There are pros and cons resulting from the recent incident that Sehun was involved in.

The pros: security is tighter around the main city than before. Since Sehun and Luhan were able to encounter two evil souls just around the vicinity of the main city’s walls, weapons and meisters are securing the area and keeping a closer watch on things. Curfews are set and no one is allowed to leave the perimeter until Death deems it fit to open the gates once more.

High level meisters and their weapons are the only ones allowed to leave the main city. They’re tasked to make rounds and take evil souls they encounter along their way. Sehun heard that these teams have killed almost a dozen evil souls by now and the numbers are gradually decreasing. This is considered good news for this means it’s safe to wander out again.

The cons: Sehun is bored. It took him only a month to recover which is a good thing. Luhan’s old friend, Chanyeol, is his therapist and even if he’s good in treating Sehun’s shoulder and whipping him up into shape so fast, Sehun still isn’t allowed to do anything. He and Luhan have been training again, the meditation and the yoga sessions more frequent than the actual combat training, but it’s different compared to what Sehun actually feels on the field.

And it’s not like he has a field to actually get back to. It’s impossible to leave the city for now. Even Jongin, Tao and Kyungsoo weren’t allowed to leave as scheduled. It’s great that they’re all safe and Sehun has more visitors over at his hospital room while he was still confined to keep him company. But they’re all getting tiresome and agitated at being somewhat trapped.

He’s thankful that other teams are working hard and risking their lives out there to clear the area so that they can all go and continue on their missions. But Sehun is a bit miffed that other weapons are killing and taking his souls. He could be up to forty souls by now if he wasn’t stuck in here.

He’s getting better. Luhan sees to it that he’s getting better. He’s released from the hospital when Chanyeol saw he can walk around okay and can do things by himself. He can’t throw a good punch in his injured shoulder for now. But Chanyeol promised him that sparring with Luhan regularly yet also taking it easy will get his joints to move freely once again.

Things have changed and Sehun isn’t sure whether this kind of change is a good thing or a bad thing. For one, during trainings, he doesn’t land on his . He doesn’t get pinned down by Luhan so quickly. Whenever he falls, his meister always helps him up and encourages him to get back up again rather than make fun of him. It’s nice that Luhan’s a bit more gentle with him than usual. But it’s also kind of frustrating because Sehun feels like he’s so weak and he feels that this kind of treatment Luhan gives him is all out of pity.

One thing’s for sure. This kind of change isn’t something he’s used to.

They never talk about that night. Sehun doesn’t want to talk about it and Luhan doesn’t bring it up. They pretend as if that night didn’t happen and Sehun has forgotten all about it. Because it doesn’t seem to be happening again. So far, Luhan is still his meister. He doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere. He’s still training him and he’s still acting like a meister. Not someone else’s weapon.

Yixing never showed up in his hospital room after that night. Sehun would stare at the windows before going to bed, expecting him to drop by again. He wants to meet him. He wants to ask him why the sudden threat to protect Luhan and why does he even care. Luhan is his meister. Yixing has no claims to him.

Only that he’s reminded of that spontaneous link they shared and he always ends up closing the windows, locks it and regrets even thinking about wanting to meet Yixing. He doesn’t want him around. Sehun doesn’t need to be reminded that the link he shares with his meister is weak and that Luhan’s and Yixing’s is strong.

He sees him around though. Yixing is apparently a level three meister. His weapon is his cousin from back home and has already acquired all the necessary souls and her witch. She’s a scythe and is already under Death’s arms making Yixing free to do as he please. Yixing was called by the academy to help train young meisters and he accepted the job. Sehun knows all this because eavesdropping on nurses’ conversations helped him pass the time at the hospital.

Sehun sees Yixing walking around the academy’s grounds dressed in slacks and dress shirts with his glasses perched on his nose, test papers neatly tucked under his arms. He doesn’t look like he carries a dagger around or can lift Sehun up by his neck.

Sehun isn’t threatened by his presence. Yixing belongs at the academy. Sehun has already graduated. There is no other reason for their paths to cross. Just as long as Yixing and Luhan never encounter each other again, Sehun is fine with it.

Even with all that’s happening, the city still likes to pretend that everything is fine. The usual activities continue and one of them is the welcoming ceremony for the fresh new batch of meisters and weapons at the academy. It’s a big ceremony and every licensed team is invited to greet the newcomers and welcome them to their new lives.

Sehun arrives at the Grand Hall of the academy with Jongin and Tao. He left earlier than Luhan who was fast asleep on their couch, his nap taking an hour as usual than the fifteen minutes he always says. Sehun didn’t bother to wake him up. Luhan hates it when someone disrupts his sleep. And besides, he and Luhan aren’t on speaking terms unless they’re training. It’s childish what Sehun is doing. Ignoring him. But Sehun isn’t ready to make amends.

Jongin is struggling with the tie in his suit and Sehun reaches for him to help fix it.

“What is up with you?” Sehun asks, fixing Jongin’s collar too. “Why are you so fidgety?”

Tao smirks behind him, running his hand through his hair and touching the new stud he has on his ear that compliments his grey suit before putting his hand down on Sehun’s shoulder. “Let’s just say someone is putting up such an effort to make a certain head turn tonight.”

Sehun laughs as Jongin’s face immediately turns red.

“I just want to look good. Is that a crime to want to look good?” Jongin mutters back at them but Sehun and Tao only snicker by his side.

A welcoming ceremony is considered a huge occasion so naturally, the Grand Hall is filled with notable guests. Tonight, they spot a few distinguished teams such as the Jung Siblings and the legendary Maka with her own weapon scythe Soul Evans. Jongin and Sehun are back to ogling at these guests while Tao pinches them from behind every now and then to keep them from looking like a bunch of idiots.

The ceremony starts with a few introductions by the headmistress Kwon Boa and her weapon scythe Ahn Chil Hyun. Meisters are then ushered into a certain part of the hall, weapons to another side and the academy’s faculty in the other to greet the new students. Sehun spots Yixing among them looking very presentable as he exchanges a few pleasantries with his colleagues. Gone are the glasses and the boring professor shirts and slacks as he stands there in a well-tailored dark maroon suit. Sehun can’t look at him without wanting to do the things Yixing did to him back in his hospital room so he tears his gaze away from him and scans the crowd of meisters for Luhan instead.

His meister isn’t there and Sehun suspects he did oversleep or decided not to come. His meister isn’t the most sociable person and these things require them to mingle. But Sehun doubts Luhan would miss an important occasion such as this so he continues to scan the crowd for him.

Meanwhile, Jongin by his side is staring intensely at something along the same direction Sehun is staring at. He follows his friend’s gaze and sees Kyungsoo standing there, his black suit making his skin more pale than ever that it’s easy to spot him despite his small stature.

“Drool,” Tao sighs as he hands his handkerchief to Jongin. Sehun laughs, muffling the sound of his laughter behind the back of his hand as Jongin just blushes once more.

Someone stumbles beside Sehun and Tao that they both turn to see who it is. It’s Luhan looking a little breathless, his cheeks red from rushing all the way over in a hurry.

“What did I miss?” He pants, his words coming out in a rush as he buttons up the last two buttons on his collar while scanning the hall.

Luhan hasn’t missed much. The main events of the ceremony hasn't started yet. Everyone is just getting acquainted. But Sehun doesn’t get to tell him all that. He’s too busy looking at his meister. Luhan rarely dresses up and this is the first time Sehun has seen him wear something other than the usual state he’s in. He has seen Luhan in his pajamas, Luhan half- as he trudges towards the bathroom to shower, Luhan in shirts too big and in shorts too long, Luhan in jeans or sweats. He has never seen Luhan in a white suit with a gold accessory adorning his neck. He has never seen Luhan with his hair brushed back and his eyes lined with a black eye liner. Sehun squints at this. When has Luhan ever owned eye liner? Or a brush?

Luhan straightens up and catches Sehun’s stare that Sehun clears his throat and points to the group of meisters.

“You’re supposed to be over there,” He says. Luhan cranes his neck once more, spots Kyungsoo and nods.

“Right,” He says before he makes his way towards his section, Sehun’s eyes still not leaving him as he leaves.

Someone is laughing quietly beside him and Sehun turns to find that it’s Jongin with Tao fighting back a grin.

“What?” Sehun asks, quirking an eye at them.

“I see Jongin’s not the only one drooling,” Tao says, handing him his handkerchief too and Sehun scowls, shoving his friend’s handkerchief back while Jongin just shakes his head at him.

He was not drooling. He was just a little surprised to see another side of his meister that he hasn’t seen before. All dressed up like this. It’s very impressive actually for Luhan to look this presentable.

But really, he wasn’t drooling. Nor was his attention on Luhan the whole night as they stood side by side greeting seniors and students and guests. He was surprised to find Luhan mingling and introducing Sehun to every meister in the hall when he expected him to just stand there and pass the time quietly. But Luhan seems to know what he’s doing and how he’s presenting himself and his weapon.

Their little joke with the drool starts getting on his nerves when Jongin continues to . Because really, he’s fine. He didn’t feel like he was conscious of his actions the whole night or how every time Luhan places a hand on his arm to direct him to someone to greet, his skin tingled. Sehun blames it all on the cool night air.

But if there's one thing he has to admit about tonight, just one tiny little thing, is that Sehun does think his meister really does look attractive.

Just for tonight.