A/N: Just a slow filler chapter. Sorry for the long wait. Enjoy~

“Everybody ready? Okay, we’ll practice a little bit,” the soothing elderly voice of the Drama’s lecturer, Oh Sena rang in the theatre.

A collective ‘yes’ echoed back.

There were about 14 students in the class and each one of them was holding a set of script and were all standing in a random arrangement on the vast stage. They were busy memorising lines – some with frowns while some with dazed expressions mumbling words. Park Chanyeol in particular was browsing through his own, calmly reading his lines. They were doing a short scene from Shakespeare ‘Romeo and Juliet’ – very cliché really. It was either this one play or Chekhov ‘Three Sisters’. Chanyeol actually loathed the latter as like most of his classmates.

“I think she purposely gave us the 2 choices. She knew we’ll pick R and J,” Baekhyun muttered to him. Chanyeol nodded and sniffled.

His runny nose was affecting his state of emotions. And he didn’t like it. Not one bit.

“Why don’t you just go sit and rest, Yeollie?” Baekhyun worriedly said as he noticed the little sway in Chanyeol’s posture.

“Nah, I’m good,” Chanyeol said before his sneeze shock the hell out of his classmates. He apologised sheepishly and the tips of his ears were suddenly red.

Oh Sena looked at her dedicated student with concern. She was amazed at what her class representative had done to the talented boy. And talented he was. She was shocked the 21-year-old could pull the whole cross-dressing tactic very well. It helped with his androgynous looks. And in her eyes now, she saw a tired and ill-looking female student. Few of her ginger strands dangled from her loose braid – a classic beauty indeed.

“Park Chanyeol, you should sit this one out,” she ordered gently.

Chanyeol snapped his head up towards his favourite mentor. “But- ma’am- !”

“No buts, dear. You’re still sick. Now listen up, I want all of you to listen well. I won’t tolerate mistakes made from lack of focus or passion. I know you all love acting but I want the lot of you to give me the best performances as long as you’re still in my class. If you feel sick, really sick, I’d rather see you well rested than trying too hard to focus on stage, clear?”

“Yes, seonsaeng-nim!”

Chanyeol sighed when Baekhyun nudged him. “Just go to the infirmary and sleep it off.”

“Okay,” Chanyeol whimpered and his lecturer nodded him off when he got his bag and he bowed to her.

“That kid is too stubborn sometimes,” Oh Sena walked towards Baekhyun. Baekhyun nodded.

“Yeah, but it’s good that he’s that way, seonsaeng-nim.”

“You’re right, Baekhyun-ah. But please, look after him. I don’t trust that boy not to fall flat just cus he tripped on his legs. He could even set something on fire from nothing,” she mumbled and Baekhyun offered her his bright smile. What she said were true anyway.

What they didn’t know was that how true her words actually were.

~~~

Sporting a tired face and dragging tired legs, 21-year-old Park Chanyeol walked towards the infirmary. There were 2 infirmaries in his school but usually people would just go the East Infirmary - near his department. That was because most of the people going to the nurse bay were from the Sports Department and the west wing was harder to find. He himself had never set foot into the West Infirmary.

Sighing, he pushed the white double doors open and greeted politely. The breeze escaping the room was a relief to his sweating face.

A nurse’s head peeked from behind the white curtains. Every bed had those. And how many beds were there? Chanyeol mentally counted them in the big room. About 9 of them.

“Ah, what can I do for you, sweet cheeks?” the middle-aged lady with a white lab coat asked him with a motherly smile. She looked quite cheerful and Chanyeol smiled.

“I got sent here-” the nurse asked him to sit on a bed, “-apparently my teacher thinks I’m too sick to act.”

“Ah, a Drama student! Well, she got that one right, dear. You’re still burning up,” she pressed a hand onto Chanyeol’s sweaty forehead and looked at Chanyeol with an unsatisfied smile on her face.

“But I feel fine,” Chanyeol whined eyeing the nurse with sympathy. His nose suddenly twitched and he sneezed again.

“You can say that again, sweety, but you need to rest.”

Chanyeol heard a deep chuckle and his eyes landed on the bed next to him. A look of horror struck him when he saw the man he least wanted to see staring back at him.

‘I need to wipe that smirk off his face!’

“You! What are you doing here??” Chanyeol pointed an accusing finger to him. His blue eye twitched when he saw Kris’s amused expression.

“Well, dearie. He burned his hand and quite badly too,” the nurse replied instead. “Children these days! Can’t go one day without any body injury.”

She bustled around and disappeared behind the curtains to gather pills for the sick Drama student.

“What? When?” Chanyeol didn’t know why but he felt panicked. He upped from the bed and unconsciously moved closer to Kris. Without his consent, his hands flew up to take Kris’s bandaged one and tried to examine it. He poked a finger to it and Kris hissed.

“That hurts, Chan-yue…” Kris whispered.

At the mention of that name, Chanyeol snapped back to reality, released Kris’s hand and tried to sit back on his bed but Kris’s fast grip on his arm stopped him. They shared an unknown conversation and Chanyeol was immersed into those brown almost greenish eyes. Chanyeol felt he wanted to cry.

“Oh, he’s your boyfriend, darling?”

Great timing, he congratulated the nurse. Before he could answer with a blatant no, Kris beat him to it.

“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend,” Kris smirked.

Sick weird tall guy say what??

“Wha-I,” Chanyeol’s rosy cheeks turned a darker shade of red. ‘I AM NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!’ He wanted to yell.

“Aw, sweet! No wonder all those poor girls got ignored, Kris. You got yourself a keeper here,” she laughed as she pulled Chanyeol towards his bed and handed the puzzled man a glass of water. Chanyeol accepted robotically. He bit his lips in embarrassment.

“Open up, darling,” she instructed before popping in a pill into Chanyeol’s mouth. She urged him to swallow before making him downed another one.

“There! That should do it. Now all you need to do is rest. You’ll be drowsy in a moment. You too, Kris Wu. I already gave you some painkillers and a balm for that nasty burn you got there. Now off you go,” she said to Kris. Chanyeol was untying his braid in favour of a ponytail. He got his shoes off and yawned as he tucked them into the thin white sheet. Yup, he was getting sleepy, he sniffled.

“Can’t I stay here?” Kris asked. Chanyeol raised an eyebrow to him from his bed. His eyes were quickly drooping. Their voice gradually went distant in his ears and it wasn’t long until he was out of the world.

~~~

“Doncha have class, sweet pie?” the happy nurse asked him.

“Nah, it won’t matter. I miss more than half of it by now,” Kris chuckled.

The nurse laughed softly. She eyed Kris with a knowing look. “I know what this is about, young man. It’s good that you’re offering t’ stay, I hafta go get some supplies from the west wing, anyway. Just make sure you look after her, okay?” she patted Kris’s jaw.

“Thank you, seonsaeng-nim!” Kris said relieved. He got some unfinished business with Chanyeol anyway and he knew he had to talk to him no matter what.

“I’ll see nothing out of its place once I get back. Get that, young man?” she playfully warned before she left.

A smile lingered on his face as he thought of how understanding the nurse was. He shifted his head towards the sleeping Chanyeol and marvelled how vulnerable and innocent he looked. Silently, Kris took a chair, lifted it towards Chanyeol’s bed and slumped onto it all the while letting his eyes watched over his ‘mate’.

When Chanyeol left him on the rooftop – he was surprised the younger’s flame burned him. Words he wanted to say left him as he stared at the red marks on his palm. When did Chanyeol’s powers awakened? Seeing the burn, he was more convinced that he needed Chanyeol in this lifetime. Even if angry flame balls were thrown to him in his pursuit, he’d get what belonged to him. Besides, his body was built to heal faster and fire was one of his abilities. But why was Chanyeol so hostile to him? That never happened before…

However, his befuddlement was dulled when the panic crossed the feminine man’s face as he inspected Kris’s injury. It all made sense now. His mate never meant for it to happen. In fact, it appeared to him that the Phoenix was not aware of his own magick.

Kris’s protective gaze locked on Chanyeol’s soft baby-like features. The brown hair framed his face perfectly, softly caressing the man’s face as the air from the AC blew above them. Kris tucked the soft strands behind the other’s ear. He felt the warm temperature and Kris’s eyes widened.

Of course! Why didn’t it cross his mind earlier? Chanyeol’s flame was awakening and his body was trying to get use to the running magick in his veins. That explained the fever. He felt proud. He felt satisfied with his revelation.

“Soon, we’ll be together again, Chan-yue…That I promise you,”Kris whispered. His voice was desperate and full of longing as he clasped Chanyeol’s extremely warm hand with his good hand. If only Chanyeol would accept his offer in the first place. He didn’t care if Chanyeol was given a male body in this lifetime. His soul was still his other half.

Dread filled him. There was one thing he never wanted to happen – one thing that happened in all his previous lives with his mate…

He would try everything in his power to stay with his beloved. He would never leave unless Chan-yue would say to let her go. If fight he would expect, then fight he would. With that mind-set, he let himself to just enjoy the uncontained joy he felt for the reunion of this lifetime. He knew if this Chan-yue was awake, he was sure it will be a hard work for him to just be close to the younger.

Besides…        

What was a victory without a fight?     

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