You stared at the picture on Sunggyu’s phone the entire way to the school. You could feel his arm wrap protectively around your waist. Your ears picked up the footsteps and murmurs of the rest of your team behind you. You turned around to see Hoya’s eyes narrow at the school building as you turned into the gates.

Junhyung and his team weren’t far behind, and you heard Junhyung jog up to you and grab your shoulder, looking you up and down.

“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for the last ten minutes,” Junhyung said, making Sunggyu pull you closer to him.

“I was out, enjoying a perfectly wonderful Saturday. Were you here when this happened?” you asked, holding up Sunggyu’s phone. Junhyung stared at the picture before looking away.

“We were working in the gym until we heard yells from outside.” Junhyung’s team glanced apprehensively at yours. They were sweaty, they were tired, but they were all on edge right now.

The two teams stared at each other until Hoya ran up beside you. The rest of the team followed suit, surrounding you completely as you walked into the school.

When they pushed the gym doors open, you saw the SS gathered in the center, talking amongst themselves. Junho was sitting at the edge, holding an ice pack to his forehead. Even from that distance away, you could see dried blood on his face.

“Junho!” You broke out from the pack and ran for him, suddenly overcome with an overwhelming feeling of worry. Junho looked up in surprise as you ran up to him and practically slid four feet on the ground towards him.

“Are you okay?” you asked, trying to get a closer look at his injury. He nodded and gave you a stern look.

“Are you okay? Nothing happened to you?”

“Why would-” Your mind flashed back to the picture Sunggyu showed you. You swallowed and nodded.

“I’m fine. I was out with Hoya today so...” Junho nodded, grimacing as he pushed himself up into a standing position.

“What happened? Let me see.” The others gathered behind you as Junho took the ice pack off of his face. The cloth around it was stained red, and you could see a long slash from his forehead through his eyebrow to the corner of his eye.

“Blunt axe and a punch to the face. I can’t wait for this to turn into a shiner,” he deadpanned.

“An axe?!” you shouted, “You’re lucky they didn’t break your head open! What happened?”

“We’ll take it from here, Junho. Take a break or something,” Doojoon said, squeezing his shoulder. Junho blinked a few times before sitting back down.

“Alright every one, sit down and shut up.” You sat down next to Junho. He turned to the side and leaned back on your arm, holding the ice pack to his face. You glanced over at him fondly and ruffled his hair.

--

‘You’re always hurting yourself. Can’t you be more careful? I’m going to die from a heart attack at this rate.’

‘Die from what? I’m the one getting hurt. Don’t be such a worrywart, Junh....’

--

You snapped out of your daze suddenly, furrowing your eyebrows. Who were you talking to? Junh...yung? The voice didn’t sound like Junhyung’s. You looked at Junho from the corner of your eye. Junh...o? Did you know him from your childhood?

“By now, you’ve heard what happened to two students on the course while they were training. They’re okay, just being patched up in the nurse’s office. A few of our SS got caught in the crossfire.” Doojoon looked down at Junho before holding up his own bandaged hand and jerking a head over to Leeteuk, who had bandages wrapped around his bare chest.

“Whoever is doing this, is doing so with an intent to maim and incapacitate. Maybe even to kill.” You could hear the others murmuring around you. You felt Sunggyu slip his hand into yours and squeeze your hand. Junho saw him do it out of the corner of his eye and narrowed his eyes a bit before turning back to Doojoon.

“This message... Yoseob, if you will.” Yoseob looked up from his seat before closing his eyes. You felt like something was being thrown over your eyes as the gym turned into the practice course outside. Doojoon turned around and pointed to the message carved into the side of the course.

“Lexiconicers never learn,” Doojoon read out loud. He turned around to look down at you and Junho.

“As of right now, we only have two Lexiconicers at our school.” Junho gave a half hearted wave, making Doojoon roll his eyes.

“And I’m sure they’re capable of taking care of themselves, so everyone else needs to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity. Especially you two.” Doojoon pointed over to Yoseob and Woohyun.

“Constant vigilance,” Doojoon said, making you snort.

“All you’re missing now is a peg leg and a crazy eye.” Anyone around you that got the reference laughed. Yoseob apparently knew what you were referring to because Doojoon’s image started to shimmer in front of you as his appearance changed.

“Haha, very funny. Yoseob.” The illusion was lifted like a blindfold coming off, and everyone was back in the gym once more.

“From now on, you two are not to travel alone. Always let someone know where you’re going.”

“Do I need someone to hold my hand while I potty, too?” you asked, rocking back and forth innocently. Junho snorted before he fell back into your lap and groaned, holding his head. You could understand why Junhyung couldn’t take Doojoon seriously now. There was just something about him.

Hoya smacked you in the back from behind and shook his head. You apologized to Doojoon before he continued talking. You missed the look Sunggyu gave Junho as he laid in your lap.

--

“So we’ll take turns walking and watching her.” Your team was sitting in a circle in the living room while you went to take a shower. Junho and Junhyung were at the kitchen table talking to your mother as she tutted about the cut on Junho’s face.

“What? She’s not a dog,” Hoya said, sitting back on the couch. Sunggyu sighed and threw his hands up in the air.

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I’ll take care of her,” Junho said. Junhyung rolled his eyes and poked at the ice pack on Junho’s face, making him wince.

“You can barely take care of yourself.”

“We can have a different person with her for every day of the week.” Junhyung and Junho sighed as they listened to your team talk.

“She’s not going to be happy about this,” Junho said.

“I think what’ll end up happening is that she’s going to kill one of them, rather than anyone killing her.” Junhyung leaned back on the kitchen counter and smirked.

--

You sat on the couch after your shower, staring at the chart in front of you. You blinked a few times before looking about at the members, all of which were staring at you, waiting for your reaction.

“So what? You guys are pretty much going to give me a different person to baby sit me every day of the week?”

“It’s not really baby sitting, it’s just having someone with you to look after you just in case something happens,” Sunggyu said apprehensively. You nodded before getting up to kiss Sunggyu’s forehead and saying that you were tired and would be going to sleep first.

“You’re not going to eat anything?” Junhyung asked, frowning at you as you made your way up the stairs.

“No, I’m not really hungry.” Everyone watched as you disappeared into your room except for Woohyun, who just snickered. He was the only one that didn’t flinch when you slammed your door closed.

Sunggyu’s eyes flicked over to Woohyun’s, which were staring off into the distance. A grin appeared on his face before he blinked a few times, and his eyes fell into focus again.

“What? What’s so funny?”

“She is so pissed off at you right now.”

“What? Why?! What did I do?”

“I told her this was your idea.” Sunggyu gave Woohyun a look of disbelief and pulled at his hair.

“Why would you do something like that?!”

“What? It was your idea. I may use my powers for evil, but I have morals, Sunggyu. I have morals.”

“Oh my god, shut up.” Sunggyu shoved Woohyun over, knocking him off of the couch.

“That reminds me. After advancing to Class A, you’ll be training with me now,” Junho said as Woohyun climbed back onto the couch and peeked over the top.

“Training with you?”

“Yeah. It’d be a shame if you couldn’t keep up with a girl. Bring sweats tomorrow!” Woohyun sighed as he sunk back down into the couch.

--

The cycle was as follows: Sungjong watched you on Mondays, Dongwoo on Tuesdays, Sunggyu on Wednesdays, Myungsoo on Thursdays, Sungyeol on Fridays, Woohyun on Saturdays, and Hoya on Sundays.

Mondays with Sungjong weren’t bad at all. You got to spend time with him, catching up on things.

“Look! I’ve got the electrical barrier working!” He said one day after school, grabbing your hand and throwing up a visible barrier of electricity. You could feel your whole body tingling as the current ran through your energy channels.

“So, if we touch anyone, they’ll get shocked?”

“If they bump into the barrier, yeah.” You two turned towards Woohyun, who was focused on his phone until he felt malicious thoughts coming his way. He looked up to see you and Sungjong inching towards him.

“Oh no. Oh no. What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you dare! Don’t you- Save me!” he yelled as he ran off with the two of you chasing him, hand in hand.

--

Tuesdays with Dongwoo were your absolute favorites. He would turn into baby animals and let you carry him around after school and play with him until he had to change back into a person before the time limit ran out.

“You know, we don’t really talk much,” you said. You were laying on your stomach on the floor of your room. Dongwoo was a baby white tiger, rolling around on the floor. You laughed and reached out to scratch his tummy as he rolled past you.

You pulled your phone out of your bag next to you and glanced at the time.

“It’s almost been three hours.” Dongwoo shifted back in front of your eyes and sighed.

“I know we don’t really talk, but we’re comfortable with each other right?” You nodded and reached out to poke him.

“I could turn into Sunggyu or something if you want.”

“No, that’s okay. I like you just the way you are. And maybe as baby animals too. I swear, they’re just so cute and fuzzy, I can’t stand it.” Dongwoo laughed before turning into a fluffy white puppy. You squealed.

--

“Hey, it’s time for...” Junhyung pushed your door open to see you asleep on the floor with a puppy on your chest. He assumed the puppy was the shapeshifter that was supposed to be watching you.

“Hey. Fearsome guardian. Don’t sleep on the job,” Junhyung said, stepping into your room and nudging at the puppy on your stomach. Dongwoo yawned before shifting back into a person. The sudden weight on your body scared you awake. You shoved Dongwoo off of you in a hurry, making him groan as he bumped into your dresser.

“Oh. Sorry, Dongwoo.”

--

Wednesdays with Sunggyu were the same as any other day with Sunggyu. He knew you were a little bit miffed at him for having the team follow you around like this, but you still smiled at him and called it a good team bonding exercise.

And as he watched you interact with the team, he decided that maybe it was a little bit too much team bonding.

“She really knows how to push your buttons,” Woohyun said at lunch one day, wincing every time he bent his fingers.

“What’s wrong with you?” Sunggyu asked, raising his eyebrow at Woohyun.

“Training with your girlfriend and Junho is like training to take over the world. This,” he said, holding up his hand, “is from taking a punch at your girlfriend.”

“You punched her?”

“No. I tried to, but she blocked it, and it felt like I punched a brick wall.”

--

Thursdays with Myungsoo were fun. You two spent the days after school walking through things and sticking your heads into places where they didn’t belong.

“Hey, Myungsoo. Can you hand me my pen?”

“Where is it?”

“In my pencil bag next to you.” You looked up to see Myungsoo phase his hand through your pencil bag and search around for a moment before pulling a pen out.

“This one?”

“Yeah. How did you do that?” Logically, if he phased his hand through your pencil bag, he wouldn’t be able to grab anything because he was still phasing. Otherwise, his hand would stay stuck in your pencil bag.

“Sectional phasing. Power advancement. It’s like being able to control what parts of your body you want to phase instead of just your whole entire body. So I can keep my arm phased while I grab a pen, then phase everything back out again after I grab the pen.” You took the pen from Myungsoo and stared at it before laughing.

“That’s like, the ultimate prank power or something.”

“You don’t have to tell Sungyeol. I practiced on him. I kept grabbing his underwear, pulling it out, and waving it around.”

--

Fridays with Sungyeol were always full of fun. You two would traverse the school along the walls, along the ceiling, running anywhere and everywhere, all over the place. After training, he’d take you to this place in town that built indoor obstacle courses.

You two would spend hours going through them until you were so tired, you had to lean on each other to make it all the way home, your hands swinging in between you two.

“You wanna do tumbling next week? I’ve been in the mood for some acrobatics and stuff.”

“Sure, that’s fine. I don’t really know anything that’s outside of kick boxing though.”

“What, like flips and stuff? That’s a shame. A real shame. I’m going to teach you, and we’re going to annoy the hell out of Myungsoo with it.”

“He gets annoyed by stuff like that?”

“Only if you do it constantly, all the time around him. He gets annoyed and starts trying to phase my underwear out of my pants again.”

--

At first, you thought you’d dread Saturdays with Woohyun. You saw him every day at training, and listened to him complain profusely the entire time. The strange thing was, his words didn’t match his actions. You noticed that he still tried as hard as he could with everything, even if he fell short a bit sometimes. It made you feel strangely fond of him.

“Okay. Take her hand.”

“Don’t tell Sunggyu. I write with this hand,” he said with a smirk on his face as he took your hand. You rolled your eyes.

“And channel some of her energy. Not a ton of it or anything, or you’ll make her pass out again,” Junho said sternly as Woohyun closed his eyes.

You could feel a sudden connection between your hands and marveled at it. You suddenly sensed a feeling of smugness, and after a few moments, realized that it was coming from Woohyun.

“Dude... That’s so weird.”

“Now, pick up the brick and throw it.” Woohyun opened his eyes and pointed two fingers at the bricks before lifting up ten at a time and throwing it towards the target with good accuracy.

“Okay. I said one, but that works too.” Junho turned back to Woohyun and you before grabbing at your hands.

“Now, pick up the bricks again.” Woohyun did as he was told. “I’m going to separate your hands slowly, okay? You’ll have to add more energy to keep the bricks up as your connection breaks with her.” Woohyun nodded, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as Junho started to separate your hands.

You watched as Woohyun’s other hand faltered and shook as your hands separated. You could feel less and less of him as your hands moved away. He gritted his teeth even harder, struggling to keep the bricks in the air as your hands separated all the way.

“Good, good. Throw them.” Woohyun’s hand shook more before he threw them with a yell with much less accuracy, but he still managed to throw them without using your energy. He whined and squatted down, holding his head before massaging his temples.

“That’s why I told you to start with one,” Junho said, shaking his head and shoving Woohyun over so he fell onto his side on the ground.

“Good job,” you said, squatting down and patting Woohyun on the cheek.

--

Woohyun showed up on your doorstep on Saturdays with a smile on his face. The two of you liked to take walks down the shopping district. Woohyun would tell you about the random thoughts of people as you passed by them.

Sometimes, you practiced sparring in your backyard. Junhyung would watch on those days and smirk whenever Woohyun got knocked down. He admired the fact that Woohyun always got up.

“You’ve tried reading her thoughts to see what she’s going to do next right?” Junhyung asked as he blocked a blow from you.

“Yeah. It’s a bit difficult to react to, because she doesn’t think about her moves. She just goes on instinct.” Woohyun yelped as he landed on his back from a slow sweep. You laughed before helping him up.

“Good. That just means you can’t cheat.”

--

“You know, I’ve been sifting through your memories for a while,” Woohyun said one Saturday afternoon. The two of you just finished sparring and were resting on the couch in the living room.

“Oh. Thanks. Not like those are private or anything.”

“No, wait, hear me out before you beat the crap out of me.” He raised his hands defensively and scooted away from you. You lowered your fist and raised your eyebrows.

“Go on.”

“You don’t really have a lot of memories about your childhood. Well, you do, but they’re blocked behind something. All I can find are flashes of voices.” He watched as you sat back into the couch and stared off into the distance.

“Have you told anyone about them?”

“Just Junhyung. And he never really says anything about them, because they come to me after something traumatic or right before I pass out from using too much energy, so he just tells me to get some rest.” Woohyun nodded.

“There’s something weird about him and Junho. They guard their minds pretty intently, all of the time.” You frowned.

“Every time I read something about Junho, he’s thinking about cake or something. Junhyung just thinks about you all the time, and not even anything specific about you. It’s just your image in his head, all of the time. But... don’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you, okay?” Woohyun held out his pinky. You raised an eyebrow at him before taking it with yours and sealing it with your thumbs.

“I’ve been working on reading past shallow thoughts and reading intents. Like the motive behind the thoughts. People can’t fake intents as well as thoughts, so I should be able to get more accurate readings that way.”

“How?” you asked, turning towards him.

“It’s sort of like... Your shallow and immediate thoughts are like a pool. I can dive into that pretty easily and read what I want. What I want to read though, are your intents. So I have to dive to the bottom of the pool, and at the bottom, there’s another layer, like an empty space of air. There, I can feel what you’re thinking and what you want to do instead of just reading the shallow thoughts, which are easy to manipulate.” You narrowed your eyes, trying to comprehend what he was saying.

“Do you think... Do you think you could use that to break into my memories?” you asked. Woohyun pursed his lips in thought.

“The thing is... whatever is blocking your memories is the same thing that’s blocking your energy channels. I noticed it the last few times I channeled energy from you. So if I try to break through the things blocking your memory, it should unblock your energy channels too. And vice versa. But I’d try the memory route first. If I try to unblock your energy channels, we’d have to completely combine our energy channels.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Woohyun smiled and shook his head before sighing.

“Oh, you. So innocent. Combining energy channels like that is like revealing everything about yourself to another person. You essentially become one person in two bodies. Basically, it’s like combining your souls together. Or having mind .”

“Woohyun!”

“Hey! At least I told you!” You sighed and ran a hand through your hair.

“It’s up to you. This is all practice for me so...” Woohyun watched you as you thought. In a way, he felt like he was manipulating you. He knew that you were curious about your past. He wanted to get some practice reading intents and breaking through mind barriers. It was a win win situation.

“Sure,” you said slowly. Maybe this would be the way you’d figure out all those voices in your memories.

--

Despite what you said, Sundays with Hoya were definitely your favorite. They were always lazy Sundays, spent finishing up homework before taking the rest of the day to relax before the hectic week ahead of you.

You leaned back on Hoya as he leaned back against you, book in his hands. Your head rested on his shoulder as you slept, sun shining on your face. Hoya would look over his shoulder occasionally and smile at you.

When the weather got too cold, you two stayed indoors. You’d give him a head massage as the two of you watched TV. Your mom would watch you two from the kitchen and sigh. You matched so well with so many boys, she had a hard time deciding who she wanted you to end up with.

--

“You guys are the only team that hasn’t been through the practice course. Or even attempted it,” Junho said one day as your team was gathered in the gym. The weather was cold now, so most of the teams opted for training in the gym.

“Yeah, we know.”

“Time is of the essence. Better to do it before the snow starts coming down. Or do it when the snow comes down. I’d be interested to see that.”

“Why? We were going to wait until the weather warmed up. The Games are in the summer, right?”

“That’s true, but what makes you think the island will be a tropical island?” Junho winked at them before whistling and walking off.

--

There were a number of SS waiting at the front of the course when your team trooped out there, freezing slightly. One of them looked up and smiled at your team, waving you over.

“Isn’t the weather beautiful?” An SS you recognized walked up to you with a smirk on his face. He was a mysterious sort of figure, going only by the name T.O.P.

“Yah. Seunghyun. Quit wasting their time and get them through the course already.” Your team tried to hold back a few snickers as he turned around and glared at the boy who called to him.

“There will be SS monitoring your progress through the course, so don’t worry. We’ll step in before anything too bad happens. Hopefully we won’t have to pull a Junho and get axed in the face.” Your team huddled together as you made your way to the entrance of the course behind the school.

“It’s not too long, but it’s not too short either,” he said almost lazily.

“Does the whole team have to go through? Or can just some of us go?” T.O.P. shrugged his shoulders.

“We’re not grading you on this. This is just a practice course, so you can know what to expect on the survival course.” You could feel Myungsoo and Sungyeol looming behind you as Sunggyu and Hoya turned to talk to each other.

“You three... You think you’ll be okay on your own in there?” Sunggyu asked, reaching out to grab your hand and rub it between his.

“We should be fine. It’s not like we haven’t fought for our lives before, you know.” You smiled at Sunggyu as he sighed and brought your hand up to kiss it.

“Be safe okay?” The three of your approached the entrance to the forest and stuck your heads in apprehensively.

“We’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. Nothing bad will happen. We’ll be okay,” you chanted to yourself. Myungsoo and Sungyeol smirked at you before grabbing your hand.

“Just don’t let go.”