After the events of Saturday evening, Jeonghan had forced Jisoo (and consequently Chan as well) to sleep over for one more night. Originally he had tried to persuade Jisoo to move in completely with varying degrees of success (while "It's safer" had left Jisoo unconvinced, "We wouldn't miss our Wielder so much if you lived here" had provided a bit of a moral dilemma) but Chan foiled all of his attempts with the argument that they could meet anytime anyway and that Jisoo loved his little flat, to which Jisoo agreed. Jeonghan had given Chan the silent treatment for the next two hours.

This night wasn't much different from the last one. Although the Forcebearers had done a good job in keeping Jisoo entertained and distracted throughout the day, as soon as the lights had turned off and he was alone in his room his imagination ran wild once again. The shadows were too dark and the noises in the apartment building too unfamiliar to offer him any comfort, not the usual creaking of old wood and pipes he was used to from his own flat. It was like a movie started running in his head, small snippets of Jaesang holding a gun, the fire-user trying to burn Jihoon, Hansol stumbling and falling, heavy steps following him... He wasn't sure when he had drifted off but just like last night he woke up with a choked off gasp.

Curling into himself, he tried to calm down, however the tears were already flowing freely and it felt as if a fist had closed around his lungs, making it hard to breathe. The knocks on his door got drowned out by his sobs but even through the haze of tears he saw the figure walking towards his bed. Immediately he froze beneath his blanket and cold tingles of fear filled his body while he stared at the shadow.

"Keep breathing. It's just me." Jihoon the small bedside lamp and sat at the edge of Jisoo's bed.

"W-why are you awake?" the Wielder finally asked after his heart had calmed down a little.

"I felt your fear so I came to check if everything is alright. It doesn't look that way though," Jihoon said, watching him closely.

Jisoo ducked his head in shame. "I'm sorry."

Jihoon smiled warmly, an expression rarely seen on his face and Jisoo felt a little bit better at that sight. "Don't be, it's normal to feel distressed after traumatic events. I might not look like it but seeing Hansol die affected me too, which is why I was awake in the first place."

The Wielder's face immediately fell. Guilt gnawed at his conscience at the thought that everyone had been focused on him and his well-being throughout the day while nobody had stopped to ask whether Jihoon was feeling alright. Jihoon, who always hid his feelings behind a stoic face and snarky comments but whose emotions usually showed concern and care when they flooded through the bond. "Oh my god, Jihoon, I'm so sorry; I should've talked to you! I should've asked how you're doing but I was so preoccupied with myself... I'm a terrible Wielder, no, a terrible friend! I don't know how to-" Jihoon's fingers on the back of his hand stopped his rambling and he looked up to meet his Warrior's eyes.

"It's okay, really. I've been through some before; I'm tougher than I look and Cheol talked to me earlier anyway." Jisoo swallowed and nodded but shame was still burning in his chest and he was sure Jihoon could feel it as well. "Move over," came the sudden gruff command and a small warm body pressed into his side. "Stop staring. You look like you're about to cry and I wouldn't be able to sleep with all that sadness coming through the bond." Jihoon avoided his eyes and turned off the light.

Jisoo smiled and dared to move a little closer, his arm resting on the Warrior's stomach. "Thank you, I feel better already."

"This is a one time thing and I'll hit you if you tell anyone," was Jihoon's brusque reply but his voice was tender and his hand wrapped around Jisoo's.

The Wielder hesitated for a moment before he spoke again. "You and Seungcheol are really close, aren't you?"

He could hear Jihoon take a deep breath. "Yeah. I've known him ever since I can remember. I was brought to the orphanage when I was still a baby because my parents died in a car crash and Seungcheol took care of me while I grew up. He might seem like an easygoing at first but living in a place like that toughens you up quite a bit. Not that it was a bad place, the people working there were okay and everything but most of the other children were complete idiots. It's an ongoing competition for everything: food, blankets, toys, affection – you just learn to adapt and live with it. Plenty of bullying was happening too but thanks to Cheol I rarely got in trouble. We didn't really care about anyone there, it was only just the two of us. I was terrified of him getting adopted without me but we would always behave the worst we possibly could when potential parents came in, so it never happened." Jisoo could hear the smile in Jihoon's voice while he was reliving his memories. "It changed when Cheol was twelve and I was ten. We had snuck out at night as usual but we weren't careful enough so we got caught by the guard and had to run. I've always been a small kid so I was slower than Cheol and I was so focused on following him that I ran in front of a car." Jisoo in air through his teeth at the thought of little Jihoon getting run over but the Warrior only laughed at his reaction. "I spent two months in the hospital and Jeonghan's family visited me every day. But I was always ignoring them and crying for Seungcheol because he couldn't get out of the orphanage to visit me. 'I want Cheollie, why is he not here?'", he imitated a high children's voice and Jisoo felt his heart crack a little. "And one miraculous day, he suddenly stood in front of my bed together with Jeonghan and his parents and told me that we would get adopted by them. I remember not being happy about it because Jeonghan was a spoilt little and I was scared that he would take Cheol away from me but surprisingly we got along pretty well later on. They went through with their promise and adopted us when I turned eleven and I couldn't wish for a better family."

Jisoo smiled when he felt the content the other was radiating. "I'm really glad that everything turned out so well for the two of you."

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Jihoon spoke up once more but this time he sounded the most vulnerable Jisoo had ever heard hi