Chanyeol remembered that he had wanted to ask Kyungsoo about his powers and he figured now was as good a chance as any. He wiggled his way out of Baekhyun’s hold and threw a thumb back over his shoulder, gesturing to the two faeries behind him. “I think I’m gonna stick around and help dismantle the field. Let’s meet up after for food.”

“You better be in the cafeteria in thirty minutes,” Baekhyun warned as a way of saying goodbye for the time being.

Chanyeol shot him a thumbs up and jogged over to where Minseok and Kyungsoo were. He passed by the ice sprite who was whistling while he worked some magic over the lines of frost. The parts he worked on rapidly began melting as he went along. Chanyeol casually – or at least he thought it was casual – strolled over to the makeshift goal posts which Kyungsoo was currently undoing.

The woodland faerie had his hands at his sides and only his gaze – which was trained on one of the posts – gave any sign to him using his powers. The post slowly sunk back into the ground as if the earth had never been disturbed in the first place.

It wasn’t until those vibrant green eyes were trained on Chanyeol’s that the phoenix realized that he didn’t have the faintest clue as to what to say to the other. Kyungsoo didn’t talk very much so engaging in conversation with him wasn’t as easy as it was with someone like Baekhyun for example. Chanyeol scrambled mentally for some kind of conversation starter, feeling more and more at a loss the longer those emerald eyes looked at him.

“I noticed you didn’t wear shoes while playing.” What a dumb conversation starter.

Chanyeol began to berate himself in his head when the corners of Kyungsoo’s full lips turned up a little at the corners into a soft smile. Chanyeol followed the faerie’s gaze until the two of them were looking down at Kyungsoo’s small bare feet. His toes wiggled a little against the short green grass and the small action immediately brightened Chanyeol’s worries. It was cute.

“It’s easier to control my magic with my skin touching the earth.”

“Is that how you could repair the grass from a distance?”

Kyungsoo nodded. “Nature is all connected.”

Chanyeol was really impressed. If faeries like Kyungsoo could channel their magic through the earth then their powers must have been pretty limitless while they were on land. “You must be an absolute badass in a fight.”

The phoenix had expected some sort of rebuttal – there was no way Kyungsoo had ever been in a fight before – or maybe even a laugh at how funny the idea was. All he got was a shrug before the woodland faerie began walking across the remains of their soccer field, his feet sinking into the plush grass with every step. Chanyeol followed after him like a pestering shadow.

“So if you’re connected with nature and all, can you talk with animals?”

It was meant as more of a joke than anything. Chanyeol was really trying here. He was pleasantly surprised when Kyungsoo nodded. Faeries were just overflowing with cool powers that were actually helpful or just overall awesome. The phoenix was extremely jealous.

“All animals?”

Another nod.

“Even ants?”

Nod.

“Can nymphs talk to fish?”

“No.” Okay, at least he got a word.

The phoenix tried again with another joke. “Maybe its cause the fish know they’re dinner.”

He got a smile this time as Kyungsoo approached the other net posts, staring at them until they too sunk back into the ground. Silence quickly followed with the woodland faerie making no effort to continue their chatting.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Chanyeol said, at a loss with the conversation. Kyungsoo was a hard individual to read and the phoenix was actually struggling to find topics to bring up that might actually get Kyungsoo to say more than three words.

The faerie kept his emerald gaze trained on the spot of grass where there had once been a tower of earth. “Perhaps I just don’t have much to say.” His voice was still as soft as it always was, but there was something else there. Something that resembled the bone chilling loneliness Chanyeol had felt as a new phoenix clawing his way out of the smoldering ashes of his parent.

Chanyeol was going to question what Kyungsoo’s words meant when Minseok joined them, bringing up the topic of food and effectively steering the conversation onto lighter matters.
 

Saturday started much different than the day before had. For one Chanyeol wasn’t rudely awoken by a cold, wet snowball to the face. Plus the phoenix got to sleep in closer to noon. Of course his roommate still managed to sleep longer than him. Luckily Chanyeol didn’t have to wake him up himself. The dragon seemed to have an internal clock for certain things and woke up exactly half an hour before they had to meet up with the basketball club.

Kris had an actual basketball jersey on, in flashy yellow. When Chanyeol asked about the names “Lakers” and “Bryant” printed on it in purple, Kris launched into an excited retelling of the history of the Los Angeles Lakers and famous human player Kobe Bryant. He seemed to be a fan. Chanyeol listened whole-heartedly to his friend as it wasn’t every day that the dragon got this animated while he spoke. He was pretending to shoot an invisible ball and doing fancy footwork around Chanyeol with his long legs along with his story the entire trip to the court.

Chanyeol had asked about the captain of the club but all Kris revealed to him was that the captain and co-captain “fought like cats and dogs”. The phoenix wasn’t entirely sure what that phrase meant but he had heard humans use it before. When prompted, Kris merely said “you’ll see” with an amused grin on his face.

It didn’t take long for Chanyeol to realize what the dragon meant.

A short but sharp whistle sound drew the attention of everyone lingering around the basketball court. A slender dark haired female stood on the second row of the nearby bleachers with a hip cocked. She let the whistle slip from between her lips and hang loosely by its cord around her neck. “Welcome newcomers and returning students to the first practice of the term. I’m your co-captain Kang Jihyun.”

The male standing next to her stepped up onto the third row of seats, towering over Jihyun with both his natural height and the added foot from the bleacher. “And I’m your amazing captain, Choi Minho! Welcome newbies!” He ran a hand through his fluffy chestnut hair, a very open, inviting grin on his face.

Jihyun didn’t even glance at him. “Exodus academy doesn’t play against any other schools, so this club is more of an extracurricular than an actual sports team. To make up for that, we play a competitive game at the end of the term and split up the club into two teams for that. We’ll be keeping an eye on any noticeable players and considering them for role as captain for each competing team, so play your best every practice.”

“We’ll be scouting for potential team captains so kick every practice!” Minho chimed, basically reiterating what Jihyun had just said. Chanyeol could swear that his grin had morphed into something that seemed a little more amused and taunting.

The co-captain’s eyebrow twitched, but besides that she still gave the captain no attention. She stepped up to the same row of bleachers that Minho was standing on and then up onto the next and final row, standing at the very top of the wooden structure. The extra height gave her an inch or two on Minho. “All-in-all, this is a place to have fun and play basketball. No magic is allowed on the court and human forms are required at all times. Let’s have fun this term.”

“No magic, human forms, blah blah blah. Let’s have fun!” Minho repeated with an enthusiastic howl at the end. Werewolf, Chanyeol’s mind noted.

This seemed to be the end of Jihyun’s patience for she whirled on the captain, her green cat eyes holding pure fury. “I just said that!” She hissed, her hands curling up into claws at her sides.

Minho didn’t look phased at all as he turned to Jihyun and measured her stare with his own dark eyes, smoothly stepping up onto the top bench as well and once again towering over her. His grin was teetering on triumphant.

The tense air between them was nearly tangible. Chanyeol honestly wasn’t sure if they were about to violently make-out or Jihyun was going to claw out Minho’s eyes. There was definitely a there among the anger and amusement. The entire team – new recruits and returning – stood before their two captains completely silent, just watching with baited breath for something to happen.

“Cats and dogs?” Chanyeol very quietly whispered to Kris, leaning in towards the dragon so as to not be overheard. Hopefully everyone was too focused on the showdown happening on the bleachers to be paying attention to them.

“Nekomata and werewolf,” Kris whispered back, “we have a running bet on when they’re gonna sleep together.”

A cat demon and canine shape shifter. They literally fought like cats and dogs.

If there was some sort of silent conversation happening between the two captains Chanyeol completely missed it, but suddenly Jihyun was turning away with a huff and a rather dramatic hair flip. The movement was either aided by cat-like grace or she had lots of practice for it didn’t look weird at all, followed by her stomp down the rows of bleachers. “Let’s play!” She demanded, blowing into her whistle again to really drive the command home.

They split into little groups of four or five just to pass the ball around and get used to maneuvering. Kris clasped hands with a blonde elf with a pleasant smile, bringing it in to pat each other’s backs like Chanyeol had seen humans do before. The elf was introduced as Lee Minhyuk and he joined the dragon and phoenix’s pair.

Two more newcomers were added to their little trio with the warm encouragement of Minhyuk. Chanyeol had a little bit of a mental realization upon seeing how Kris and Minhyuk interacted. The dragon was a quieter person who only really spoke when he was addressed or when he was really comfortable with a person. He surrounded himself with friendly, open people though – Minhyuk, Luhan, even Chanyeol. It was interesting and made Chanyeol wonder if there was any sort of reason behind it, or if Kris even realized it himself.

The phoenix apparently got a little too lost in his own thoughts for he was suddenly startled by the orange ball flying by his face. He blinked, startled. “What?”

“Sorry, I thought you were ready,” apologized one of the newcomers. Kim Mingyu had introduced himself as a kapre, which was a species of tree creature. It really could have been anyone’s guess as he was as tall as both Kris and Chanyeol and his skin was textured like bark.

“I’ll get the ball,” offered their fifth group member, a faerie named Kim Hyunjin. She ran off, her feet bounding across the court and to the surrounding field as if she were as light as a feather and was being carried by the breeze. Chanyeol was very curious about the vibrant violet flower petals that were literally dripping from her midnight black hair and he hazarded a guess that her species of faerie had a connection to nature.

Both Mingyu and Hyunjin were first years like Chanyeol and the phoenix quickly found out that he and Mingyu were in the same Human History class. Maybe he could introduce the kapre to Jongin. More friends for the vampire wouldn’t hurt. He was always so closed off and sometimes prickly. It really only made the phoenix want to get closer to him.

Chanyeol was eager to make friends with pretty much anyone. It chased the loneliness away.

Jongin had been hoping his roommate was off socializing somewhere and wouldn’t be back for a while, but of course the vampire had no such luck.

He had been very cleverly avoiding Sehun the entire morning and well into the afternoon. Jongin had pretended to sleep for the two hours Sehun had spent doing his ritualistic stretching in the middle of their shared room. The and grunting was so excessive that Jongin was nearly positive the djinn was fully aware of his state of consciousness. Sehun gave no sign of it though when he left their room without any sort of notice of where he was going or how long he would be gone.

The next few hours were spent going over some readings from class, intermittent interruptions from his roommate which Jongin saved himself from with a hasty shadow walk from their room to the floor below them. He didn’t dare return to their room until he saw Sehun emerge from the front doors of the dorm through an upstairs window.

Yes, he was being a little excessive in his avoiding, but the vampire simply didn’t want to face Sehun. The djinn didn’t let things go and somehow he concocted clever ways of integrating the teasing into conversations that had no correlation.

The whole kiss thing was his current source of teasing.

The mishap on Friday that had led to the two roommates talking about their respective abilities had also created some weirdness between them. This weirdness was felt by Jongin, and Jongin alone it seemed. Sehun on the other hand had turned it into an excuse to blatantly bother the vampire and get some kind of sick amusement from it.

“So my roommate is home.”

Jongin’s hands went still, gripping onto the hem of the t-shirt he had just finished pulling over his body. Going to hide at the athletics centre with the intention of using one of the private dance rooms was the plan for Jongin, but of course the djinn had to spoil that too. He was so focused on picking up the sound of Sehun’s distinct footfall in the hall that he wasn’t paying attention to his other senses.

The djinn could just float through walls.

“Aw man, I missed out on the great vampire prince shirtless,” Sehun commented, a bit of a whine to his voice. His dark eyes were very pointedly trained on the vampire’s waist, as if his stare could magically reveal what was hidden underneath the thin fabric of Jongin’s t-shirt.

Jongin stared at him blankly for a moment. He was still a little slow with his comebacks. “I think this classifies as ual harassment.”

A smirk curled the corners of Sehun’s mouth. “It’s ual admiration.”

“Completely unwanted admiration then,” Jongin muttered, picking up the duffle bag he had packed with an extra change of clothes and a bottle of warm blood in case he wanted a snack during practice.

The djinn seemed to clue in that his roommate was in the process of getting ready to step out. “Are you going to the studio?”

“Yes, now if you’d excuse me.” The vampire quickly ducked around Sehun and completely ignored the “I’m coming too!” as he slipped from the room. If the djinn wanted to practice too that was his own prerogative, but Jongin wasn’t going to wait for him and subject himself to teasing the entire walk to the athletics centre.

He wasn’t quite ready to try shadow walking again either, so a brisk walk was the only mode of transportation that he was able to utilize. Luckily his wing of the dorms was pretty close to the athletics centre so Jongin only had to pass the campus shop and he would soon be in the safety of one of the dance rooms.

Not soon enough though.

Sehun didn’t need sustenance of any kind as he didn’t eat or drink. He also preferred dancing in nothing but a pair of sweats which he wore to and from the dance studio, meaning he didn’t need to pack a bag or really do much of anything to prep for practice.

The djinn caught up to the vampire before he even made it to the split in the paved pathway. Sehun had merely changed into a pair of baggy navy joggers and surprisingly was wearing a white tank top that covered up most of his chest. The neckline was pretty low and the armholes dropped down to Sehun’s waist, showing off a good chunk of his ribs on either side, but it was a big step above the mesh stuff he usually sported.

“What? Are you disappointed that I decided to put on a shirt today?” Sehun’s voice was light with that playful tone that seemed to be a staple of his, at least when it came to Jongin. “Don’t worry, it’ll probably come off pretty quickly. You can even help if you want.”

Jongin stared at the djinn for a long moment, coming to a complete stop in the middle of the walkway that lead to the centre. He was trying to figure out the true intentions behind Sehun’s words because he was getting steadily more suggestive in his teasing and Jongin didn’t know how to take it. The vampire was simultaneously trying to concoct a proper comeback to such comments, but his red eyes caught sight of the giant clip Sehun had perched on his head. The black barrette was in stark contrast to the pale pink strands of hair it was holding back, leaving Sehun’s entire forehead uncovered for once.

It made him look older, more serious.

It was also pretty funny looking with the few unruly chunks of hair that stuck up like a sort of halo around his head, untamed by the clip.

Jongin actually had to suppress a snicker.

“I like the hairdo.”

Sehun’s lips quirked up into a more genuine looking smile. “You should try it sometime.” He let out a sudden laugh, as if something funny occurred to him. “You’d look like that warlock who was famous in the human world, the one with the crazy white hair. What was his name?” He pondered it for a minute. “Albert something.”

Jongin’s face contorted as he realized just who Sehun was likening him to. “I do not resemble Albert Einstein.”

Another hearty laugh escaped the djinn. “You already have that stern expression. You just need the thick mustache.”

The vampire was not amused and merely continued his quick trek to the athletics centre.

“C’mon you know I’m kidding!” Sehun easily caught up with a couple long strides.

The djinn was really grating on Jongin’s nerves. Sehun was either insulting him or making ual comments towards him. There was no consistency and it seemed like there wasn’t any genuinity either. The djinn behaved just like the fog he could shift into – fluid, unpredictable, wild.

Jongin pushed open the door, stepping into the small front lobby of the athletics centre. There were various bulletin boards displayed on the walls, covered in notices and advertisements for clubs and activities on campus. A couple students were milling about, getting a snack from the nearby vending machine or lounging on the plush sofas and armchairs they had taking up one side of the room. Jongin cut through, brushing past a centaur a little too close and having his bag ripped from his shoulder as it got caught on the other student’s belt.

The bag hit the floor and the distinct sound of glass shattering rang through the large room. Jongin watched slowly as a dark red puddle began to form around his duffle as his food slowly soaked through the fabric and leaked out onto the tiled floor. His spare clothes were probably ruined.

His stomach bubbled up with some ugly emotion as his eyes remained trained on the warm blood slowly creeping along the edges of the tiles, as if the substance itself was alive, reaching out with spindly arms. He just wanted to have a nice quiet afternoon moving freely with some music.

“Hey sorry ‘bout that,” the centaur started, reaching out at a hand. “Are you okay?”

The hand was probably meaning to provide some help or show some concern but to Jongin in that moment, it was nothing but a threat. The vampire whirled on the centaur, snarling with his fangs bared and crimson eyes blazing. The other student was so startled by the hostility that he stepped back a little, his hooves clicking against the tile.

“Whoa, it was a mistake dude!” The centaur huffed, his defined biceps tensing as if readying for a fight. His long dark tail flicked nervously behind him as his face watched the vampire cautiously.

“Kai!” The sound of his name and familiar scent of his roommate snapped Jongin out of whatever feral haze he had been in and made him realize just where he was and just how many eyes were on him.

Whispers nipped at his ears – ‘Abomination’ – ‘Murderer’ – ‘Monster’ – words he hadn’t heard for decades, but the eyes watching him were all saying the same thing. They were all silently judging him, labelling him. He needed to get away from the eyes.

Jongin dropped his hands to his sides, not having realized that they were curled into claws and his shoulders slumped as the red faded away from the edges of his vision. He closed his eyes and ignored Sehun, who was asking him something. It sounded like he was underwater and without hesitation, Jongin just let the shadows swallow him whole. There was no solid destination in his mind as he traveled, only to get away.

The vampire was fortunate that he ended up somewhere familiar. Really he was fortunate just to have shadow walked and come out in one piece. It was dangerous to travel without a clear destination. One could get lost within the empty, dark realm. Jongin stumbled his way out of the shadows and into one of the dance studios which were located just down a hall from where he had been.

At least the eyes were gone and the whispers seemed to have gone quiet as well. He was finally alone.

With a shaky exhale, Jongin sunk to his knees and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

He was more composed than that. He had been taught better restraint and manners. He was pure-blood royalty and he shouldn’t have allowed himself to drop down to the savage level of a fledgling, willing to tear apart anything that moved or breathed wrong.

He wasn’t really hungry so why had the bloodlust clouded his senses so bad? He had been annoyed with Sehun but he was always annoyed with Sehun. The djinn was really pushing his buttons though, leaving Jongin confused and feeling like he was being played with. Why did he care though? He had been feeling used and manipulated his whole life, so why was it affecting him now? Why with the djinn?

Maybe he really did need something to eat.

His ears picked up on the sound of movement outside the door to the room he was currently in and it opened just enough for a head to pop in. Jongin had thought for a second that it might have been his roommate and was prepared to snap at him to take a hike. But instead of a mop of pink hair, the head was framed by long brown hair and the facial features were classically female.

“My apologies,” the woman murmured, her voice soft and dark eyes downcast. Jongin didn’t recognize her at all, but his nose immediately told him that this was a made vampire. “I don’t mean to intrude, my Prince, I just… I brought you something. May I come in?”

Jongin was hesitant but clearly from the vampire’s mannerisms and way of speech, she was well aware of who he was. She was asking permission of a royal and Jongin could at the very least hear her out.

“You may,” he said, moving his legs around so he was at least seated a little more properly. It was inappropriate for a pure-blood to be kneeling in the presence of a lower class. Jongin shuffled over a little so he could lean up against the mirror that covered one of the walls from floor to ceiling.

The made vampire stepped into the room, gently shutting the door behind her. She had a metal bottle clutched in her hand and Jongin could easily smell the scent of blood mingling with the smell of aluminum. The stranger dropped down into a ninety-degree bow, holding the pose as she introduced herself. “My name is Jung Krystal, my Prince. I was reborn fifty years ago within the Kim Clan.”

Jongin made a noise in the back of his throat to signify that her introduction was good enough. His family’s blood was what had given her new life which probably evoked an even stronger urge to serve. “Please address me as a fellow student. I am no prince here, merely Kai.”

Krystal straightened up and lifted her gaze from the floor, looking right at Jongin. Her eyes were wide and pretty, framed by dark lashes. “I witnessed the spill in the lobby and thought I might offer up the extra blood I had. It’s O positive. I hope you don’t mind.” She held out the metal bottle in her hands.

Jongin raised his own hand, palm overturned, silently instructing her to approach. He wasn’t some kind of god. He didn’t want to be of royal blood while at this school. He appreciated the gesture, even if it was from a fellow vampire who probably felt obligated to serve her prince.

Krystal closed the distance between them and Jongin was surprised but pleased to see that she was no longer hunched as if she had to appear smaller while in his presence. She also handed the bottle of blood to him rather casually. It was like those few words from him had completely stripped away any sort of formal behaviour.

“Thank you,” Jongin murmured, setting the offered bottle down on the floor next to him. He was expecting her to leave after having done what she felt obligated to do, but she remained standing about a foot away from his outstretched legs.

She looked like she was considering something, her lips pursed slightly in thought.

“You may speak.” Jongin didn’t want to have to give her permission, but perhaps the words would push her to speak her mind.

“I never thought pure-bloods would succumb to bloodlust like normal vampires do.”

The sentence took Jongin completely off guard. He didn’t know whether he found it rude that she would speak so flippantly about the higher class or if he found it bold and interesting. She didn’t even offer up an apology for her thoughts.

“You aren’t that much different than us, are you?” she continued.

Krystal seemed to clue into the confused look she was getting from the vampire prince for she let out a nervous little laugh and brushed her hair behind her ear. “I don’t mean for that to sound bad or anything. Honestly, it’s kind of nice to see. I’ve been watching you for a while and I’ve started noticing these things.” She pursed her lips again. “Though I don’t know if it’s all pure-bloods or just you.” It was like Krystal was just speaking her thoughts out loud, not really thinking about her words before they came out.

Jongin’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’ve been watching me?”

Krystal’s eyes widened almost comically. “That sounds really creepy, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that! I’m not stalking you, I swear. I’ve just seen you come in here to practice with your friend and sometimes I watch through the window.” She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to the little rectangle window cut into the door, providing a glimpse into the hallway. “Your dancing is mesmerizing. I’ve just been admiring.”

”It’s ual admiration.” Sehun’s voice echoed in his head and Jongin let out a breathy little laugh. She at least sounded genuine. “Thank you.”

Krystal caught her bottom lip between her teeth, her fangs pressing into the pink flesh. “I didn’t dream of ever asking, but since you insist on being treated like another student, why not right? Would you perhaps consider going out with me sometime? We could do whatever, just hanging out, but like as a date thing.”

The pure-blood had been asked similar things by a couple people on campus, but he hadn’t at all expected a vampire, who knew the hold social classes had on the vampire community, to ask him. She was a bold one, wasn’t she?

I've returned with another chapter finally! This was trouble to write, but I managed. I had an entirely different idea for the situation with Jongin, but I found myself writing and writing and writing and just let it unfold on the page naturally. Let me know what you thought! 

Also, please vote in the poll and let me know how Jongin should react to Krystal's question!