of the tent’s sight. Jongdae is right next to him, holding Joonmyun’s thermal can filled with tea.

“I hate your cold blood,” Jongdae grumbles, slurping from the can. “It’s unfair.”

Baekhyun chuckles. “That’s gotta be the millionth time you said that. You can just change into a goat if you’re that cold, you know. I may not experience heat or cold myself, but even I know a goat pelt is warmer than a human body.”

“Who’s going to carry all my stuff? None of you, that’s what I know.”

Baekhyun laughs at that, because it’s more than true. “Well, maybe you can ask Joonmyun. He seems to like you well enough now.”

A blush rises to Jongdae’s cheeks, one not from the cold, and Baekhyun smirks. “Shut up,” Jongdae mutters, embarrassed. “Say one more thing about him and me and I’m going to sleep. You’ll have to sit alone in the snow.”

“Fine, fine. I won’t say anything.”

“Good.”

“So why did it take you so long to find me? If Minseok has this… ‘presence sensing’ he should have found my trail real fast, no?”

“The thing is, when you disappeared, he went after you while Kyungsoo came back to tell us what happened. He was gone for several hours before he finally came back. Then we had to walk here, which is totally off path, so it’s no surprise it took an entire day.”

“I guess so. You know, something really… scary happened,” Baekhyun begins, immediately pricking Jongdae’s interest. “When I woke up… there was a corpse beside me. A nymph corpse.”

Jongdae’s expression suddenly turns serious. “Was that your attacker?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s safe to say so.”

Jongdae sighs. “This is why I didn’t want you off the path. Look what happened!”

A smirk plasters itself onto Baekhyun’s lips. “Yeah, right. It was totally an excuse to be alone with Joonmyun.”

“Okay, that’s it. I’m leaving,” Jongdae announces, getting up from the folding chair. “Goodnight, Baekhyun.”

“Aw, don’t be such a party pooper!”

“Goodnight, Baekhyun.” Jongdae repeats before taking his leave.

Baekhyun is left in laughter as Jongdae grumbles all the way back to the tent. As Baekhyun’s laughter dies down, the ambience becomes prominent – the soft howl of the wind, the shuffling of blankets in the tent, and the everlasting trickle of water. For a while, Baekhyun enjoys the sounds while staring up at the starry sky. Because he’s so focused on the sounds, he immediately hears it when there’s footsteps heading in his direction.

Baekhyun turns his head to find Kyungsoo standing a few meters behind, a thick blanket around his shoulders.

“Hey,” Kyungsoo greets softly.

“Weren’t you asleep?”

“How can I possibly sleep while Joonmyun is snoring like that?”

Baekhyun laughs at the thought of Joonmyun snoring, immediately imagining drool and an ugly face to go along with it. A small smile plays on Kyungsoo’s lips, but soon after he shivers, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. Baekhyun gets up from his seat in worry, plucking the hat off his head before setting it atop Kyungsoo’s head.

“Don’t catch a cold,” Baekhyun whispers, pulling the hat down over Kyungsoo’s ears.

“Are you sure you won’t catch one yourself?”

“It’s my only privilege,” Baekhyun replies with a grin.

Kyungsoo purses his plump lips at that, causing an unwanted turmoil inside Baekhyun body.

“You should smile a little more now that I’m safe,” Baekhyun tells him.

Kyungsoo glares in response. “No way. I’m still mad at you.”

“Mad? Why? What did I do?

“First of all, you disappeared on me. Second, you made me worry my off for several hours. Third, I want to kiss you and I don’t have the courage to.”

Baekhyun jerks in shock at the sudden confession, staring at Kyungsoo in disbelief. Kyungsoo’s cheeks are bright red, his expression shy yet determined. After a moment of hesitation, Baekhyun lies a hand in Kyungsoo’s neck and moves closer. His heart is beating erratically in his chest as Kyungsoo gazes at him with those big brown eyes of his. Baekhyun feels as if he’ll explode if he watches Kyungsoo’s pretty face for one more second – the urge to kiss him is too great.

When Kyungsoo closes his eyes, Baekhyun takes it as a green light. He closes in on Kyungsoo’s delectable pink lips, slowly connecting their lips. Baekhyun feels his lips tingle in pleasure, already knowing he could never get enough of Kyungsoo’s lips. Two hands come up to tangle in his hair, only doubling the experience. Kyungsoo’s lips are a little slice of heaven, soft and plush. They make Baekhyun feel something he could never imagine – so far away from everything, nothing on his mind apart from the feeling of Kyungsoo’s sweet lips.

Once they part, Kyungsoo’s embarrassed expression is so adorable that Baekhyun can’t help but steal another quick kiss. Kyungsoo slaps him on the shoulder after, but there’s a small smile on his face.

“I’m in love with you,” Baekhyun whispers as he works himself into Kyungsoo’s blanket ring.

“You’re a ,” Kyungsoo replies, “but I’m in love with you too.”

---

A/N: I wasn't kidding when i said it was gonna be all about baeksoo!!! if you skipped this chapter, thats your decision, but you missed an important plot point (but if you skipped that you probably wont read this either LOL)
if you dont like baeksoo, im not sorry at all!! its my decision what i write haha. i did feel like it might have been weird to just put one baeksoo chapter in there instead of having their povs throughout the story, but it was already planned like this so i just went with it.

anyway, HOO BOI DID YALL SEE THAT CUTE FOREHEAD KISS????? (/prays the gif works (if it doesnt tell me))

yall this was all i needed to just write the chap in one go!!!!

cute kiss aside, thank you for subbing, voting and especially commenting!!! you guys mean a lot to me!!!
kisses!!!!