On Belay?

(a/n: This one isn't a direct add on to the story itself but could be switched in, depending. Joon wouldn't be present if it was but I like writing him in with the alternate scenarios. haha)

Luna was flipping through the Magical Creature Compendium they’d purchased a few years ago, lying on her bed with her chin resting on her hands as her eyes scanned the text when Donghae wandered in with a very bewildered expression on his face. “Hey Hae,” she smiled, tearing her gaze away from the words long enough to acknowledge him before she was back to poring over the section specifically on gryphons. They’d only had Eunhyuk in their company a couple days and she was trying to brush up on what she knew about them…or at least what they thought they knew.

“Hey Luna,” he waved, pausing in the doorway as his eyes landed on Henry’s empty bed, expression thoughtful with a slight frown pulling at his mouth. “Where’s Yesung?” he asked.

“I think he’s watching a movie in the theater,” she responded without looking up. When he didn’t say anything else for a moment and simply just stayed where he was, Luna felt obligated to look up once more. “What’s up?” she asked, surprising him out of his apparent stupor.

“Oh!” he murmured, laughing in mild embarrassment. “It’s probably nothing but have you noticed anything different with my brother?” he asked, shaking his head immediately in dismissal after he voiced his question.

“Not really,” Luna shrugged, pushing the book away and hopping to her feet, approaching the taller male. “Did something happen?” she asked, tilting her head to the side with her hands behind her back.

“No. Not really. He just seems…quiet,” he mused, choosing his words carefully.

“Since Eunhyuk got here?” Luna inquired, raising her brows.

“Actually… Yes,” Donghae nodded in agreement, eyeing the shorter woman. “Do you think it has something to do with the gryphon?”

She shrugged in response. “Have you tried asking him?”

“Sort of. You know Henry though,” Donghae chuckled with a roll of his eyes. “He’ll insist nothing’s wrong until he’s blue in the face, even if there is a problem. I swear.”

“Well let’s go see if we can’t figure out what’s going on,” she winked, snagging Donghae by the arm and pulling him after her out of the room.

“Yah!” he yelped, clapping his hand over his mouth when he remembered there were others sleeping nearby. “Okay. He’s in the rec hall with the rest of the team though,” he explained, allowing himself to be pulled along.

“Even better,” she grinned, the smile evident in her voice since she didn’t actually look back. They arrived to the sound of several voices raised in high spirits and laughter.

“No! You have to dribble the ball, Eunhyuk!” Amber was explaining, trying hard not to laugh though Jonghyun was practically rolling on the floor and even Joon and Siwon looked considerably amused. While Eunhyuk had an expression of intense focus and then mild confusion, Henry just appeared annoyed.

“I did,” he stated, showing her enthusiastically by bouncing the ball with both hands and then awkwardly trying to run for the basket, giving up on dribbling entirely and simply running with it the rest of the way.

Amber couldn’t help but laugh this time and shook her head, following after him. Luna and Donghae noticed that Henry sort of shifted to move with them and then stopped, shuffling uncertainly instead. “See?” Donghae gestured at his younger sibling. “That’s not like him at all.”

Luna hid her smile behind her hand and giggled, shaking her head in agreement. “No, that’s definitely not like our Henry.” She glanced at Amber and Eunhyuk and then back at Henry.

“Ugh! Jong, you’re useless,” Amber berated her teammate and waved him off, eliciting more laughter from Siwon and Joon. “Henry! Can you come and help me show him how it’s supposed to work again?” she asked, turning to focus on Henry whose face lit up at the request.

“Sure!” he grinned, hurrying over and accepting the ball, deftly demonstrating the ‘proper’ method of dribbling while Amber pointed out what Eunhyuk should be doing.

“Now that’s more like it,” Luna giggled, tugging on Donghae’s hand and dragging him towards the court. “Hey guys!” she chirped, waving brightly as she drew all attention to their arrival.

Jonghyun abruptly picked himself up off the ground, acting as if he hadn’t just been laughing wantonly, and waved back with a familiar dinosaur grin. “Hey Luna. Donghae,” he nodded, mirrored very quickly by the bemused Joon and Siwon, the former of which reached out to ruffle Jonghyun’s already messy hair. “Yah!” he complained, turning around and chasing after the immediately retreating Joon.

“Hey guys,” Amber greeted, laughing at the ensuing antics nearby. “We’re just trying to teach Eunhyuk here how to play basketball,” she explained, gesturing at the gryphon and Henry both.

“Yeah!” Eunhyuk agreed, bouncing in place with a happy grin.

“He’s getting it. Little by little,” Henry agreed, holding the ball under his arm as he regarded his sibling and Luna. “Hey!” he yelped when it was subsequently plucked from his grasp by Eunhyuk who then pelted towards the hoop, making no effort whatsoever to dribble again.

“So I see,” Donghae answered dryly, a smile tugging at his lips.

“So can we join in?” Luna asked, moving closer and bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly.

“Sure,” Amber nodded, waving at Eunhyuk to come back so they could have the ball again. “You want to join in Eunhyuk?” she asked, accepting the ball with a smile, to which he grinned.

“I watch,” he answered, nodding towards the benches.

“How about you guys?” Amber turned her attention to the other three.

“Sure,” Jonghyun answered, reactively ducking away from Joon who swiped at him while he was distracted.

“I think I’ll sit this one out,” Siwon chuckled, looking over the group with amusement dancing in his eyes. “Seriously Jong. How often do you just watch someone else play?” he asked, nudging the shorter male with his hand.

“Ha ha. Should be entertaining,” Joon chuckled, already heading for the benches where Eunhyuk was perching, squatting on top of it with his hands hanging between his legs, elbows propped on his thighs.

“Okay! So me and Amber versus you two, right?” Luna suggested, grabbing Amber’s arm and looking at Donghae and Henry.

“Seriously?” Amber asked, looking down at the shorter woman with a raised brow.

“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Jonghyun clapped, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, expression expectant.

“I’m good with that,” Henry grinned, nodding at his sibling. “Why don’t you guard Luna,” he suggested with a competitive smile. “You might actually be able to keep up with her.”

“Really? Tell me you didn’t just say that,” Donghae snorted, shoving Henry’s shoulder lightly.

“We get the ball first,” Luna chirped, holding her hands out expectantly. Amber’s expression perfectly mirrored the ‘What have I got myself into?’ look but she handed it off and moved to the center of the court, eyeing Henry as he shifted to follow her.

“Ready when you are,” Donghae smiled, holding his arms out and already doing a pretty good job of blocking her view.

“Hae! You’re too close!” Luna frowned, shooing him back with her hand.

“No I’m not,” he laughed, lowering his arms and stepping back anyway. “Hey!” he yelped in surprise when Luna took that opportunity to pass the ball to the moving Amber.

“Yes!” she cheered, running by him to shadow her teammate, noticing the very happy, if intent, Henry following just behind her, keeping pace so that she didn’t have a clear run to the goal.

The first shot bounced off the backboard, earning Amber some heckling from the trio on the bench, but Donghae retrieved the ball and watching Luna attempt to guard him gave them all cause for laughter. Donghae managed to get himself stuck when he stopped dribbling to laugh and was forced to try and pass while Luna swiped at the ball, a focused expression on her face. He passed the ball high and Henry had to jump to catch it, stumbling away from the locked on Amber who was a tad more aggressive in her defense than Luna.

Several shots were attempted and only a meager few went in on both sides, distracted by the running commentary from the peanut gallery as often as not. They became impromptu referees too when they opted to start calling fouls, real or otherwise, “Foul!”

“That was reaching in,” Joon pointed at Henry who had just tried to take the ball from the trapped Amber.

“He didn’t even touch her,” Jonghyun argued, smacking the taller male in the arm.

“I still say she gets a foul shot,” he shrugged. “What do you think, Eunhyuk?” he asked, leaning forward to laugh at the mystified expression on the gryphon’s face.

When he realized they were looking at him, his eyes widened and he offered, “Yes?”

“See! Foul shot!” Joon pointed, gesturing for Amber to go ahead.

“You guys are such bad refs,” she chuckled, patting Henry on the arm in a gesture of consolation. “Just the one,” she winked, lining up as Donghae and Luna broke apart to get ready to retrieve it.

The sound of the ball hitting the net earned her raucous cheers from her companions on the benches and they resumed the game again with her taking possession of the ball to pass to Luna while Henry guarded her once more. Of course, they heckled him again but the game resumed for the most part with Henry and Amber being considerably more physical than Donghae and Luna who were having a hard time keeping up with their competitiveness. The game was just winding down, with Amber trying to steal the ball from Henry who was looking for an opening to pass to Donghae since he was stuck in place.

“You and your long arms,” Amber grunted, placing one hand on his upper arm while she jumped and tried to swipe at the ball above his head.

She was just as surprised as the rest when they all heard startled cries from behind them and the ball was suddenly gone from Henry’s hand. “Eunhyuk!” the trio cried, standing up and moving to the floor to follow after the gryphon, who was holding the ball in both hands and glaring at Henry.

“Amber’s,” he stated firmly, handing the ball to her with every evidence of giving something to her that she was supposed to have.

“Um… Thanks Eunhyuk,” she smiled tentatively, looking between the satisfied gryphon and the annoyed Henry.

“Well,” Donghae stated, coming up to clap his brother on the back with his hand. “Maybe that’s a sign we should call it for now, eh?”

Henry looked at his brother and forced a smile. “Sure hyung. Should we call it a tie?” he offered to Amber and Luna openly.

“What? We so had you beat,” Luna pointed at him, one fist on her hip. “Didn’t we, Amber?”

“Uh…” she trailed off, blinking quickly when put on the spot. “I’m going to put the ball up,” she dodged the question and headed for the rack.

“Aw. Give the boys a break, Luna,” Jonghyun snickered. “You don’t want to completely bruise their pride,” he winked, earning a merong from her in response, followed by a delighted peal of laughter.

“Come on guys. Let’s go ahead and get washed up,” Siwon suggested as he started to walk off. “It’s almost dinner time anyway,” he reminded them as he headed for the rec room showers.

“You coming, Eunhyuk?” Joon asked, stepping closer to the gryphon.

Eunhyuk tilted his head to the side and then looked down at his clothes. They were completely dry and unaffected by his romp from earlier. “Nope.”

“Meh. You and your magic,” Joon chuckled, waving his hand before he followed Siwon.

“Hey! Wait for me,” Jonghyun grumbled, walking backwards to call after those still on the court. “Good game you guys! You too, Luna,” he grinned, laughing at himself when he nearly stumbled over his own feet.

“I’ll catch up with you guys later,” Amber waved, hurrying past the remaining four and heading for the showers on the other end of the hall.

“Neh!” Luna waved, snagging Donghae and Henry’s arms. “We should get cleaned up too,” she reminded them, pulling the pair towards the doors that led back to the sleeping hall. Neither argued with that sentiment, which left Eunhyuk scratching his head as he tried to figure out something else to distract himself with. The climbing wall caught his attention and he grinned before jogging over to tackle it with gusto.

Cleaned and refreshed, the group reconvened in the dining hall where the military members were already regaling Yesung with the game from the afternoon, an attentive Eunhyuk in their midst with the heretofore missing Victoria and even Key. While none of the MCs favored the Communication deck, the dining hall didn’t seem to bother them overly so.

“Seriously, Henry?” Yesung snorted when he saw the younger male approaching. “Sounds like the gryphon stole the show,” he chortled, grinning at the other’s embarrassment.

“To be fair, we were giving them just a little bit of a hard time,” Siwon chuckled, holding his fingers up to measure a small space between them.

Key rolled his eyes beside him and then shook his head. “Leave it to you and your boys.”

“It was all in good fun,” Siwon winked, nudging Key with his shoulder, startling the basilisk into glaring at him, the effect immediately ruined by a smile appearing reluctantly on his lips.

“But we did have a good time,” Luna assured them, squeezing herself between Donghae and Yesung as they sat down so that the only spot left had Henry sitting next to Amber. “I think these two should have a rematch though. One on one or something. Me and Hae just couldn’t keep up,” she laughed, fanning herself and nudging Donghae with her elbow lightly.

“Definitely,” Donghae chuckled, looking between his brother and Amber speculatively. “I don’t think either was satisfied with the tie anyway,” he shrugged, turning to smile at Victoria in greeting, placing his hand lightly on top of hers. She smiled back and ducked her head shyly, letting a strand of hair fall to partially hide her face.

“I’d be up for that,” Henry agreed, looking at Amber with a hopeful, but preparing to cringe expression.

She gave him a perplexed look but nodded too and smiled. “Me too. Then we could really see who was better.” Her expression turned challenging but friendly and Henry laughed along with her, relaxing perceptibly.

“Me too?” Eunhyuk asked, looking between the pair.

Key glanced at him and patted the gryphon on the shoulder. “You’d have to play after them,” he explained, glancing at Victoria on the other side. They’d purposefully sandwiched him between them since he was still learning the niceties that had to do with living among people.

“Oh,” he murmured, shoulders drooping.

“I’m sure either of them would be happy to play you though,” Victoria assured him, mirroring Key’s gesture on his other shoulder.

“Sure…” Henry trailed off with a mildly forced smile. Eunhyuk cheered up immediately and his excitement was contagious. They ate and conversed, bantering among themselves and teasing lightly, drawing laughter and chagrin both in equal measure.

“Oh damn!” Jonghyun gasped, looking at the digital watch on his wrist. “Aren’t they replaying the movie at seven tonight?” he asked, looking around for confirmation.

“What movie?” Luna asked having forgotten to check on the playlist for the week.

“I thought it was one of those Batman movies,” Siwon commented, leaning forward with his chin resting on his fist.

“They were playing them all today,” Yesung added informatively. “’I’m Batman’,” he quoted, lowering his voice to a deeper, huskier imitation of the hero, tilting his head down to give him a more mysterious look.

“Nice try,” Donghae chuckled, shaking his head. “But that sounds like fun though. We should go check it out,” he suggested with a glance at Victoria. “You haven’t seen it yet, right?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know that movie at all,” she frowned, brow furrowed cutely.

“Oh! Then all the more reason,” Luna grinned. “Come on!” she chirped, hopping up and pulling at Donghae and Yesung’s shirt to prompt them.

“But I already watched one earlier,” he whined, letting himself be drawn up anyway.

“Yeah, but you said they were doing a marathon. It should be a different one this time,” she explained easily.

“Right you are, Luna,” Jonghyun grinned, coming up and slinging an arm over her shoulder in a friendly gesture, noticing the slight flush that blossomed in her cheeks.

The rest of the table started getting up too with the exception of Henry and Amber who were looking at each other speculatively. “So…” Henry shrugged, waiting for her.

“I’ve…um…actually seen the movie already,” she smiled apologetically.

“Which one?” Joon asked, leaning closer.

“All of them,” she laughed sheepishly, ducking her head.

“So have I,” Henry chuckled, earning a gratified smile from Amber.

“Why don’t you guys go on ahead,” she waved, getting up and glancing around. “I was thinking I might get some shooting practice in before it got too late,” she shrugged, glancing at Henry as if waiting to see what he was going to say.

“Hah! You should go with her, Henry. Your aim is terrible in anything but basketball,” Yesung teased, nudging the younger towards Amber.

“Is not!” he retorted immediately.

“I wouldn’t mind the company,” Amber offered, looking slightly awkward and glaring at Jonghyun who had a smug expression on his face when she met his gaze.

“It’s decided then!” Luna announced, waving excitedly at Henry and Amber. “We’ll go catch the movie and you two can tell us who had the better score later,” she winked, rushing out from under Jonghyun’s arm to hurry and catch Eunhyuk’s before he could move anywhere. “Come on Eunhyuk! You’ll probably love it,” she grinned, not giving him a chance to put in a word sideways before she was already pulling him along, completely missing the miffed expression on Jonghyun’s face.

“Neh! See you after,” Henry beamed, feeling slightly awkward himself. “After you,” he gestured for Amber to lead the way and fell in step beside her as they started walking, moving with the rest of the group but splitting off once they made the hallway.

“I don’t suppose you really want to go practice shooting?” Amber asked as they walked towards the rec hall again.

Henry shrugged and chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I could always use the practice I suppose.”

“True,” she agreed with a nod of her head, expression thoughtful. “I’d suggest the one on one game but we already did that earlier.” Her eyes trailed over to him and then looked away quickly when he glanced over in turn. “Hey! Have you ever tried the climbing wall?” she asked, physically turning to face him, walking sideways.

“Once or twice,” he laughed. “It’s definitely been a while.”

“Care to try again?” she asked, biting her bottom lip in excitement.

“I’m up for it if you are,” Henry nodded, raising his fist in victory.

“Awesome,” she grinned, hurrying along faster. She was a fan of the activity but it wasn’t something that one did by themselves and when she was with the guys, they were always either hyper competitive about it or just spent their time goofing off… “I’ll go first,” she stated with a thumbs-up. “That way I can show you how it’s done,” she winked.

“You going to show me up first thing?” he chuckled, happy to see her as excited as she was.

“You know it,” she grinned, leading the way.

It didn’t take them more than a moment to get geared up before Henry was attending the climbing rope as Amber got ready to start her climb. “On belay?” she asked, looking at him over her shoulder with her hands poised on her initial hand holds.

“Belay on,” he nodded, eyes crinkling when he saw a strand of hair escape the short ponytail she’d managed to eye on the right side.

She flicked it away and smiled back. “Climbing.”

“Climb on,” he encouraged, getting himself ready in case she happened to slip. He’d be lying if he didn’t say it was fun to watch her, in more ways than one. Definitely more practiced at it than he was, she made it look easy but it was also a pleasure watching the way her muscles moved when she climbed, tensing as she paused to find a better perch and then flexing further as she hauled herself up.

When she got to the top without any major mishaps, minor slips notwithstanding, she grinned and called back down to him, “Made it!” Her laugh was slightly winded but the elation on her face was unmistakable.

“That was awesome!” he called up to her, fiddling with the climbing rope as he got ready to guide her down.

“Falling!” she announced, giving him just enough time to get ready before she let go and fell a few feet, giggling when he caught her, stopping her in midair to lower her slowly.

“Thanks for the warning,” he chuckled, depositing her gently on the ground and stepping close, letting go of the rope when she was secure.

“Nice catch,” she told him, fiddling with her harness and glancing up to meet his gaze.

“I try,” he shrugged, letting his gaze look up to regard the wall with slight nervousness.

Amber looked to either side of them and noticed a couple people on the other machines but no one she knew particularly well. Biting her bottom lip again, she reached her hand up and touched his cheek lightly, drawing his attention immediately. “Thanks for coming with me,” she told him, bringing her hand back so she wasn’t touching him anymore, uncertain.

“I’m glad I did,” he responded, laughing breathily as he ducked his head and shifted in place. “Amber…” he trailed off, having a hard time meeting her gaze.

“Yes?” she responded, her voice barely more than a whisper as she searched his face.

“I… I…uh…” he stumbled over his words and felt his cheeks flush. Steeling himself, he took a mental breath and reached out to grab the hand hanging at her side, closing the distance between them further when he took a half step forward. She didn’t step away or try to avoid him and he took that as a very good sign, especially when he saw a faint flush over her cheeks too. “I like you,” he managed to get out in a quiet rush, daring to press his lips against her forehead and then easing back, feeling his face go scarlet.

Amber felt the flush flood her cheeks just as quickly and she just stared at him, blinking slowly and feeling as if his lips were still pressed against her skin. A small squeak sounded in the back of , which surprised them both, and she giggled despite herself, hiding behind her hand as she ducked her head and found herself feeling giddy and…silly. She gained control of herself enough to finally look back up again, seeing an equally similar expression on his face, and nodded, “Me too.”

Henry breathed a relieved sigh and laughed breathily, taking a step back with one foot and then coming right back. “I had thought…maybe…” he trailed off, looking embarrassed.

“Eunhyuk?” she asked with a knowing look in her eye.

“Well…yeah,” he deflated and cringed, feeling slightly foolish.

She shrugged and smiled. “He’s nice, but I think he considers me more his human. I don’t know if the attraction is quite the same,” she admitted, looking slightly awkward.

“Good to know,” he chuckled, cupping her cheek with his free hand, tilting her face up so he could brush his lips against hers. It was barely a kiss but more than enough to make the subsiding flush return in full force; for both parties.

“Yes, well…” Amber cleared with a laugh, abashed and slightly out of sorts. “Don’t think you can get out of climbing that easily,” she chided him, shrugging out of her gear and handing it off to him, giggling when they couldn’t maintain eye contact.

“Ahem. Right,” he coughed, nodding in an exaggerated manner as he looked around needlessly. “So this goes…here?”

“Neh. Okay,” she nodded, her face finally starting to cool off as she took the climbing rope and gestured encouragingly at him.