A peryton was a most magnificent creature, even one at a young age, with its proud antlers stretching high into the sky and its wings endlessly trailing behind it. A peryton, with its slender and sound body, moved with sure steps as its ears scanned its surroundings. Such a creature was always prepared for battle, and as dainty as it may have appeared, was quite powerful as well as attentive, making it an excellent partner for mages should it be summoned. That is, if the mage had the ability and luck to summon one. Perytons, as grand as they were, were equally as rare and the closest a mage usually got to seeing one is through a sketch in a textbook.

 

So Kwon Soonyoung considered himself lucky that he was able to see a real live peryton with his own eyes, not twenty feet beyond him, just summoned in the classroom. The creature stood before him and a hundred or so of his other classmates, holding its head high and evoking an abundance of admiration. And who else would it have been to summon such a brilliant familiar on the first day of the semester but the class’s top student, Jeon Wonwoo?

 

Wonwoo was not only the best student of their class, he was also a prodigy whose news had hit the papers on multiple occasions, so well-known that the professor dared to ask him to demonstrate how to summon a familiar on syllabus week, even though summoning a familiar was a project that would be due in the middle of the semester. Being able to complete such a task wasn’t an easy effort, particularly for freshmen who were just beginning to delve into the specialized education in beast taming, but Wonwoo managed to summon a rare beast with ease, surprising no one that he automatically aced the midterm despite the course just beginning.

 

That was three weeks ago.

 

Soonyoung was now on the floor of his dorm room, carefully crafting a summoning circle with ink that contained sap from the Tree of Life, making sure to write slowly and neatly in hopes that this was it. His quill moved lightly with his best handwriting. This time, he thought for sure that his preparations and incantations would be perfect after so many failed attempts. When he finished writing the final letter, he put down his quill as he waited for the ink to dry. If he blew on the ink like he tried before, it would run on the page, ruining his tedious hard work. Patience was the key here, but he had plenty of time left before the midterm project was due.

 

Looking over his inscriptions as they dried in place and confirming the completion of his summoning sheet, he smiled in satisfaction. There were only around fifteen in his class that were able to summon their familiars by now, the class genius Wonwoo included. Soonyoung’s roommate, Jihoon, was also one who succeeded early in the semester, who happened to be in the room while Soonyoung was readying his spell. Soonyoung caught Jihoon’s gaze the moment he looked over, Jihoon’s wind serpent nestling comfortably on Jihoon’s shoulders. Soonyoung wondered what his familiar would be, slowly growing more and more impatient to find out. He flipped through his textbook, skimming until he found the right page, and drew a breath deep into the pits of his stomach.

 

“Wait,” Jihoon stopped him suddenly. “you’re not going to try that in here, are you?”

 

“What’s wrong with that? I’ve tried it so many times on the field already that I’m pretty sure everyone in the class saw me at some point. I feel like I just get too nervous when I do it with a lot of people watching. And since I’m trying this in the comfort of my own room, I’ll be able to summon a beast without being self-conscious about it,” reasoned Soonyoung.

 

“But what are you going to do if your familiar is giant? There’s not a whole lot of space in here for anything bigger than a mid-sized beast.”

 

Soonyoung waved a hand. “Don’t you worry. If I summon anything even relatively big, I’ll send it back to the beast world as soon as I finish sealing a contract with it and summon it back in the yard.”

 

Jihoon sighed.

 

“For some reason, I can’t trust you on those words… And besides, don’t you need to spend an entire day with a familiar before sending it back to the beast world? It’s common knowledge.”

 

“Don’t stress about the details, I’ll think of what to do when the time comes. Which should hopefully be a few moments from now, just you see.”

 

Jihoon started to pack his notes and textbooks. He was already at the door when Soonyoung finally asked him where he was going.

 

“To Junhui’s room,” Jihoon said. “Where it’ll be more peaceful.”

 

Junhui was Jihoon’s childhood friend, the two first being acquainted with each other in their elementary years. Soonyoung wondered why they didn’t end up as roommates, since they visited each other so often anyways. He hadn’t heard from Jihoon directly, but it seemed it was Jihoon who requested they be in different rooms, even though it was also Jihoon that decided to enroll into this university despite being accepted to more prestigious ones. His excuse was money, but when Soonyoung knew Jihoon had a good amount of scholarships awarded from all of the schools he was accepted in, he suspected there might be more to it.

 

Soonyoung swept the thought away, thankful that his roommate was understanding enough to not get angry at him for summoning in their cramped space the university liked to call ‘living quarters’ when no one could truly live in comfort in such small dorms. He probably got lucky with his roommate, though, not wanting to imagine what others might have to go through with less agreeable roommates. He turned his attention back to the summoning sheet in front of him, complete in deep maroon ink, and then back to his textbook. He incanted in a full voice, keeping one hand on the summoning sheet and the other on his textbook, holding the page open. His focus was on the textbook, but when he heard and felt the summoning sheet shrivel in failure, his stomach almost shriveled similarly.

 

He didn’t understand. He bought the more expensive summoning sheets and ink, he wrote extra carefully, and he incanted with full focus. He didn’t understand why his attempt failed once again, and why they kept failing. Just what was was he doing wrong? He crumpled up the poor sight in front of him and tossed the useless sheet in the wastebasket, deciding to clear his head around campus, unable to try again. Even failed attempts at summoning cost energy, and as a young mage who was barely a freshman, trying to summon a beast more than once a day would place too great a strain on him. So, outside he went.

 

Step after step, he only noticed enough of his surroundings to follow the pavement, not caring to figure out where he was going. There was more important things to figure out, like what it might have been that he was doing wrong, writing wrong, or saying wrong. He watched a minor phoenix pass him by, an enchanting firebird that ignited the surrounding air with each of its wings, and thought about how nice it would be to have such a creature following him at all times. Its owner was a nonchalant girl who paid him no mind as he sighed his soul into the atmosphere.

 

“Is everything okay?”

 

Soonyoung turned to the deep voice to be met with a brilliant peryton, though it couldn’t have been the peryton that said it. He looked up to see the boy mounted on the beast hopping off effortlessly despite the peryton’s wings being in the way. He recognized the boy as the school genius.

 

“You’re Jeon Wonwoo.”

 

Wonwoo laughed. “I guess I don’t really have to introduce myself then. You on the other hand…”

 

Soonyoung quickly spouted, “I’m Kwon Soonyoung, also a beast tamer major. I saw you summon your beast and wow, you were really cool. I still can’t believe you were able to summon a peryton, but I guess they don’t call you a prodigy for nothing.”

 

Wonwoo smiled shyly. “It’s nothing to brag about. I was really nervous when the professor asked me to do that since I’ve never summoned anything before. And in front of the class? You have no idea how relieved I was that it actually worked.”

 

It made the feat even more amazing, the fact that Wonwoo wasn’t completely confident in his ability to summon a beast, but before he had a chance to ask more about it, Wonwoo spoke up.

 

“So, you seemed a bit down. Are you feeling better now?”

 

Soonyoung had no intention to hide it from the beginning, but he didn’t necessarily want to flaunt his worries even if he was asked.

 

“I was just a little frustrated that I haven’t been able to summon a beast yet.”

 

He laughed nervously, not entirely sure why he was telling Wonwoo why he was upset, or why he was making his frustrations seem something so minor. Perhaps it was something about the fact that Wonwoo was a stranger that allowed Soonyoung to let loose his concerns.

 

He looked back at the peryton. The impressive peryton that even had the professor in shock. Seeing the beast up close made it seem so much more real and so much more alive.

 

“What’s its name?” he changed the subject.

 

Wonwoo smiled. “Perry,” he said proudly.

 

Perry was very much a proud-looking beast, and its wings were larger than they appeared when it was first summoned. Its antlers seemed ever higher, seeing that the peak of Soonyoung’s height just reached the peryton’s muzzle. Soonyoung was somehow rejuvenated upon seeing the beast, his determination renewing itself and his thoughts telling himself he could do it. He could summon a beast, a great beast, and all he had to do was put in a bit more effort.

 

Soonyoung left the mage-beast pair with a lighter chest.

 

He paused after taking a few steps back in the direction of his dorm, turning around to see that the two he just parted with were a good distance away already. The peryton stretched out its wings before folding them neatly back to their resting position, and Soonyoung felt a smile emerge on his face when he realized that Wonwoo must have named the beast Perry because it was a close match to peryton.

 

~~

 

Soonyoung, feeling even more motivated than he previously was, found himself sitting in the middle of his dorm room after having rushed there straight after class. He saw Wonwoo sitting in the front of class, his peryton standing by him, and he remembered the feeling he experienced from seeing it so much closer the day before. By now, about sixteen people had familiars sitting beside them and the completion of the midterm project almost started to feel more like a race. But Soonyoung was ready, after having a late start, finally feeling properly prepared.

 

He scribbled slowly but surely, already having half-memorized the letters of the summoning circle after creating so many of them until now. He wrote with confidence, despite the low murmuring voices in the corner of the room. This much, he could do without fully concentrating on the task before him. When it came to the actual summoning, however…

 

His eyebrow twitched when he heard Junhui burst out in laughter at something Jihoon said. The sudden noise interrupted his incantation, and he could feel the summoning sheet shrivel as a result. Soonyoung looked over at Jihoon, who looked back apologetically sitting on his bottom bunk, and Junhui who didn’t seem to notice what happened and only reached out to beckon his familiar forward.

 

Junhui’s familiar was a wyvern, and besides the presence of its hind legs and its overall slightly larger body size, the familiar looked vastly similar to Jihoon’s wind serpent. The two familiars seemed to enjoy each other’s presence like Jihoon and Junhui did with each other, and Soonyoung found himself questioning once again why the two didn’t room together. He wondered if he should request to switch dorm rooms.

 

It was slightly windier today, and the few winged familiars that Soonyoung could locate were grounded. It seemed a peaceful day, contrasting the torrent that was going on inside Soonyoung’s head. He had thought he was prepared, he had thought the day to summon successfully would be today, but he was wrong. He never took into account that there were many factors that contributed to a successful summoning, concentration being one of them. It was a mistake to think that he wouldn’t be distracted by Jihoon and Junhui conversing, even if they were being quiet about it.

 

He exhaled all of his breath with a low grumble, voice cracking near the end of his long wallow. He turned to a giggle off to his left and saw Wonwoo laughing at his direction, probably at him. Soonyoung frowned slightly, thinking to himself that Wonwoo wasn’t as polite as he imagined he would be. In fact, Wonwoo already seemed a bit different from the impression he gave off the day before. More cheerful, even though he was looking at Soonyoung who was not in as joyful of a mood.

 

“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting that croak,” Wonwoo explained between chuckles. When he calmed himself shortly after, he asked, “Did your summoning fail again?”

 

Soonyoung felt the urge to lie, to save himself from what seemed like a pathetic situation, but lying would make him more pathetic, he told himself.

 

“Yeah, something goes wrong every time apparently.”

 

Wonwoo hummed as he studied Soonyoung’s expression. Soonyoung wasn’t sure what to think of the thorough examination.

 

“You seem stressed,” Wonwoo said finally.

 

Seem was an understatement. Stressed was even more of one. To put it more accurately, Soonyoung felt like he was under extreme pressure, the weight of each new familiar he saw burdening his shoulders as the days renewed themselves. He was anxious.

 

“Just a bit,” Soonyoung found himself responding.

 

“What do you say to relieving some of that stress?”

 

Soonyoung wasn’t expecting Wonwoo to offer some sort of remedy to his troubles.

 

“How?”

 

“Come with me. I have an idea.”

 

Soonyoung followed Wonwoo to the library and through a maze of corridors. Wonwoo swirled a ring around his hand as he walked, a key attached to the end, and led them to a study room. He swiftly unlocked the room and pulled Soonyoung inside before Soonyoung had a chance to ask why they were there. The study room barely had enough room for comfort, as it was designed to only just fit two students and their familiars. With two students and a peryton, most of that space was filled.

 

“I don’t know how doing anything in this tiny room will help me relieve my stress.”

 

“I doesn’t really have to be in here, but I thought you might want privacy.”

 

Soonyoung couldn’t stop his confusion from showing, but what could he possibly be doing here that required privacy?

 

“Privacy? What for?”

 

“Hugging Perry,” Wonwoo said matter-of-factly.

 

Soonyoung’s confusion increased ten-fold.

 

“Hugging… huh?”

 

Wonwoo cleared his throat to explain.

 

“Perytons have a calming effect. You should know at least this much, right?”

 

Soonyoung knew. It was one of the reasons perytons were so useful in battle. Perytons were able to calm its contracted mage when in need, and the contracted mage could therefore keep their head clear and focused. But as far as Soonyoung knew, the calming effect should only affect the contracted mage, so there was no way Soonyoung would benefit from being near the peryton. He was still unsure of where Wonwoo was trying to go with this.

 

“But you’re the only one Perry can calm.”

 

Wonwoo made a buzzing noise while shaking a finger. “That’s only half-right. It’s true perytons can only calm their contracted mage if you’re talking long distance. Otherwise, anyone can reap its calming benefits if they touch one. So that’s what you’re going to do. Just give him a big hug for as long as you need to and you’ll feel better in no time!”

 

Soonyoung was skeptical, seeing how he hadn’t read such a thing in any textbook. Then again, perytons were rare enough that it shouldn’t be expected that the textbooks have everything on the beasts. With Wonwoo having a real peryton at his side, it wouldn’t be weird if he discovered something the textbooks had yet to. But he still felt strange about this whole idea.

 

“I don’t know about this…”

 

“I promise it’ll help. What do you have to lose?”

 

Wonwoo made a point. Soonyoung shrugged.

 

“Okay, then I guess I’ll…”

 

He hesitantly held up his hand, waiting for Perry to acknowledge him. When the peryton closed its eyes and let out a sigh as it lowered its head, Soonyoung stifled a smile, feeling a strange satisfaction from the beast’s submission. He first its muzzle, surprised at how soft its fur was. It didn’t take long for him to be hugging the beast’s neck, burying his face in its thick fur. He noticed Wonwoo smiling, not sure if it was a relieved smile or a smug one, and Soonyoung reflexively turned his face the other direction so the boy wouldn’t see the smile that managed to fully appear on his face.

 

Wonwoo was right, this was effective, and after a few minutes Soonyoung felt much better. He decided it was enough and discreetly pecked the peryton in gratitude.

 

“I saw that.”

 

So, it wasn’t as discreet at he thought.

 

Soonyoung grumbled a bit in embarrassment before muttering, “Thanks for this,” and escaping to the corridors, not missing Wonwoo’s smile as he left, confirming that it was definitely at least half-smug.

 

~~

 

“So you’re telling me you cuddled Jeon Wonwoo’s familiar? Which is a peryton named Perry?”

 

Soonyoung rolled his eyes at Mingyu, pointing a fork at him. “It wasn’t cuddling. It was hugging. And Perry’s a fine name for a peryton.”

 

Mingyu looked away from Soonyoung to continue the task at hand before his shocked exclamation. For a reason Soonyoung wasn’t sure he wanted to ask about, Minyu picking out the prettiest berries from the bundle he brought with him, eating the more roughed up ones. He hadn’t even eaten his lunch yet because he was so preoccupied with the berries.

 

“What, are you defending him because you like him now? Weren’t you telling me a few weeks ago that you can summon something even better than a peryton? Whatever happened to that? Where’s your better-than-a-peryton familiar?”

 

“Just because I wanted to challenge him doesn’t mean I hated him.” Soonyoung leaned back on his chair, losing his appetite and watching Mingyu with interest. “But I don’t really know about that now. It’s been four weeks since the semester started and I still haven’t managed to summon even a tail feather of a beast. I’m starting to think I don’t have the talent to be a beast tamer.”

 

“Switch to a hex major,” Mingyu said easily. “You don’t have to summon anything, and it’s pretty fun.”

 

Soonyoung groaned. “But I’ve always wanted to be a beast major. It was my dream ever since I saw the worldwide mage tournament when I was seven. Beast tamers were always a crowd favorite, and no surprise since they’re so cool.”

 

Mingyu inspected a berry, contemplating if it was pretty enough to put in his pile. “Just because you want to be one, doesn’t mean you have the means. If you don’t have the talent, then you don’t have the talent. Nothing wrong with that.”

 

“Sorry I can’t be like you Mr. There’s-nothing-I-can’t-do Kim Mingyu.”

 

Mingyu laughed, resulting in him squishing a berry by mistake. He pouted for half a second before eating it.

 

“But you know,” Mingyu swallowed his berry. “Being a hex major isn’t all that bad.” He started an incantation on his completed pile of pretty-looking berries. When he was finished, he continued. “We get to pull pranks on each other all the time for our assignments.”

 

“Okay, but what good will pranks do for anyone in the real world?”

 

“Pranks just help us practice our hold on people while being relatively harmless. And besides, there's a lot of things you could do with a hex degree.”

 

“Like what?”

 

Soonyoung saw a body quickly tackle Mingyu, nearly toppling him out of his chair. He wasn’t phased, having seen the sight more than enough times to know that it was how Seokmin liked to greet his boyfriend.

 

“Like,” Seokmin chimed in when he got up. “Crime investigation. Pull a truth hex on a suspect and it makes solving a case a lot easier than using potions. There’s a lot of crime in this world, you know.”

 

Soonyoung wasn’t convinced. “Yeah, sure, but what else?”

 

Mingyu sat back up and contributed to the argument. “Police force. Having a hexer around makes a criminal a lot less dangerous when you face them.”

 

“But you can counter a hex, can’t you?”

 

“That’s why you have to be really skilled,” Mingyu said as he gathered his berries and offered them to Seokmin, waiting for the boy to eat some. When Mingyu was convinced that enough of them were eaten, he continued. “Hence, our hex practices.”

 

Seokmin’s eyes widened as Mingyu said it, but it was too late. He consumed a few berries too many and was now starting to clear his throat. “I stand by my case, sir. Kim Mingyu is the greatest man to ever exist and here’s why.”

 

Soonyoung leaned close to Mingyu, not taking his eyes off Seokmin. “What did you do to him?”

 

Mingyu snickered, trying to hold back laughter. “I created an illusion to make him think we’re in a courtroom and he has to prove why I’m the greatest person alive.”

 

“As you can see, your honor, he’s attractive as . Just look at him, your honor. Look at him.”

 

Mingyu laughed harder, holding his belly. “He wouldn’t make a very good lawyer, would he?”

 

“And his body is,” Seokmin clenched his fist. “To die for, your honor.”

 

At this point, Mingyu was howling and Soonyoung muttered, “disgusting,” as he found a chance to slip away.

 

~~

 

Before he knew it, week five of the semester was upon him, and he still had not summoned a beast. Walking into his Introductions to Beasts class, he noticed at least half of his classmates, probably more, had a beast by their side. With so many students already looking like they were beast tamers, Soonyoung couldn’t help but think he was behind. The deadline wasn’t for another three weeks, but so many have already made it this far while Soonyoung was still behind the starting line. He didn’t know why he kept tripping over his own feet, and he could only panic when he saw so many marching forward while he was stuck not understanding anything.

 

He normally sat in the middle row, but he didn’t quite feel up to it today. He walked up the stairs and didn't stop until he reached the top, sitting in an empty seat. He spotted Jihoon and Junhui three rows in front of him, conversing with ease, their familiars resting together. Soonyoung looked away, wondering what it was like to be so carefree.

 

Shortly afterwards, he heard “Is there anyone sitting here?” directed towards him. He denied and the girl who asked sat in the seat next to him, her familiar settling next to her.

 

He recognized the mage-familiar duo, the girl with the minor phoenix from a few weeks ago. She must have noticed his curiosity.

 

“Its name is Albert, and I’m Nayoung. I’m sure you can tell Albert’s a minor phoenix, right?”

 

“Ah, yeah.” Soonyoung replied dumbfoundedly, not expecting the girl to try to make some sort of conversation with him. “I’m Soonyoung, and… I don’t have a familiar. Yet.”

 

“You’re anxious about it.”

 

“Huh?” He didn’t think he was particularly showing signs of it. “Yeah, how?”

 

“I can sense emotions through Albert.”

 

“Ah…”

 

It made sense. Phoenixes were usually bound to people with leadership. A skill that allowed the mage to sense emotions would make it easier to resolve tensions in a group. He wondered if Nayoung would make a good leader for a tournament.

 

He shook away his thoughts. It wasn’t the time to think of future tournaments. His priorities should lie in actually summoning a beast to call his familiar. First things first, he had to pass the class if he ever wanted to make a career of the degree he was pursuing. His thoughts felt overloaded and scrambled, a result of thinking about so many things at once. He couldn’t help it, there were so many important things to think about.

 

“Don’t worry too much,” Nayoung said quietly as the professor walked in. “It takes time to get the summoning process just right.”

 

He just didn’t know how much more he would have to practice before he got it just right. He grabbed his hair in frustration, silently panicking by himself.

 

A lozenge was tossed to his desk and he looked at Nayoung. She was already writing down notes that the professor had written on the board.

 

“Eat it. It helps when you have something sweet at times like this.”

 

Soonyoung unwrapped the lozenge from the wrapper and popped it in his mouth, finding comfort in its sweetness and concluding that Nayoung would be a good leader. She seemed to have a natural sense of what to do to resolve tension.

 

He still felt unsure about being able to summon a beast, though, wondering if he should switch to hex after all.

 

After class, he found Wonwoo and his peryton waiting for him just outside. When Wonwoo saw his face, he must have seen the nervousness and doubt, as he immediately took Soonyoung to study room 114, where he took him before. Without instruction or prompting, as soon as the door was closed, Soonyoung found himself holding Perry tightly.

 

“I’m guessing you still haven’t had any luck with getting yourself a familiar?”

 

Soonyoung held Perry for a little longer, sighing away his tension as the peryton took it away. He shut his eyes and let relieve take over as he pecked the peryton this time as well. He let the beast go before turning to Wonwoo, avoiding eye contact at first.

 

“I’m getting somewhere,” Soonyoung said, but after a wary look from Wonwoo, “not,” he admitted.

 

Soonyoung played with the hem of his shirt before Perry’s neck to calm himself some more. Wonwoo probably noticed.

 

“If you’re feeling anxious about the midterm, would it help if we did this more often?”

 

“This… me hugging Perry?”

 

“Yeah, it could be like a regular mini therapy session. With Perry.” Wonwoo suddenly lit up, an idea solidifying in his head. “Theraperry sessions!”

 

Soonyoung stared at him for a second, not at all expecting that kind of pun coming from Wonwoo’s mouth. But he appreciated the idea. Rather, he was so amused by it, as well as its unexpectedness, that he started snorting, unable to hold back laughter.

 

“Th-theraperry,” he huffed.

 

There was something gratifying about seeing Wonwoo smiling proudly at some joke he made that could almost be seen as borderline lame. About seeing Wonwoo in a different perspective than just the ‘top student of the class’. About being someone that this Wonwoo can smile alongside with. Somehow, it made Soonyoung feel the slightest bit special knowing that Jeon Wonwoo wasn’t so unapproachable as he seemed.

 

~~

 

In potions class, Soonyoung added a few drops of elderberry extract into an empty vial and Eunwoo, his potion partner, pushed his arm slightly, asking what the point of that was. Elderberry extract was nowhere to be found in the instructions for the potion they were making. Soonyoung shrugged. He wasn’t really sure what he was doing. Eunwoo shrugged in response to concur. Neither took good enough notes to know what they were supposed to do next.

 

Eunwoo was a hex major, and Soonyoung decided she was a good person to ask about what it was like to be one.

 

“What’s the midterm supposed to be for hex majors?”

 

“Our midterm? We get assigned a hex to put on an enchanted dummy. It’s a random hex out of the book, so we have to memorize the ones from class to do it, and we won’t know what hex it is until the day of the midterm. It’s basically memorization and practice.”

 

Soonyoung hummed, now pouring the elderberry extract back into its bottle. Eunwoo gasped.

 

“Soonyoung, you can’t just put it back. What if there were remains of some weird potion in the vial? For all you know, you just contaminated the whole bottle of elderberry!,” she harshly whispered.

 

“Oh .” Soonyoung promptly capped the bottle and placed it back into its place in the shelf of extracts on the side of their table. “That didn’t happen. If anyone asks, we never touched it…”

 

Eunwoo opened to protest, but she decided not to. “You’re right. Elderberry isn’t cheap. They might ask us to replace it if we say we might have contaminated it.”

 

“I’m glad you agree.”

 

“So,” Eunwoo started swirling the bottle of their half-completed and hopeless potion. “How about your midterm, then? You just have to summon a beast and make a contract with it, right?”

 

Soonyoung sprawled himself on the clean portion of their table. “Yeah, but it’s a lot harder than it sounds. I’ve tried summoning one every day for weeks. I don’t get it, how the hell did Wonwoo summon one in a single try? And my roommate got one in five tries. And yet, here I am, surrounded by all these smart people, and too many tries to count later, and I’m still familiar-less.”

 

“Maybe, you’re just bad at it. Like how we’re bad with potions,” Eunwoo said, pointing to their glowing green potion when the professor clearly said the final solution was to turn to a deep magenta. It was almost the opposite of the color spectrum.

 

“Mingyu suggested I switch majors. Apparently being a hex major is pretty fun… What do you think?”

 

The two of them sat back, having given up on their potion and silently agreeing that they try again in a make-up lesson.

 

“I think it’s fine to switch majors and all, but it’s too late to switch out of your class. The deadline to drop out or add a class was last week, so either way, you’re stuck in your beast class.”

 

Soonyoung stood up suddenly. “What? Are you sure? I thought we were supposed to be given seven weeks to drop?”

 

Eunwoo shook her head. “They changed the policy this year. Something about how professors salaries are set by the fifth week and depends on the number of students enrolled in the class. Even if the number of students change, the professors’ salaries don’t, so they decided to make the cut-off date for students the same. You can still withdraw if you really think you’ll fail. They say a withdrawing grade is better than a failing grade.”

 

Soonyoung doubled over the table in shock and woe. He was sure he had a few more weeks to decide on whether he wanted to switch or not, but with the deadline already passed, he no longer had a backup. He had no choice but to pass the class, but with they way things have been going on his end, he was doomed.

 

“You’ll summon one in time, I’m sure of it,” Eunwoo said as he patted Soonyoung on the shoulder.

 

He only hoped he would.

 

~~

 

Soonyoung didn’t anticipate that Wonwoo would actually used the term “theraperry session” after he coined it, but he did. Neither did he anticipate that during that session, he would practically by huddled on the floor in tears, laughing at a joke Wonwoo cracked without warning. He couldn’t believe Wonwoo made the joke, and he couldn’t believe he laughed at it.

 

“Did you hear about the fortune-teller who escaped from prison?” Soonyoung asked Mingyu later after having taken a good four times to ask.

 

“No, what about it?” asked Mingyu, curiosity creeping into his expression.

 

Soonyoung laughed thinking about the punchline. He had to calm his breathing several times before he exclaimed, “She was a small medium at large!” and promptly started howling in amusement.

 

He laughed until he realized that he was the only one making a sound. He turned back to Mingyu.

 

“Was it really that funny?” Mingyu asked.

 

Soonyoung was more than a little disappointed at Mingyu’s reaction, but perhaps that had to do with his own poor presentation. He wondered if Seokmin would have laughed, seeing how Seokmin often had a better sense of humor than his boyfriend in Soonyoung’s opinion.

 

“It was funnier when Wonwoo said it.”

 

Mingyu scoffed. “So are you friends with the school genius now? First you want to rival him, then you like him, and now you’re friends? What a development.”

 

Was Soonyoung friends with him? He realized he didn’t quite have an answer to that. They were more than acquaintances, sure. But were they friends? Would Wonwoo call Soonyoung a friend, or just someone that needed his help?

 

“That wasn’t supposed to be a hard question,” Mingyu said after Soonyoung didn’t reply. “But anyways, how’s the summoning going?”

 

“Please don’t remind me,” Soonyoung said with a groan. “I swear, if I think about this any more I’m going to explode.”

 

Mingyu threw his hands up defensively. “Sorry, didn’t know it was a bad topic. Moving on.”

 

Long, sleek hair flowed past them and pulled the attention of both boys to the girl walking by. When she stopped, Soonyoung recognized her as Kim Minkyung, another top student in the school. She was a year ahead of them, but well-known to all for being a master of hexes. She was another called ‘the school genius’ and for good reason. Being only a sophomore, she was already a vital part of the police force, her magic powers benefitting them greatly. It wouldn’t have been bizarre to hear that Wonwoo was the Minkyung of this class. Seeing her walk past with an almost unapproachable aura, Soonyoung could see why.

 

At one point, he noticed a dire wolf trailing behind her, its size massive and almost terrifying, its fangs long and fierce. One of its ears pulled back in the direction of the two boys and Soonyoung felt shivers make a wave on his skin. When they were out of hearing range, Soonyoung whispered to Mingyu, “I thought she was a hex major. Why was there a beast following her?”

 

Mingyu tilted his head and whispered back. “I heard somewhere that she was double majoring in hex and beast taming, now. And that she added beast taming as a major because of Wonwoo.”

 

“Wonwoo? Why would Wonwoo have to do with her double majoring?”

 

“I heard it was because she was fascinated that he was able to summon a beast on the first day of class, and it made her want to challenge it herself. If you want my take on it, think that’s a load of bull. You know what I think? I think they’re secretly dating. Why else would she say it was because of him? Because she wanted them to have the same classes. Have more in common. Makes sense, right?”

 

It was a halfway sensical argument, but compelling enough when Mingyu was so convinced of it. Soonyoung felt a pang of disappointment hearing that Wonwoo had someone he might have been close to. That there was someone who discovered the unexpectedly ridiculous side of him before Soonyoung did. It awakened a competitive side of Soonyoung, who felt the sudden desire to know Wonwoo even more.

 

~~

 

Soonyoung finished looking over his freshly made summoning circle for any errors, ready to tackle his task once again.

 

“Hey Jihoon, can you look over this for me? Make sure everything looks good?”

 

Jihoon offered his hand, not looking away from his desk, and Soonyoung handed the sheet over to him. He hovered his finger over the shapes and letters, lightly murmuring as he checked each section.

 

“Looks fine,” he concluded eventually, handing Soonyoung the sheet before starting to pack his notes and things to head over to Junhui’s as usual.

 

“Wait,” Soonyoung stopped him. He couldn’t let Jihoon leave yet. “Can you do me a favor and please please please watch me try to summon a beast? Maybe you can find out what I’m doing wrong.”

 

Jihoon grumbled about how there was cake waiting for him, but he agreed to the request. He sat on the floor across from Soonyoung and watched intently.

 

Soonyoung swallowed, suddenly feeling nervous being watched. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, still aware of Jihoon being there. He began his incantation, focused on his task, his hand firmly at the edge of the summoning sheet.

 

He heard the slightest sound of what might have been paper crinkling and his heart sank, but he continued, thinking it might have been his imagination. When he felt the paper rustle, he felt his brows furrow, and soon afterwards, the paper was fully crumpled into a useless piece of trash.

 

To think that his best efforts weren’t good enough was a horrible feeling, but to have someone watch your failures made it even worse. He felt guilty for letting Jihoon see him curl into a ball, but he was shaking before he had a chance to pretend to be okay. He kept his knees close to his shoulders as his breath wavered, not wanting to so easily show such weakness, but he was at his limit. He just didn’t know what to do anymore. He just didn’t know.

 

He felt a hesitant hand pat him on his head and he peeked up to see Jihoon kneeling down. Jihoon spoke in a soft voice barely above a whisper.

 

“You’ll get it. You just have to have some faith in yourself. Um, your procedure looked really good. I didn’t see anything wrong with that or your summoning sheet. I have a feeling you’ll get it any day now.”

 

Except he couldn’t. Next week starting tomorrow was off-limits because of Vitae, and Soonyoung was worried that he would find himself right back to the beginning by the time Vitae was over.

 

There was a knock on the door and a voice that called for Jihoon. Soonyoung recognized it as Junhui’s voice.

 

“I’ll be back. I’ll tell him to leave.”
 

“No, it’s okay, I’m going out.”

 

He quickly stood up, steadying himself with the bunk post when he got dizzy, and walked out, passing Junhui without even greeting him. He knew he would feel dumb and pathetic if he stayed any longer with them and their familiars.

 

He lifted his elbow to cover his eyes as tears started to escape his eyes, not watching as he turned a corner and bumped into a large beast that knocked him down. He wiped his tears and looked up at a peryton.

 

If a peryton was there, then that meant…

 

“Soonyoung?”

 

Soonyoung felt so much of his tension melt away just by hearing his voice. He felt so relieved that he started crying, thankful that somehow he managed to run into Wonwoo.

 

“Do you need a theraperry session?”

 

~~

 

The Week of Vitae was a week without familiars. It had to be, as there were no beasts in the human world during that time. It was a week that required all beasts to return to the beast world in order to travel to the Tree of Life and make offerings. It was a traditional weeklong holiday, its purpose being that the offerings made to the tree would keep the tree satisfied with allowing beasts to travel to reside in the human world. The wrath of the Tree of Life would be too great to risk any beast refusing to go.

 

The Week of Vitae didn’t excuse students from attending classes, but it resulted in less coursework. While the holiday only affected beast tamers, professors campus wide often lessened the workload to be fair, and the week of vitae was a celebrated week for students.

 

The lack of beasts made things less stressful for Soonyoung as well, as he didn’t have a constant visual reminder of how many of his classmates had familiars, which at this point was most of them. Though he wouldn’t be able to try summoning a beast until Vitae was over, he felt that it was okay to not worry about it for the week. He would go back to worrying as soon as the beasts returned, but now wasn’t the time to stress over it.

 

Relaxing in the grass was a nice way to go about this. Mingyu and Seokmin were in their own world, with Mingyu’s head on Seokmin’s lap and Seokmin Mingyu’s hair. They were arguing about what shapes the clouds made, and then about which cloud would win a race were there to be one. Soonyoung couldn’t even attempt being that laid-back. He couldn’t invade their space anyways, so he opted to talk to Eunwoo by first telling her Wonwoo’s fortune-teller joke.

 

Eunwoo let out a pah! and a giggle when Soonyoung said the punchline, and immediately afterwards, a “What was that supposed to be?”

 

Her reaction was better than Mingyu’s, Soonyoung supposed.

 

“It’s a joke.”

 

“I know that, but why?”

 

“Was it funny?”

 

“It was, but it was also really lame.” She shook her head in disapproval. “I can’t believe you, Kwon Soonyoung.”

 

Here was the real punchline.

 

“It wasn’t my joke though. It was Wonwoo’s.”

 

Eunwoo gaped in disbelief. “No.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No way!”

 

“Exactly! You would think it wasn’t, but it’s true!”

 

Eunwoo squinted. “So you are getting close to Wonwoo.”

 

“I guess?”

 

“I’ve never seen him around anyone except you, so I thought for a while he was making you hang out with him for some reason. He just seems too intimidating for anyone to approach. And he doesn’t seem to initiate conversation much, either.”

 

Strange, Soonyoung thought, since he recalled Wonwoo being the first to approach him.

 

“But I guess I’m a bit relieved that you’re hanging around him of your own free will. And that he isn’t just some stuck-up brat.”

 

“Honestly, I would say you’re more stuck-up than he is.”

 

“Hey!” Eunwoo plucked off some grass and aimed to throw it in his direction, but she paused. “Hey… isn’t that him over there? Is that Kim Minkyung that’s with him?”

 

Soonyoung looked behind him and confirmed it with his own eyes. It was indeed Wonwoo and Minkyung talking together, seeming as if they had much to share with one another. Soonyoung felt an unpleasant twinge as he turned back to Eunwoo.

 

“I thought you said I was the only one you’ve seen him talk to?”

 

Eunwoo played with the tips of her hair as she thought.

 

“I did. It’s the first time I’m seeing him talk to someone else.”

 

That unpleasant sensation was starting to make its way to Soonyoung’s gut.

 

“Maybe the rumors are true, then. That they have a thing for each other.”

 

“Minkyung and Wonwoo?” Eunwoo almost snapped. “But that’s…”

 

Eunwoo seemed confused, but not as much as Soonyoung was worried. Worried about what?

 

“It’s just a rumor,” he told Eunwoo. “Just a rumor,” he repeated for himself.

 

~~

 

The Week of Vitae was supposed to be less stressful week, but Soonyoung was upset to the point that Jihoon noticed and pointed it out.

 

“There’s no point thinking about summoning or not summoning anything now. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to find a distraction if you’re still this worried.”

 

Soonyoung was upset, but not about anything related to beasts. He was upset about Wonwoo and Soonyoung’s wrong assumption that he was his only friend. It didn’t make sense for someone to have a sole friend, so of course it was only natural that Wonwoo would talk to others. Just because Eunwoo didn’t see him talk to other people didn’t mean he hadn’t. It was unreasonable to believe that. But Soonyoung had been so elated thinking he was the first to discover a fun side of Wonwoo that realizing he wasn’t disappointed him.

 

He apologized to Jihoon for making him worry and decided to leave the room. Soonyoung bothered him enough already. He opened the door to find Junhui ready to knock the door that was no longer there, carrying a box of what looked like cream puffs. Soonyoung greeted him this time, but Junhui seemed as lost as the time before when Soonyoung left.

 

While Soonyoung was in the midst of trying to talk himself into accepting that Wonwoo had other friends, he bumped into him. Without a peryton by his side, the sight seemed bare, but Soonyoung still recognized him immediately. It would have been a good idea to escape somehow, as Wonwoo wasn’t the best person to talk to regarding Soonyoung stressing over Wonwoo.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Soonyoung was trapped. He was trapped by Wonwoo’s presence, his voice, and his question. He strangely felt like he was suffocating, and he didn’t like the feeling at all. Wonwoo seemed to have noticed, because the next thing Soonyoung knew, he was being dragged in a familiar route to the library and through its corridors to the study room they met often.

 

“Uh, Wonwoo? I appreciate the thought, but Perry isn’t here. We can’t just… “

 

“That’s okay, we can improvise.”

 

Soonyoung wasn’t quite sure what direction this was headed.

 

“Um…”

 

“This might sound a little weird, but…” Wonwoo opened his arms wide. “You can use me today.”

 

Use… Was Wonwoo suggesting that Soonyoung hug him? Would it be a good idea? Maybe it would seem like a reconciliation hug and Soonyoung would be comforted enough about the fact and his stress would go away? But he wasn’t quite convinced.

 

“Are you sure this will work?”

 

Wonwoo put down his arms and rubbed his shoulder. Holding that position for even that short of a moment must have taken some endurance.

 

“Mages and familiars share a bond, right? We channel our magic through each other, so I should be able to use Perry’s calming effects, too. Not to mention, mages and familiars should share some sort of resemblance to each other, so it won’t be completely different from hugging Perry. Probably.”

 

Soonyoung eyed Wonwoo up and down, thinking that there was no way hugging Wonwoo, a tall and thin human, would resemble hugging a large, furry peryton. For being the school genius, his train of thought seemed rather simplistic. But what did Soonyoung really have to lose if he agreed?

 

He hesitated, but he stepped up to Wonwoo, who held out his arms once more to accept him. With rough motions, he embraced the thin body that was nothing close to a peryton’s, but he did find himself calming down. Wonwoo was warm, and without a thick layer of fur between them, Soonyoung could feel it well. He closed his eyes as he squeezed lightly, feeling comforted when Wonwoo squeezed back. He almost felt himself getting lost in such comfort, his mind drifting away and his eyes opening halfway as he pulled back to give Wonwoo a kiss to show his gratitude. He sighed in bliss, his hand trailing up to grasp the back of Wonwoo’s shirt tightly, not wanting for the moment to end.

 

Wait.

 

Soonyoung suddenly let go, eyes wide open, finding that Wonwoo had the same stunned expression that he did.

 

Wait wait wait wait wait… did Soonyoung just…

 

He clasped his hand on his mouth, the surface still slightly wet.

 

He did.

 

Soonyoung shouted “I’m so sorry!,” as he flung open the door, the poor study room wall bearing enough force to likely suffer a dent, and ran out without turning back, face burning and mind racing, for he just kissed Jeon Wonwoo, the school genius, on the lips.

 

~~

 

“You WHAT the school genius?” asked Seokmin.

 

“I know, I know,” Soonyoung said, wrapping his covers more tightly over his head. “I don’t even know if I should laugh or cry right now. I probably could have played it off as a joke, but the moment’s long gone. It’s too late.”

 

“What kind of person would kiss someone as a joke?” Mingyu asked.

 

Soonyoung groaned. “I want to scream.”

 

“I’ll scream with you if it makes you feel better.”

 

Mingyu gave Seokmin a glare. “Seokmin, that’s not really the main problem here.”

 

“So it seems.”

 

Now it was Soonyoung’s turn to send him a glare.

 

“I just… I didn’t even know it was happening. It just happened. One moment I’m hugging him, the next thing I know, I’m kissing him, and the next thing I know, I’m running harder than I ever remember running in my entire life.”

 

“So you just kissed him and ran?”

 

“Kiss and run, sounds like a dangerous crime,” Seokmin said right before he kissed Mingyu, climbed down the bunk, and ran out of the room.

 

As soon as Seokmin left, Jihoon got up to lock the door. “Goodbye,” he muttered unapologetically.

 

Mingyu turned his attention back to Soonyoung.

 

“What are you going to do about it?”

 

A muffled “Guys?” could be heard along with a knock. “Sorry, I’ll be more serious.”

 

“I don’t know, what should I do?” Soonyoung asked, pretending not to hear Seokmin at the door.

 

“Talk about it, maybe?”

 

That sounded like the most reasonable way to go, but also the worst way to go. Soonyoung ruffled his hair in uncertainty.

 

“Ugh, I can’t think about anything anymore. Can we please talk about something else?”

 

“Something else? Hmm, how about familiars? How is the summoning going for you?”

 

Of all the things Mingyu could have changed the topic to, it was that.

 

Jihoon kept scribbing away in his notebook on his desk, Mingyu kept prodding Soonyoung with questions he didn’t want to answer, Soonyoung hid himself more and more tightly in his covers, and Seokmin’s muffled voice could occasionally be heard on the other side of the door, requesting permission to come back in.

 

~~

 

Things became strange between Soonyoung and Wonwoo in the seventh week of the semester. While they only shared one class, Introduction to Beasts, there was no point in time when they sat near each other in class. This wasn’t what was strange. The strange part was that when classes ended, Soonyoung would rush out and the two wouldn’t meet. The lack of any kind of interaction at all, that was what was strange. Vitae was over and beasts returned, but theraperry sessions never did.

 

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he had developed a dependence on theraperry lessons to calm him down. Without them, he found himself getting much more lost in his thoughts, much more lost in his creations of hypothetical situations if worst came to worst. Such as if Wonwoo was to come to hate him. Or if Soonyoung was to fail the class.

 

Soonyoung walked into his class for the first time after the Week of Vitae and his chest throbbed with unease when he noticed that every single one of his classmates had a beast by them. They all had familiars, every last one of them, and Kwon Soonyoung was the only exception. He felt a sickening feeling develop from his chest.

 

He chose to sit in the very back again, wishing there was one more row, an invisible one, that could have been occupied by himself alone. When he sat in his seat, Nayoung was already sitting beside him, the minor phoenix to her side fidgeting restlessly.

 

Nayoung handed Soonyoung a lozenge, which Soonyoung popped in his mouth immediately, his throat closing in on itself making it hard for him to do anything but keep the lozenge fixed in a single spot of his tongue. He couldn’t conjure up a ‘thank you’, but Nayoung nodded in understanding.

 

“I don’t want to pry, so I’m not going to ask unless you want to tell me.”

 

Soonyoung nodded, remaining silent throughout lecture, but once class was dismissed, he spoke up.

 

“There’s a lot of things I’ve been thinking about. Sorry.”

 

“I can tell,” Nayoung said calmly. “Albert can sense that you’re afraid and anxious. And hurt.”

 

He didn’t expect that last emotion to be announced to him.

 

“Hurt? By what?”

 

“Albert can’t sense anything but your emotions. But if you want to find out, we can.”

 

“How?”

 

“You’ll have to think about everything you’ve been thinking about, one by one, until we can pinpoint what it is that’s causing a specific emotion. If it’s easier, you can try to recall everything that’s happened in the past week a bit at a time until we find it?”

 

Soonyoung agreed to having Albert help him find the cause of his pain.

 

He recalled celebrating the last class before Vitae, celebrating over having less worries. He recalled seeing no mages with familiars anywhere. He recalled practicing creating summoning circles with normal ink and therefore remembering that he had to buy more summoning ink. He recalled seeing Junhui hug Jihoon at night when the two thought Soonyoung was asleep, and Soonyoung staying awake for another hour at the paradox that Jihoon hated being touched but accepted Junhui’s touches. He recalled being with Eunwoo and Mingyu and Seokmin when he spotted Wonwoo walking together with Minkyung and the rumors that surrounded the two of them-

 

“There!” Nayoung interjected. “Whatever you’re thinking of right now, that’s it. That’s what’s hurting you.”

 

It was the rumors. The rumors of Wonwoo and Minkyung having feelings for each other? Soonyoung thanked Nayoung and walked out in a daze, his feet leading the way because his mind didn’t have the ability to at that moment.

 

He snapped out of it when he heard Eunwoo yell at him, “What did you just DO?”

 

He was holding a potion bottle in his hand, but something was off. The solution was turning from a harmless orange to a sickly yellow and started to foam rapidly. He set down the bottle as the foam began to release a gas with a horrendous scent.

 

Eunwoo shouted, grabbing the emergency neutralizing stone from the underside of the table and incanting a spell that allowed the stone to absorb the gas. The stone flashed red. Soonyoung had created a mixture that produced poisonous gas. He should have skipped class that day.

 

Eunwoo sighed as she cleaned up the mess Soonyoung made. “What’s up? You’re really off today.”

 

“Sorry,” he muttered. “There’s a lot of things on my mind…”

 

Eunwoo took the liberty of taking over, making the assigned potion herself while referring back to her notes. Her note-taking improved to the point that she was no longer lost when the professor dispersed the students and requested they make the same potion.

 

“When is there not?” she replied. “Oh, the midterms are almost here, right? Is that why? Because you still don’t have a familiar yet?”

 

Oh, . He still didn’t have a familiar yet.

 

~~

 

Soonyoung walked into his dorm room carrying a fresh new bottle of summoning ink, still sealed. He grabbed a summoning sheet and his quill and sat down on the floor before unsealing the bottle.

 

“Welcome back,” Jihoon said as he started to pack. He got up to leave to Junhui’s room but stopped as Soonyoung opened his bottle of ink. Soonyoung wondered if he was curious of its brand.

 

“It’s Celestial Summons,” Soonyoung answered without being asked as he dipped his quill into the bottle and began marking his sheet.

 

“Is that new ink?”

 

“Yeah, just got it today.”

 

Soonyoung found it odd when Jihoon started examining him, but Soonyoung continued creating a summoning circle.

 

“Did you unseal it just now?”

 

He didn’t know why Jihoon was asking such strange questions.

 

“Where did you prick yourself?”

 

Soonyoung’s quill paused just over the summoning sheet. “Huh?”

 

“I don’t see a wound anywhere. Where did you prick yourself?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Don’t tell me…” Jihoon rubbed his forehead. “Have you just been using ink straight from the store?”

 

Soonyoung was still confused. “Yeah, I can’t make my own ink, so-”

 

“So you’ve never mixed your blood into the ink?”

 

“So I… what?”

 

Jihoon sighed in disbelief. “Soonyoung, you’ve got to mix in a drop of blood into your summoning ink before you use it. Otherwise, your summonings would never work. Your blood is what connects you to your spell, and it’s how beasts can be summoned to our world. Why would any beast accept a summoning from an unknown mage? The professor told us this on the first day of class, were you not listening?”

 

The first day of class? He remembered it well. The professor went through introductions and the syllabus, and once he mentioned the midterm, he immediately asked if anyone knew how to summon a beast. The question was directed at the class, but he was looking at Wonwoo as he said it. Wonwoo got up to the front, and curiosity murmured through the class as Wonwoo was creating a summoning circle. Wonwoo was then able to summon that peryton right away. And then… Soonyoung tried to remember the events after that. And then… he was so intrigued by the peryton and Wonwoo’s talent that he must not have paid attention to anything the professor said after than.

 

“Well,” Jihoon said as he opened the door to leave. “Now you know. Good luck on your summoning.”

 

It couldn’t have been that simple, could it?

 

Soonyoung quickly pricked his finger with his quill, which probably wasn’t the greatest idea but his impatience was getting the best of him, and then squeezed until a bead of blood dropped into the ink bottle. He capped the bottle and swirled it thoroughly and opened it again. His hand shook as he dipped his quill into the bottle, and he used his other hand to steady it. After five deep breaths, he began inscribing onto a new summoning sheet with careful handwriting.

 

It took him longer than usual with him having to pause so often to remember to breathe. When he finished, though, as he waited for the ink to dry, he gazed at the sheet, looking at what he hoped would be a successful attempt. He set a hand on his chest to compose himself and another on the summoning sheet. He closed his eyes and began to incant. He didn’t hear or feel paper crumpling as he was incanting, and the closer he got to finishing his spell, the more harshly his heart pounded. He swallowed first in nervousness and then slowly opened his eyes.

 

Before him was a wolpertinger. A petite and dignified wolpertinger that had a hare’s body and mid-sized fluffed tail. Its wings were not too large for its body, nor were its antlers. Its fangs were sharp enough to signify its potential threat, and its claws well-hidden but there if in need.

 

Soonyoung quickly sealed a contract with it to establish a mage-familiar bond, in fear that the beast would go away after he just managed to summon it, even though he knew it wouldn’t leave him. He marveled at the beast that he struggled for so long to summon. Seeing the wolpertinger in front of him almost made him think the struggle was worth it. Almost.

 

He let out a cry, an overwhelming sense of relief knocking the breath out of him like a tide. He started laughing, knowing that if he didn’t, he would have cried instead. He looked back to the small puncture wound on his finger, in disbelief that such a thing was all it took to make a difference. He was overjoyed, succeeding his task with only a few days left until the midterm. He thanked his familiar, which closed its eyes with a nod.

 

He had to tell Wonwoo about this.

 

He ran out of the room, turning back once to confirm that his familiar was flying close behind him, smiling as he looked back in front to see where he was going. He asked around for Wonwoo’s dorm room and was soon headed in that direction. He knocked on the door, and when Junhui answered, he was surprised.

 

“Junhui?”

 

“Did you want Jihoon for something?”

 

Soonyoung peeked into the room, but the only person he spotted was Jihoon with a half-eaten macaroon in his hand.

 

“Um, I heard this was Wonwoo’s dorm?”

 

“Yeah, did you need him for something?”

 

Soonyoung stood, puzzled. “Why didn’t you tell me you were rooming with Wonwoo?”

 

“You never asked? And I thought you knew.”

 

“No, I…” Soonyoung paused. That wasn’t the reason he came. “Where is he?”

 

Junhui looked into his room at Jihoon, who shrugged mouthing how would I know.

 

“He’s usually not here at this time. I think there’s something he has to do right around now?”

 

Now? Soonyoung checked his watch. If he remembered correctly, Wonwoo was always free during this time since it was normally when he had a theraperry session with him.

 

Wait, theraperry sessions? Could it be?

 

Soonyoung shouted his thanks at Junhui as he ran to the direction of the library, running down a familiar path down familiar corridors until he reached the study room. Without warning, he flung the door open, but instead of Wonwoo, he found Eunwoo and… Minkyung? They both turned to the interruption, Eunwoo dropping her hand that appeared to have been previously caressing Minkyung’s hair.

 

When Soonyoung closed the door almost as quickly as he had opened it, he heard Eunwoo shouting at him to wait, and although what he saw was unexpected, he still had yet to find Wonwoo, which was more important to him at present. He ran down the corridors to the fork at which he turned the wrong direction in his frenzy, and when he found room 114, he hunched over his knees, huffing harshly.

 

He knocked this time, in case the room was occupied by someone he wasn’t expecting, but when he heard Wonwoo’s voice come from inside, he opened the door without hesitation.

 

His words were erratic as he tried to get out his story quickly without having prepared what to say. He probably spoke nonsense here and there, but eventually, as Wonwoo nodded along silently, Soonyoung managed to get the point across that it was just some dumb reason why his summonings didn’t work, and that he finally got one. He stepped aside to showcase his wolpertinger, his familiar, and then in his excitement he hugged Wonwoo.

 

But this brought back a familiar scene.

 

Soonyoung tensed, remembering too late that he kissed Wonwoo and ran the last time they interacted, and he felt his face heating up. Without a word, he let go and turned to leave, but Wonwoo held him back by the wrist.

 

“You can’t just leave after doing that. Do you know how long I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of hex you cast on me?”

 

Soonyoung turned back around. “A… hex?”

 

“I’ve seen you hanging around with all those hex majors. It wouldn’t be surprising if you knew a hex or two.”

 

What was it that Wonwoo was suggesting? That Soonyoung deceived him somehow?

 

“And what kind of hex would that be?”

 

“One that would make me fall for you.”

 

Soonyoung stopped breathing for a moment, blinking as rapidly as his heart rate was accelerating. After a moment, he had to remind himself to breathe. To answer.

 

“I don’t know a hex like that.”

 

The two looked at each other almost challengingly, cautiously, bodies frozen to wait for the other to make a move. Wonwoo was the first to give in, looking at his feet, breaking away from the eye contact.

 

“I knew it. I should have known when Minkyung told me that kind of hex would require regular upkeep to last this long.

 

Minkyung? Was that the reason Wonwoo had been talking to her? To ask about a hex?

 

“Then, you’re saying…”

 

Wonwoo resumed eye contact. “There’s a different reason for this feeling.”

 

Soonyoung was the one to break eye contact this time, closing his eyes to make a hasty decision. He opened his eyes in determination and launched himself to Wonwoo, outstretched arms aimed for his cheeks, lips aimed for lips, this time being fully conscious of exactly what he was doing. His eyelids drooped in relief when Wonwoo pulled Soonyoung closer by the hips, cheeks flashing a hint of a pink hue as he did so. Soonyoung sighed as he pushed his body closer to Wonwoo’s, hands finding themselves tangled in his hair and lips matching Wonwoo’s, wanting to stretch out the moment as far as he could, to compress himself as much as he could into Wonwoo. He felt as if he was somewhere time had no place, and nothing existed but him and Wonwoo.

 

An aggressively loud sneeze from outside made them both jump, and when Soonyoung looked behind him, he noticed that he never closed the study room door. He closed it quickly, his heart about to leap from his throat. He turned back to Wonwoo, and now that the moment had passed, it seemed the real world was upon them once more.

 

“So,” Wonwoo broke the silence. “You have a familiar now. A wolpertinger, huh? What’s its name?”

 

Soonyoung thought for a second what to name it, but it didn’t take long for him to think of “Wolfram. Its name is Wolfram.”

 

Wonwoo snorted. “Wolfram because wolpertinger?”

 

“Says the guy who named his familiar Perry because peryton.”

 

They could no longer keep a straight face. As they laughed, Soonyoung was glad to find that he was comfortable with Wonwoo again, probably more so than before.

 

“But now that I have a familiar, doesn’t that mean we don’t need to have theraperry sessions anymore?”

 

“I guess so. But I don’t think you’ll need theraperry sessions anymore if…”

 

“If?”

 

Wonwoo was the one to initiate a kiss this time, but with the confidence of being in a closed room. “If it means we can do this instead.”