Ready or not, some conversations just weren’t that simple. As soon as Taekwoon found Jinki after visiting the Healing Hall, sufficiently bandaged up to look like he’d been in a fight again, he knew things were off to a bit of a bumpy start.

            “Again with the injuries!” Jinki sighed semi-dramatically, though he had earned such a reaction.

            Too keyed up to be daunted by the outburst, Taekwoon confidently pointed at his other half and stated, “I can explain.” This time, it was undeniably true. There was no reason to hold back and he had every reason not to.

            “Okay,” Jinki nodded with a breath. He extended his hand and offered a tentative smile before adding, “I would like that.”

            Taekwoon smiled back and accepted the gesture, wrapping his fingers around Jinki’s hand firmly. There was an unspoken consensus that they should talk in private, away from prying ears and public eyes. Not surprisingly, they drifted to the room Taekwoon was staying in. It made the dragonrider a bit uneasy that Jinki chose the chair and not the bed. Fortunately, or so he hoped, he knew his other half well enough to know it was probably intentional. If he sat next to Taekwoon, he was just as likely to try and comfort him if things got particularly difficult as they sometimes did. And that… was often an excuse for Taekwoon to stop talking at length.

            “So?” Jinki prompted, gesturing his hand up and down at Taekwoon’s seated person. He was obviously worried, if the look in his eyes was any indication.

            Taking a deep breath, Taekwoon sat up and rubbed his suddenly sweaty palms on the tops of his thighs. “Alright. Just…” he trailed off, holding one hand up to forestall any questions from his other half. “Let me talk first and then you can ask any questions you might have,” he explained, biting on his bottom lip nervously.

            Jinki nodded slowly. “Sure, but I have something I need to say too.”

            “Okay,” Taekwoon nodded in understanding, his stomach coiling into a ball of nerves.

            In order for everything to make sense and to keep things organized, Taekwoon went back to the beginning. He reiterated his strange bond with Jonghyun, as well as the rather backwards aspect of their Symbiosis. Explaining the tension wasn’t difficult either, nor was adding Gain’s insights. He was intrigued by the curious response he saw from Jinki when he mentioned the Paramour’s advice, but he pushed it aside for the moment and continued on.

            It was challenging dragging his personal guilt and uncertainty into the open and trying to explain why he did or didn’t do certain things. But he could tell that Jinki seemed to think similar thoughts about a couple points – they both had been busy and it was easier not trying to talk about the big topics sometimes. Going into detail about his special training wasn’t actually as hard as he thought it might be, but again, he was curious about another quickly subdued reaction from Jinki. What had his other half been up to when they were apart?

            On the other hand, working with Gain had helped to balance him as a person with more of a dragon inside than usual and it was obvious they were both relieved by the probability that his draconic tendencies were under control now. Which led to the explanation of why and how he was injured now.

            When he was finished, Jinki just stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes. He raised his hand and opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out on the first attempt, much to Taekwoon’s surprised amusement. Then he tried again. “You beat your dragon as a dragon in Trance?”

            “Yes,” the dragonrider answered simply, though he had to force his fingers to let go of his pant legs.

            “That’s…” he frowned thoughtfully, obviously trying to think about how to respond.

            “Not normal,” Taekwoon supplied for him. “But it worked. We’ve finally come to an understanding,” he exhaled in relief.

            Jinki laughed and shook his head. “Nothing about your becoming a dragonrider has been predictable, Woonie.”

            “Except having a dragon,” he offered with a hesitant shrug.

            “Sort of,” the other man snorted, and Taekwoon had to nod in reluctant agreement. “But I get it. I finally understand what’s been going on but…” Now the dragonrider winced preemptively. “Why couldn’t you explain any of this while it was happening?”

            Taekwoon wrinkled his nose and let his head sag between his shoulders. “I thought I had good reasons at the time. They don’t feel that way anymore,” he admitted heavily, glancing up from the fall of his black bangs.

            “Like?” Jinki pressed gently, hands open expectantly.

            Of course he’d want more than that. “I was trying to protect you,” he started, flinching from the snort he got in response. But he raised his hand to stall any words, not looking up yet, and continued, “I was also embarrassed about a lot of things.”

            “Woonie…” he heard quietly, but no further words interrupted him.

            “And I was scared to tell you some things because I knew you’d worry. And there were times I didn’t have whole answers to give, so it was better to not say anything,” he stated, rolling his eyes at how ridiculous that one sounded. The silence went on between them longer than he was comfortable with so he finally looked up to see his other half looking slightly guilty and emotional himself. “Jinki?” he asked softly, fighting the impulse to go to him.

            “To be honest, I was scared a lot too,” he started, gripping his pants tight in tense fists. “Scared for you always getting hurt. But scared for me too,” he admitted, swallowing hard as he glanced up at the dragonrider. “Scared that I might lose you for good or… to your dragons,” he cringed, looking away in shame.

            “But-” Taekwoon started to say before Jinki cut him off.

            “I know, I know. They’re different,” he laughed once, nodding in acceptance. “Gain has a way with explaining things you don’t always want to hear,” he added with a partial eye roll. That made Taekwoon chuckle. He knew her words well. “It’s just that things started changing so fast and I don’t think that either of us really knew what to do or how to handle it all,” he admitted with a heavy sigh.

            “I can’t argue with that,” Taekwoon agreed with wide eyes and an equally heavy breath.

            “Woonie,” Jinki murmured, looking up to meet the dragonrider’s eyes intently. “I’m sorry that things got so… weird between us.”

            “Me too,” Taekwoon offered quickly.

            “But for the love of Bahamut,” Jinki laughed once, his tone almost begging. “Please stop shutting me out. I know I was in the wrong too, but I just need to be on the same page as you. Okay?” he asked plaintively, voice high and expression tight.

            “My heart,” Taekwoon sighed, the desperate plea breaking him. “I’ll stop,” he promised quietly, bowing his head resting his elbows on his knees. “Jonghyun reminded me that I need to stop being afraid of… this and to trust you,” he admitted, looking up with troubled, watery eyes. “With everything.”

            Jinki laughed once and took another breath. “Sounds like your dragon has a good head on his shoulders,” he swallowed, his lips. “Relatively speaking,” he amended when the imagery of that comment caught up to him. It made Taekwoon chuckle softly.

            “He does,” he agreed instead. “He also mentioned Jongup would like to see you more.” At the confused look he got, Taekwoon winced and had to explain. “He sort of mentioned that you and Jongup are… connected. Not bound like me and Jonghyun,” he added immediately, seeing the hint of alarm on the other man’s face. “He said it was more a matter of feelings.”

            “How?” he started to ask before a thought occurred to him. “Oh. The High Priest mentioned something about that, didn’t he? Since Jongup was still in the binding Trance when Jonghyun pulled me in.”

            “I think so,” Taekwoon nodded as he threaded his fingers together. “It doesn’t mean you’re a rider. Jongup just likes you, I believe.”

            Jinki exhaled with a soft smile, relief obvious. “I thought I’d been feeling something around him,” he admitted slowly, shrugging at the new confirmation. “At least I can say I kind of like him too, if I’m being honest.”

            “I’m glad to hear that,” the dragonrider murmured, remaining seated on the bed even though he wanted to go over and hold Jinki. But he was also trying really hard to give him space right now too. “So. Anything else you’d like to say or questions you’d like to ask?”

            “Oh. I hadn’t really thought about it,” he responded with a perplexed frown. “I guess… what happens now would be a good one?”

            “Normal dragonrider training I imagine. Dongwan said he wants me to start flying tomorrow, so I figure I’ll probably be joining the Battalion soon,” he murmured, hands gesturing open helplessly. He stiffened just a bit when he heard Jinki gasp. “What?” he asked, watching his other half intently.

            “It’s nothing,” Jinki tried to assure him with a forced smile. But he couldn’t maintain it under the unwavering gaze. “I can’t say much because it’s Aerie Master business,” he prefaced his explanation first. “But I’m just worried because, as you told me before you became a dragonrider, bronzes are on the front lines. They’re damage soaks and if you’re sent out with a wing, that’s where you’ll be too.” He grabbed his shoulder across his chest and looked down, clearly upset.

            “Do you think there will be fighting soon then?” Taekwoon asked, unable to sit there while his other half looked this distressed. He got up and closed the distance to kneel in front of him, taking the free hand in his.

            Jinki inhaled and grabbed the hands holding his hard. “It’s possible,” he murmured, looking at Taekwoon with shimmering eyes. “The two wings that were sent to the Kinshire coast haven’t returned yet. We won’t know much more until the scouts come back at least.”

            Taekwoon felt that Jinki wasn’t telling him everything. It seemed as if information was missing or that there was something the other wanted to say, but he did not press him this time. He’d already explained he couldn’t say everything, but admittedly, Taekwoon felt quite out of the loop. That was mostly his own fault. He hadn’t been focusing on much beyond his own problems and that was to his own detriment.

            “I’m sorry,” he apologized, holding Jinki’s hand supportively. “Maybe… you can remind me of the information you can say,” he suggested, brow slightly furrowed. “I admit that I haven’t been as aware of what’s going on in the Aerie of late.” He winced apologetically but continued to look at Jinki’s face.

            “You do have a knack for cave vision some days” Jinki admitted softly with a bemused nod. “Okay. This is the general news in the Aerie of late,” he started, taking a breath to collect himself.

            Still kneeling, Taekwoon listened intently, feeling unabashedly guilty about what he had missed, even if he’d heard snippets here and there. Jongin’s return and the rumors around it, which Jinki couldn’t confirm or deny. The missing two wings that had been sent to the Kinshire coast. The failed contact mission sent to seek out the rogue or unknown dragons to the east. Another wing being sent with Yunho leading to try again. Two scouts – Hyoyeon and Jongin being sent to gather info about the missing wings in the north.

            “It seems like there’s a lot going on lately,” Taekwoon murmured, a hint of tension in his tone.

            “And you’re going to be right in the middle of it soon,” Jinki sighed in pained resignation. He traced his fingertips against Taekwoon’s temple, moving back until he cupped his head tenderly.

            Taekwoon raised Jinki’s other fingertips to his lips and kissed them softly. “That is true, but now… I will finally be able to help keep everyone safe. Keep you safe,” he whispered, staring into mocha depths.

            “Except you,” Jinki laughed once, the sound slightly bitter. “You’re very good at getting hurt, you know?” His voice wavered but he couldn’t help looking at Taekwoon’s torso where he already bore numerous scars.

            Now the dragonrider reached up to cup Jinki’s cheek with his right hand. “My heart. I have a very good reason not to get hurt. Anymore,” he amended with an accepting shrug and a crooked smile.

            “I’ll believe it when I see it,” the other man answered with as straight a face as he could manage. It didn’t last long before he laughed at himself again with a shake of his head. “I’m clumsy and you’re remarkably accident prone as a rider.”

            “Eh… it’s all part of the learning process,” Taekwoon explained with a wrinkled nose.

            “You sure?” he asked, shifting his hands to gently grasp Taekwoon’s head between them, leaning forward to press their foreheads together.

            The dragonrider covered Jinki’s hand with his and promised, “I am now.” He rubbed his thumbs against the backs of the other man’s hands and summoned a brave smile.

            “Good,” Jinki almost seemed to sigh in relief, his eyes closing briefly.

            “Jinki?” Taekwoon asked into the resultant silence, the name soft and hardly more than a whisper.

            “Hmm?” he hummed without looking up.

            “Will you stay with me tonight?” he whispered back. Dark eyes opened to meet his. “I just… I don’t want to be without you anymore,” he admitted, biting his bottom lip uncertainly. Being so vulnerable was not his strong point.

            “We’ll see,” Jinki answered after a long pause, lifting his head to kiss Taekwoon’s forehead. “You’ve given me a lot to think about today. But I have missed you too,” he added, shifting to rest their foreheads together once more, thumbs Taekwoon’s cheeks.

            It was not what he wanted to hear, but it was… acceptable. He – technically they – had let time create this distance between them and it made sense if they couldn’t fix it in a day, though he didn’t like it. “Okay,” he accepted softly, turning his head to kiss the inside of Jinki’s wrist. A relieved and grateful breath escaped him when the other man leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Taekwoon’s head to pull him against his chest.

            “Foolish man,” Jinki murmured, his cheek resting against the top of Taekwoon’s head.

            Taekwoon chuckled softly, mutely agreeing. He was more than content just to enjoy the time Jinki was willing to share with him, but as much as either of them might have wanted, they couldn’t stay there forever. The Aerie called and really, there was still much Taekwoon had to do to make sure he’d be ready to start on the morrow. Jinki too had tasks he needed to attend to and so, for now, they went their separate ways. But they did promise to meet for supper and to return to the library to dig into more information about the mural in the Aerie Master’s office. It seemed they were both looking forward to that, for more than one reason now.

            But the dragonrider still had to report to Gain to let her know of how the duel went. She was pleased and proud and looked forward to seeing how they might work together now. He also had to check in with Combat Master Seunghyun, since he had missed two training sessions so far. The taller man was hard to read but he seemed understanding of the situation. Though he did order Taekwoon to return within the next sevenday, after his newest injuries had mostly healed, to duel in earnest now that everything between him and his dragon seemed to be settled. Taekwoon was not looking forward to that encounter…

            He had missing class information to get caught up on as well, seeing as he’d missed a couple days from them as well. And one of the last things he had to make sure he did was to speak with Aerie Master Satoru. It made sense that the Aerie Master needed to know about most of the details in the Aerie at any given time, but Taekwoon had misgivings about it if only because he knew that the High Priest would be told about them the next time he was in attendance. Or by message. Either way, the dragonrider did not like that idea. He still had no good reason for it, but he was learning to trust his gut and it told him something wasn’t quite right.

            As usual though, he had no way to gain any more insight on the matter so he pushed it out of mind and dutifully reported to Satoru what had been transpiring. “I am pleased to hear of your progress, Taekwoon,” he smiled, apparently genuinely happy about that.

            “Thank you, sir,” Taekwoon bowed slightly from where he sat.

            “I’ve spoken with Dragon Master Dongwan and he explained you’ll be joining training for the Battalion on the morrow,” he murmured, obviously checking to see if the younger man had been brought up to speed.

            “Oh,” he blinked in surprise. “I knew I was to be training. I hadn’t realized it would be with the Battalion yet,” he admitted, feeling nerves coil in his belly. It was good tension but it still made him nervous.

            “Ah. Perhaps he should have been the one to deliver the news,” Satoru shrugged, the hint of an apology. “Normally, you would be given more time to train with your dragon, but as you may have heard, our numbers are not what they should be. You will be joining a wing as well. The Commander has chosen one for you.” He frowned as he glanced down at a scrap of paper, apparently puzzling out the handwriting. “You’ll be reporting to Dongwan in the morning, but in your wing, you’ll be under the leadership of Insoo Kang. You’ve probably seen him around, yes?” he questioned, glancing up for confirmation.

            “Yes, sir,” Taekwoon nodded slowly. He was familiar with all the dragons and riders in the Aerie, though he wouldn’t exactly say they were all friends. On the other hand, while he wasn’t close with Insoo, he had no problem with the slightly older man. He generally had a pretty easy going nature and a knack for diffusing the occasional heated discussion.

            “Good.” Satoru glanced back down, eyes scanning the writing further, but he didn’t say anything else.

            “Sir?” he had to ask, waiting for the Aerie Master to look up. “Might I know the other members of the wing? Just to be prepared,” he reasoned, wanting to make sure he knew who he was going to be working with.

            Satoru gave a slow but understanding smile and he nodded. “Of course. Your wingmates will be Jinyoung Park, Jungkook Jeon, Wooyoung Jang, and Taeyeon Kim. Are they familiar as well?” he prompted, one brow raised curiously.

            “Yes, sir. Thank you,” he murmured appreciatively, ducking his head. They were familiar and he was glad for it. None of them were of the older generation and from what he’d heard, they didn’t tend to be hard to get along with. By all accounts, Jinyoung and Jungkook were pretty easygoing actually. He wasn’t sure how that would translate to working together, but he wasn’t going to argue with the Commander’s choice. He’d make it work regardless.

            “Of course,” Satoru smiled, rolling the slip of paper back up and putting it away. “And with that, you are free to go, young one,” he chuckled, shooing his hand at the dragonrider in amusement.

            Taekwoon laughed softly and got up, eager to be off. It meant he could find Jinki and they could get a bite to eat, fend off the likeable vultures who would be demanding more information from them, and then continue their library search. Their first search hadn’t turned up much in general. Just the usual facts about the history of the Aerie and pretty standard information. They had at least asked Jolin about it and she said she would take a look and see what she might be able to find. His fingers were crossed she’d had better luck than them.

            Even though Taekwoon was a dragonrider and probably should have been sitting with the other dragonriders, he hadn’t been training with them yet so he didn’t feel particularly bad when he went to his usual position among the Aerie residents and staff. As expected, he was bombarded with questions, mostly from Sanghyuk and Joy who seemed determined to outdo the other in terms of sheer number of questions asked. But Wonshik had to chime in, not unexpectedly, followed by comments from Amber, actually in attendance today. So was Jimin too, for that matter. And Himchan, though Taekwoon had the feeling his presence was partially professional. After all, Taekwoon’s situation was hardly standard.

            Bahamut bless Jinki though. The man had a way of steering the conversation when he needed to and pulling difficult questions from Taekwoon. He was also beautifully adept at noticing when they were difficult questions for him… though that could have just been because he knew him very well. It was hard enough to be open and honest with Jinki, much less with entirely too loud and energetic friends in an entirely too open public space.

            “Oh come on. We all know you’ve spent the last moon visiting the Paramours’ quarters, but no one will tell us why,” Wonshik complained, pointing at Taekwoon as if he expected the dragonrider to answer. He did not. In fact, he was having a hard enough time not flushing scarlet at the implications. “Especially not the Paramours,” he added with a sly wink, earning a smack in the back of the head from Amber.

            “Which you would know because you do visit them,” she scoffed, giving her friend a long suffering side long look.

            “What? It’s what they’re there for, if they choose,” he shrugged, rubbing the back of his head gently.

            “True, but we all know Taekwoon is definitely not like you, Wonshik,” Sanghyuk laughed, leaning back when the other man pulled his hand back like he was going to hit him.

            “Yeah, yeah,” the orange haired individual waved, composing himself quickly as his smile turned mischievous. “Still. I know he wasn’t visiting Hyosung and I have it on very good authority he wasn’t visiting Heechul either. Which means you had to be seeing-”

            “Gain!” the rest of the group whispered in quiet excitement, making Taekwoon blink and try to shrink in his seat.

            “You were with a dragon?!” Joy asked in wide eyed awe.

            “Guys,” Jinki interrupted them with a nonplussed look and a raised brow. As a group, everyone seemed to remember who else was present and they immediately looked in every direction but his. “If you must know,” he started with a quick glance at Taekwoon. “He was undergoing special training. And no,” he stated firmly with his hand in the air. “Not that kind, so get your heads out of the brothel,” he mock scowled, both reprimanding their loose tongues but also easing the tension.

            “But,” Wonshik couldn’t quite let it go. “Taekwoon. Gain. Paramour quarters,” he gestured between the rider and the mentioned but absent dragon.

            “It had to do with my Symbiosis,” Taekwoon finally offered, officially done eating whether he wanted to be or not. “Being a formerly bound dragon, she had valuable insight I needed,” he explained simply.

            “That’s right,” Himchan spoke up and leaned forward. “She has experienced Symbiosis before. And no longer being bound, she would also have greater freedom to… explain it?” he offered hesitantly, clearly missing information but trying.

            “Exactly,” Jinki agreed with a firm nod. “But really, what you should be more interested in is that Taekwoon will start training with his dragon on the morrow.”

            “Good luck,” Jimin finally spoke up with an encouraging nod. “After last time, I would think you might be a bit nervous?”

            Now that was a half-question he could handle. “No,” he grinned, feeling a pleased hum inside from his dragon. “I think we’re good now.” And with that, the conversation veered in a much more manageable direction. He was still a bit cagey about how fully he answered some questions, as he didn’t quite know what was public knowledge yet and they’d find out soon enough anyway. But his friends were at least moderately satisfied by the time he and Jinki headed for the library.

            Per Jolin, she hadn’t found much herself, being busy with her usual classes and such, but she had located a couple older tomes that might have some useful information in them. “But you have to be careful because they are old and they haven’t been transcribed in a while,” she warned with a slightly confused look. “I might need to get someone on that soon…” she added, still a little put off by the realization.

            “Thank you, Master Jolin,” Jinki grinned, gingerly accepting the three tomes and absconding with them to a more private room in the back. Taekwoon followed along easily with a curious glance at Jolin. He found it odd that she hadn’t retrieved them for transcribing and even more so that she had apparently forgotten or lost track of them. It just didn’t seem like her. It felt... off.

            But he didn’t have time to worry about it now since Jinki immediately gave him one to start poring over. Jolin was right though. The pages were old and brittle, almost breaking under their fingers despite their care. As a result, it was also very slow going, but almost immediately, they noticed tidbits of interesting things. Nothing outright, and certainly nothing particularly easy, what with it being written in an old tongue manner – some of the words were very strange – but one of the books mentioned magic.

            “Like, actual magic?” Taekwoon wondered, noticing the word for ‘spell’ about something. But it was hard to read. And not just because of the words, but also because the pages sometimes seemed to blur and he definitely got a headache pretty early on.

            “Maybe?” Jinki hummed, apparently dealing with some of the same problems if the grimace on his face was any indication.

            After nearly a mark of trying, Taekwoon sighed, “I hate to say it. But maybe we need to try this with fresh eyes next time.”

            Pushing away and rubbing his eyes with both hands, Jinki groaned. “I think you might be right. This is worse than trying to read first year students’ writing.”

            Taekwoon chuckled at the response but could only nod in agreement. It was strangely difficult and that also felt a bit off to him. Especially because this was a first and it happened to be with tomes that Jolin hadn’t remembered to transcribe and that had such unusual comments in them already. “Why don’t we just keep them back here for now and come back when we have more time?” he suggested, carefully closing his book with a final glance at the page he was on.

            “No arguments there,” Jinki exhaled, doing the same thing before he stood up stiffly. “Feels like it’s been a long day anyway.”

            “You’re telling me,” Taekwoon laughed through his nose as he moved closer and placed a tentative hand against Jinki’s lower back.

            “Right. You did have that little duel this morning, didn’t you?” he asked, looking over his shoulder with a smile and partially narrowed eyes. But he didn’t move and he didn’t push Taekwoon away either.

            “I wouldn’t say it was a little duel. We were both dragons after all,” he added with a nonchalant shrug.

            “Uh huh,” Jinki’s smile widened and he turned around so he could ease his arms loosely behind Taekwoon’s neck. “And you said you’re a bronze dragon?” he asked.

            “Yes, I am. Jonghyun’s a little bigger than me though,” he had to clarify as he placed his hands on Jinki’s waist.

            “Is that so?” he chuckled. At Taekwoon’s nod, his expression turned intrigued. “What color dragon do you think I’d be?”

            Taekwoon looked at him with thoughtfully narrowed eyes for just a moment before he answered, “Silver.”

            “What?” he scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “I am nothing like Bahamut or Hero,” he added, caught between thinking Taekwoon was joking or actually being serious. When the dragonrider just continued to look at him without laughing or changing his choice, Jinki had to ask. “Why?”

            “Because you know how to lead. You want to be an Aerie Master after all. And you know when to take charge if you have to,” he added, stepping forward to rest their foreheads together. “Not to mention you probably don’t have the agility for a white, the energy for a blue or a red, or the stamina for bronze or copper,” he teased with a playful wink.

            “Ugh,” Jinki grumbled, wrinkling his nose at the taller man. “You’re terrible.”

            “You know I’m right,” he smiled in gentle amusement.

            “That’s why you’re terrible,” Jinki retorted with a roll of his eyes. “A normal person wouldn’t have actually said it out loud. Jerk,” he added, very lightly smacking the back of Taekwoon’s head with his hand.

            It made Taekwoon laugh. “Sorry.”

            “No you’re not,” Jinki laughed under his breath, fingers carding through Taekwoon’s hair slowly. He looked up into the taller man’s eyes and took a small breath. “It’s getting late though. We should probably think about turning in for the night.”

            “Yeah,” Taekwoon agreed, though he made no effort to move yet. “Tomorrow will probably be a pretty big day.”

            “Probably,” Jinki nodded. He his lips and took another small breath before he turned his face up and gave Taekwoon a chaste kiss on the lips before stepping back. His hands trailed down the other man’s arms until their fingers caught. “Good night, Taekwoon. See you tomorrow,” he murmured wistfully, freeing one hand.

            Taekwoon held the other though. “Not tonight?”

            “Not tonight,” Jinki echoed, shaking his head. “Not yet.”

            That hurt. But Taekwoon didn’t let it show. Instead, he pulled Jinki’s hand up while he bowed and kissed the back of his fingers. “Tomorrow then, my heart.” Jinki smiled again and nodded. This time when he pulled away, Taekwoon let him, albeit reluctantly. When he was gone, Taekwoon groaned and scrubbed his face with both hands.

            He was pleasantly surprised when he felt a question thread come through. Okay?

            Taekwoon smiled and laughed once, nodding to himself. Yes. Mate.

            Ah.

            Yep. It was much easier to be on the way to breaking things as opposed to fixing things. Granted, he couldn’t complain. They were talking again. And getting close. And spending time together. They just weren’t sharing the same bed again. Yet. Soon? Hopefully. He just knew that he slept better when Jinki was in his arms. Exhaustion worked wonders as a temporary binding, but it was no real substitute.

            “Bahamut give me strength,” he prayed once more before he took himself back to his room, alone, so he could try to get some rest for whatever happened on the morrow.

(a/n: Had to overhaul their conversation in the beginning but I like how it turned out the second time around. lol Now we've got them back on the path towards being together and there's a hint of magic in the air - literally if the book is to be believed. Hmm. Now why would there be mysterious books hiding in the library? hehe We'll get to them. ;) Just hang tight! As always, thank you for reading and I hope you're looking forward to the next update!)