Warmth
When the Sun and Moon Meet
(3rd person POV)
When I ride the wind and land on your world
Luhan was rudely awakened by the bitter cold. He was a prophet, yet he didn’t have enough foresight to see that he would need a thicker jacket up on the snowy mountain. But that was okay. He didn’t have to worry about the sharp pains the snow was sending through his limbs for much longer. Or the pain in his chest.
He had trampled on the hearts of those he cared about for this plan to succeed, and he wasn’t about to let it fail. There was no way he would let their sacrifices go to waste.
The man gingerly crawled out of the cave he had taken shelter in, and was not surprised to see that it had started snowing again. However, he was surprised when he felt something heavy tackle him from behind.
Oh, no, were his first thoughts. I’ve come this far to die being eaten by a wild animal.
Once he landed on the ground, he rolled to the side so he could face his attacker head-on, and instinctively raised his fist to throw a punch. He blindly threw the punch and he felt his blood freeze when he heard a familiar yelp.
“First you hurt me emotionally, now you hurt me physically?”
Luhan quickly wiped the snow off his face and was met with the gentle eyes of his healer brother. “L-Lay?”
“We finally found you! Do you know how worried we were?” Lay scolded.
“Did someone bring handcuffs? I think we’re gonna have to cuff him to someone so he doesn’t run off again.” Luhan looked behind Lay to see the towering figure that was Kris. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips in a thin line.
“Luhaaaan!” Luhan got the air knocked out of him a second time when Baekhyun threw himself at him, and they landed in a mess on the cold ground.
The other two members of his family were calmer, but stood with smiles on their faces.
“How did you…?” Luhan began.
“Willpower,” Xiumin told him before he even finished his sentence. “You don’t know the pains we went through to get up here.”
“Don’t you dare run away again,” Lay said. As if to prove his point, he had Luhan’s hand in a death-grip.
After the astonishment wore off, Luhan’s voice turned icy. “What are you doing here? Can’t you see you’re being a nuisance?”
At his comment, D.O. walked over and flicked him on the forehead. Hard.
“Stop pretending,” Lay said. “We all know you didn’t want to say those things.”
“Of course I did,” Luhan said as he tried to remove his hands from Lay’s.
“You think we’ve been together all these years and we still can’t read your expressions?” Lay asked.
“Well you clearly can’t if you thought I was lying.”
“Stop.” Flick. “Pretending.” Flick.
Luhan could see stars by the time D.O. finished talking, and he rubbed the centre of his forehead as he tried to regain composure. “I—”
“Stop,” Lay said. “Like D.O. said, stop pretending. We’re here to help you. Whether you like it or not, we’re going with you.”
“We might not have hand-cuffs, but we have plenty of rope,” Kris added.
After being alone for what felt like ages and feeling the warmth of Baekhyun still sprawled on top of him, Luhan couldn’t help it when the façade he put on crumble. He had never been good at being by himself, especially out in the darkness at night. It scared him to no end. Being mentally and physically exhausted, he didn’t have enough energy to keep up with the acting. His brothers grinned when they saw tears swell up in his eyes. “Welcome back,” they said.
Luhan nodded. “Thank you for coming after me.”
“Of course we wouldn’t leave our precious Lulu out here by himself,” Xiumin told him.
“I’ll tell the other guys that we found him,” Kris said.
“Other guys?” Luhan echoed.
“The Moon clan came with us,” Baekhyun explained. “We’re working together now.”
Luhan’s eyes widened. Does that mean…?
“Yeah, he’s here too,” Lay said, as if reading his mind.
Luhan looked at him with horror in his eyes. He wasn’t ready to face Sehun yet. Not after what he had said last time. He wasn’t sure Sehun was ready to forgive him.
“He was really worried about you too,” Lay told him. “He said to let him know as soon as we find you.”
A flower of hope bloom in Luhan’s chest, and it clearly showed on his face.
“Don’t worry, he’s not mad at you or anything,” Baekhyun said. “I’m pretty sure he’s more worried you’re mad at him.”
Luhan bit his bottom lip nervously. That didn’t make the situation any easier to handle. His brother trusted him and didn’t ask any questions, but he was sure the Moon clan were not nearly as forgiving and will be shooting questions at him nonstop.
“We made a deal on the way here,” Kris said. “They promised not to press you with questions until you’re ready.”
“Thanks,” Luhan said gratefully. “But I’ll answer their questions. It’ll make working together easier.”
“We’ll be right beside you,” Xiumin said with a firm pat on Luhan’s back. D.O. nodded beside him.
“Thanks,” Luhan said again. It suddenly got easier to breathe.
They decided to wait by the cave as Kris’ dragon, Hiou, went to alert the Moon Clan. There was much of a conversation happening, but it was a comfortable silence. Luhan breathed warm air on his hands as he sat on a rock. His brothers had brought a warmer jacket for him, but the thought of having to face and explain to the other clan was enough for his blood to turn to ice. But there was no way he could hide his plan anymore. Maybe he wouldn’t tell them all the minor details, but he would tell them the truth. He rehearsed the conversation in his head, and hoped it would go as he planned. Probably won’t.
Soon, a shadow circled the ground in front of him, and he knew that time was up. Hiou had returned, and the Moon Clan must be close behind. Kris patted his dragon’s head affectionately once she landed and she nuzzled his head with her snout. Moments later, six figures emerged from the trees silently.
“I’m glad you found him,” the first one to arrive said.
“We are too,” Kris said. “Please be considerate when you ask questions, Suho.”
“Of course.”
Then all eyes turned to Luhan, and he swallowed nervously. “So, what’s this all about?” Suho asked.
“I was trying to stop the monsters,” Luhan said. He was glad they didn’t rush him when he paused to gather his thoughts. All the rehearsing went out the window once he saw Sehun standing at the back of the group. It took all he had to stay on topic. “There’s a gate at the top of this mountain and the monsters are coming from it.”
The others around him nodded slowly, taking the information in. If he didn’t have the status of a prophet, he was sure they wouldn’t believe him nearly as easily. But nobody questioned how he knew this, because nobody else really understood his powers.
“How do we stop it?” Suho asked.
“I’m… still working on that,” Luhan said. It was semi-truthful.
“And you ran here all by yourself without a plan?” Chanyeol asked in disbelief.
Luhan could only smile sheepishly. “That’s our Lulu,” Baekhyun said with a wide grin at the man with the phoenix.
“So what should we do now?”
“We have to get closer,” Luhan said. “But we have to be careful, it’s going to get more dangerous as we get closer.”
“Yes, of course,” Suho said.
“We have food and supplies,” Lay said. “We have enough to last a while.”
“But we better make this as short as possible before people start getting suspicious,” Chanyeol said. The other nodded in agreement.
“Let’s head up, and we can stop when it gets dark,” Suho said. “It’s best not to travel when it’s dark.”
“I agree,” Kris said. Everyone else mumbled their agreements. “Then let’s get going.”
And so they packed their bags and began their treacherous hike up the snowy mountain. The snow continued to fall, and the fresh snow crunched under Luhan’s feet. When he glanced around, he was surprised that many of the members had split into pairs, talking quietly amongst themselves. What surprised him more was that each pair was made up of one member from each clan. It made him curious. When had they gotten so friendly? But he wasn’t in the place to ask, considering his secret meetings with Sehun.
The name dropped a rock in his stomach. He was still dreading the moment when he would have to talk to the younger man, but he knew he couldn’t out it off forever. He had to apologize, and he had to do it soon before he misses his chance. He had gotten closer and closer to Sehun during their hike, trying to gather enough courage to speak up, but had failed every single time so far. Sighing, he glanced at the said man out of the corner of his eyes, and saw that he was staring straight ahead with no expression on his face. His hair was sprinkled with snowflakes, and Luhan saw the puffs of his breaths. He was so mesmerized that he didn’t notice the branch in front of him and walked right into it, causing him to momentarily lose his balance.
A hand grabbed his arm to stabilize him.
“T-thanks,” Luhan said. Then his eyes widened. The one who had caught him was Sehun.
“Are you okay?” he asked, worry written all over his face. “You should be more careful.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Luhan said, forcing himself to break eye contact and fixed them on the ground.
They continued their walk, and Luhan was very aware of that fact that they were walking very close together. It would be so easy to just reach over and take his hand. Luhan was sure the warmth would melt his worries away. It was so tempting.
But he had to apologize first.
So he gathered all the courage he could and opened his mouth.
“I’m sorry,” Sehun said. It caught Luhan off guard, and he felt his jaw drop. “I’m so sorry for what happened.”
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry!” Luhan blurted out. It caught attention of the other members, but he didn’t care. “I said some really cruel things, and I’m sorry for that. It was unreasonable and crossed the line. I understand if you don’t forgive me.”
“I—”
“You’re both sorry, so why not put it behind us?” Kris suggested. “It was an unfortunate event, but neither of you are to blame. Nobody wanted this to happen. Instead of apologizing to each other continuously, why not try to make up?”
Sehun turned from Kris back to Luhan. “Will you forgive me?”
“I should be the one asking! You don’t need to apologize, you’ve done nothing wrong,” Luhan said.
“But will you forgive me?”
“Of course!” Luhan told him. “And will you forgive me? Even though I understand if you don’t.”
“Of course I forgive you,” Sehun said. “What you said was completely understandable. I know it upset you.”
Luhan’s first urge was to continue apologizing, then realized Kris was right. They didn’t have much time left. They should spend it meaningfully instead.
“Thank you, Sehun,” he said.
His words brought a huge smile to the other young man’s face. Then they attempted to start a casual conversation, asking each other about the current situation. What they didn’t notice were the other members of their family looking at them, clearly relieved.
“I was worried it wouldn’t end well for a sec,” Kai whispered.
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t,” the doe-eyed man next to him said. “But I’m glad it all turned out well.”
“I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong though,” Lay said from somewhere close to them. “Something feels very strange about this place.”
“Your brother said something about a gate at the top of the mountain, right?” Suho asked. “That’s probably what you’re sensing.”
“I guess so,” Lay said uneasily.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make it out of here safely,” Suho said as he slowed down slightly to walk in stride with Lay. The other smiled gratefully at the company.
The group encountered a few monsters as they trekked further into unknown territory, but with such a large group, they had no problems taking them down. Although there were a few close incidences where they almost hit each other at first, they eventually understand how each others’ powers worked and built up their teamwork. Eventually, the sun began to set, streaking the sky with crimson.
“It seems like we haven’t gotten any closer at all,” Tao said with a pout.
“It’s just an illusion,” Luhan said. “It’s to get people to give up.”
“How do you know all this?” Sehun asked with a slight tilt of his head.
“Prophet’s intuition?”
The younger man chuckled. “Fair enough.”
“How about we stop for the day?” Suho suggested. “We can find a place to camp for the night.”
“Sounds good!” Baekhyun said.
“Let’s start setting up then,” Chanyeol said as he dropped his bag onto the snow.
“I’ll go get some firewood,” Sehun said.
“I’ll come!” Luhan said, a little too quickly.
“Be careful out there,” Lay said. “Give us a shout if you see anything.”
“Thanks,” Luhan told him before following Sehun towards the trees.
The pair walked side-by-side in silence for a bit, enjoying the fresh air and the sound of crunching snow under their feet. Luhan was the first to break it. “It’s nice to hang out with everyone together without any conflict,” he said. Sehun nodded. “I wish we have more time together like this.”
“I’m sure there’ll be other chances in the future.”
Luhan chuckled softly. “Yeah.”
Then, Sehun suddenly spun around, making Luhan crash into his chest. Startled, he looked up to see a serious expression on Sehun’s face.
“You said you forgive me, right?” Sehun said.
“Yes, of course. What’s wrong?”
“Then you have to go with me to this new bubble tea place. It just opened up and Kai bought some for me, but I couldn’t even enjoy it because I was so worried about you,” he said.
His serious expression made Luhan burst out laughing. “We’re on top of a mountain and you’re thinking about bubble tea?”
“Of course! Bubble tea is what I live for!” Then after a quick glance at Luhan, added, “mostly.”
“Hmm?” Luhan teased. “What was that?”
A light pink flushed appeared on Sehun’s face and he turned away. “Nothing.” Luhan decided not to press any further as they bent down to collect the branches scattered on the ground.
“I really wish we have more time together like this,” Luhan said quietly.
“I’ll sneak out of the house just for you,” Sehun told him.
“You’re going to get in trouble.”
“I’ll be fine.
“You’ll take me out for bubble tea?”
“As many times as you want.”
“Is this a date?”
The words left Luhan’s mouth before he could stop them, and they ended up staring at each other with wide eyes before blood began rising to their faces.
“Um… It can be if you want it to be…” Sehun said as he fidgeted with his scarf, as if it was suddenly too tight around his neck.
Luhan decided it was now or never. He probably won’t have another chance to voice his heart. “I do,” he said. “I’m not good with this stuff, but I think I really like you, Sehun. More than as a friend.” He could feel his face turning redder with each word, but pushed himself to finish before the spontaneous courage left him. He was glad he did. He wasn’t sure how Sehun would react, but his shoulders suddenly felt lighter.
The younger man seemed to have been caught off guard, because he stared at Luhan with slack jaws and wide eyes. “You... I don’t know what to say…”
Luhan his dry lips and swallowed nervously.
“I was practicing how to confess to you… Now you’ve done it and I don’t know what to say… C-can I think about it and give you an answer on the date?”
“You’re so cute,” Luhan said, which made Sehun turn a deeper shade of red.
“You can’t just drop something like that on me!”
“I didn’t think I’d get another chance to do it,” Luhan said with a shrug.
“Stop talking as if this is the last chance we’ll meet! We still have that bubble tea date we have to go on,” Sehun said.
“Okay, okay,” Luhan said with another chuckle. “We should hurry up and get the wood back before the others freeze.”
“O-okay.”
It turned out he was right about the others freezing in the snow. By the time they got back, the others were huddled together near Chanyeol’s phoenix in an attempt to stay warm, but it didn’t seem to help. The tents had been set up and the food laid out, but without fuel for fire, they hadn’t been able to get to the next step.
“Finally!” Xiumim said. “I thought you guys got eaten by monsters or something!”
“Sorry for the wait!” Luhan told him, and attempted to walk faster in the nearly knee-high snow.
After lighting the wood on fire just in time as the sun dipped below the horizon, they split themselves up as either to keep guard for cook the food. Luhan couldn’t help but want time to stop. Despite the cold and the hard beds, he wanted to just stay here, where everyone got along. He had gotten information about the gate with his powers, but it was not enough to keep them all safe. The thought that they would not make it out unscathed made his stomach sink.
But he knew one thing for sure – he would do his best to keep everyone safe so he can go on that bubble tea date.
- - - - -
Yay, finally and update! Sorry for taking so long and thanks for sticking around!
The end is near (if things go according to plan, 3 more chapters). I'll try to update again sometime around Christmas :)
(Sorry for any mistakes, I didn't have time to edit it)
[Sun+Moon] Chapter 13 is the new update. :D I realized there was one missing so I put that one up again (ch 12).
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