San took Yunho along to his morning training the next day. The first exercise was to jog from their dorm 20 minutes to Tenebra's headquarters. Yunho was down for that one, refreshed after lazily brushing his teeth with San by his side, both shirtless and ungraceful in their sweatpants.

Even so early, San was in a good mood and they laughed with each other as they struggled up the hill. Since Yunho hadn't brought a cap, San lent him one and the morning air was a welcome change of the usual pace.

They arrived and San immediately stretched his neck to greet Wooyoung, but the guide wasn't in yet. When he hung his head on the way downstairs, Yunho patted his back. He also had his fair share of crushes that never worked out, but he cheered on San.

Jongho was already there, training with an esper Yunho hadn't seen before. He had fiery red hair and countless piercings in his ears. The scowl on his features looked harmless until he suddenly exploded right upon entering the room.

Yunho's fearful yelp drowned in the rush of feet. Another man with long dark hair dashed fearlessly into the smoke, in his arms a bucket. A splash sounded, then a hiss.

Yunho ducked behind San, clutching to his shoulders in distress even as he patted Yunho's fingers to comfort him. When the smoke eased, the firecracker was still in one piece, now looking even more concentrated. He was soaked from head to toe and a heated puddle of water blubbered by his feet.

"Good. Do it again," Jongho instructed from the sidelines while the other male dashed away on long legs to get more water.

San didn't hesitate to approach his colleagues.

"Good morning," he chirped at them and received a smile back from the water carrier. He looked softer than the esper with him, likely his paired guide.

"Morning, San. You brought our newbie?"

With a pat on Yunho's shoulder, San tugged him to his side. Fidgeting and very abruptly cooled off by the explosion of heat within the building, Yunho only stared at the new esper, spooked.

"We are roommates now," San announced proudly. "Not the best timing to bring him in, eh?"

"I was actually hoping for them to train together," Jongho replied, and Yunho blanched impossibly more.

No way. He would be blown to bits.

Nonchalant about his mortal fears, Jongho beckoned to the redhair.

"This is Hongjoong, our bombshell on legs. And his guide, Seonghwa. Hongjoong is our second and last S-rank esper."

Though Yunho bowed to him politely and mumbled his name, his fingers clutched into each other for dear life.

"Uhm... I don't think I can train with S-ranks," he winced, sorry to disappoint their expectations.

But Jongho coolly shook his head.

"On the contrary. Hongjoong poses a very real and unpredictable danger to you, like demons do. But we can make sure nothing actually harms you. Let's try it out together and afterwards, you can see Yeosang."

Though Yunho liked to think he was supposed to see the doctor about his diagnosis, he wondered if he might need medical attention anyway while he was there.

"Okay, I'm in," Hongjoong grinned, and he looked so scary that Yunho wanted to tuck his tail in and run as fast as he could.

But the guide's smile was gentle and patient.

"Jongho and I will have an eye on you. You don't need to worry. Hongjoong just needs to be put out and cool off occasionally."

That sounded like a lot of work. Could he explode himself if he wasn't careful? Take out some demons but also end up in a million pieces?

The graphic image disturbed Yunho's mind, so he just nodded. He didn't want to disappoint Jongho.

While San wandered off to train after cheering on him, Yunho placed down his bag and joined the marked area together with the trio. A new bucket of water was at the ready.

"Your first exercise will be to hold on to Hongjoong while he counts down to his explosion. Just before he can hurt you, pull back. And no worries, you can only get a bit hot, but I am here to help." Jongho wriggled his guide fingers in the air. Yunho gulped heavily. His eyes were trained on the small body clad in black, looking like a tiger ready to pounce.

"Trust us and try it. You want to learn the timing of attacks so you can pull away just before you get hurt."

Yunho gathered himself. He clenched and unclenched his hands a few times and shook out his shoulders to concentrate. Hongjoong's blazing eyes awaited him.

It was difficult to hold on to Hongjoong because he was full of unbridled power, much stronger than Yunho. If he strained even slightly, Yunho threatened to slip right off.

But they held carefully still. Hongjoong tried to twitch his fingers and couldn't move.

"Since an esper's powers come from inside, they can be used even when influenced like this. A demon shouldn't be able to hurt you, though. So, now Hongjoong tries to break free," Jongho instructed and Seonghwa ducked, at the ready with his bucket.

Yunho could feel the heat boiling under Hongjoong's skin. Overwhelming and scary, building higher and higher until it was like a balloon about to burst. Yunho wavered, about to pull back, when Hongjoong brought out a 'five.'

"Four," Jongho helped while the heat kept building.

"Three," Seonghwa breathed and Yunho stubbornly held onto him with his heart in his throat. If this was a demon, this moment saved him from getting sliced apart. Once he waned, he was dead, so he needed to wait for the attack that would take out the enemy.

But what if he got hurt?

"Two," he heard as if through a thick fog as his fears spun around him.

Seonghwa dashed from his side and just when the heat started to flare, Yunho snapped back from Hongjoong.

The explosion blew hot wind into his face and he ducked away, but it wasn't massive as before. Just to be safe, Seonghwa poured his water over him and caressed his hand over Hongjoong's cheek.

"Well done. You are getting better at sticking to your timings, love," he told him, and Yunho's legs trembled so badly he had to sit down.

Jongho came over to his side to evaluate his condition.

"Are you hurt?"

When Yunho mutely shook his head, a gummy grin of triumph snuck onto Jongho's lips.

"As I thought. If you can hold on to your enemy for five seconds, your guide can rush in and kill it. If you know their timing well, you can snap away without ever getting hurt."

In shock but also awed, Yunho listened to him. Anything but pain, please.

"Granted, Hongjoong didn't fight back against you, but we can train that as well. You can learn the tells as the beasts try to break free and you can count on the rest of the team to help you. If you could expand that skill, you can definitely protect a lot of people at once."

Hongjoong pushed back his wet hair. His guide regarded Yunho full of pity, but they waited until Jongho turned their way.

"Let's set up a training plan with Yunho, so Hongjoong can work on his endurance and Yunho gets to trust in his timing and teammates."

Things worked differently here than in Auresce. There was no communication there, no warning when they shot. Yunho still suffered the phantom pain of that day.

But Hongjoong's nod was confident.

If they could make this work...

Jongho offered him his hand.

"Here, sorry for startling you. Would you like to take a rest for today?"

"I'm fine," Yunho squawked when he got to his feet. When Jongho noticed his tremor, he nodded at the other end of the gymnasium.

"Go do some regular exercises, then; we'll continue next time. Nothing will happen, I promise. He doesn't explode if he gets put out on time."

It was easier to trust them since they knew each other. When Yunho nodded, he wanted to learn.

He trudged off, once more incredibly alive from his adrenaline. He pumped some weights at record speeds and didn't hear anything through the rush of his blood for a long time.

When he calmed after wearing himself out, he realised this wasn't so bad. There was proper training for him, a thought behind pairing him with Hongjoong instead of San. Yunho wanted to get to know him and how living with that power worked. Maybe they could have a chat sometime.

A familiar name dropped from a few men running together on the treadmills nearby. Yunho pricked his ears since he hadn't seen Mingi around and wondered if he had left to do something special. Their encounters still made him bashful to think back on.

One of the guys was giggling to the other, deep in their story.

"I saw him guiding an A-rank yesterday. Fuck, that was so hot."

An abrupt blush took over Yunho's ears, and he ducked behind his bench, pretending to tie his shoe.

He knew exactly what they meant; he also walked in on it before. But Mingi...

San said Mingi was special in that regard.

"You mean even he can get all hot and bothered?" The other dude giggled back and their raunchy voices were a tad too mean to be in awe with their boss. Yunho supposed he was biased since Mingi saved his life, but he couldn't help his frown. This was exactly the issue he saw with guides and the abuse they would go through.

"My only aspiration to become S-class is so I can have him suck my dick."

Their cackles drowned in Yunho's rage that bubbled so explosively as if he were back in Hongjoong's body. He clenched pale hands into fists and forced himself to calm down.

When he thought back to how Lux talked to Bora, he wanted to throw up. Disgusting espers and their lack of respect. Mingi might be their boss, but he was no more but an object to them. Something to use and feel better and throw away.

Yunho would rather never ever get guiding and be high on pain killers all the time.

Before they could go into an obscene detail about Mingi's lips, Yunho jumped up from his bench. He strode over on long steps, never so determined, especially without his glasses.

He used his height to his advantage when he loomed behind the two low-ranking espers. When they noticed him, one threw him a look that was well aware of their disgusting comments.

"Hey, you guys wanna play a game?" Yunho asked, not ready to make enemies, but he wanted them to shut up.

They slowed to a walk and looked Yunho up and down, estimating what he could offer them.

But alas, Tenebra was more communal than Auresce. So they stepped from their treadmills and picked up their water bottles.

"You're the new guy, huh? Sure, show us what you got."

Relieved, Yunho found a ball with them to catch a lazy round of football to calm all of them down. Soon, the comments turned into laughter and casual getting to know each other. Apparently, those two were good with barriers and weapons, so Yunho accepted their invitation to spar with them sometime later.

Though he couldn't save Mingi from the general thoughts people had about him, Yunho felt better defending guides against the sexual harassment, even behind their backs. He wasn't morally superior, by far not. But he was so uncomfortable on their behalf, it might as well have been him they snickered about.

At least his fear was battled down by this distraction. Yunho had fun playing, and those two weren't so bad. Mingi seemed to have a certain reputation in the centre, though. Did he know what they said about him?

Yunho was relieved he didn't have to put up with guiding. Even more so now.

After they finished their game, the two left and Yunho found back to San, who grinned up at him from the chair he was sprawled out on.

"Leaving already?"

"To see Yeosang, yes. Want me to send Wooyoung down if I see him?" Yunho asked, and San beamed at him through his sweaty hair.

"You're an angel, but no thanks. He will scold me if I bother him at work. See you later at home? We could go out to eat. I wanted to invite Hongjoong and Seonghwa; they live in the same building."

"I would love that," Yunho grinned back, and it was a deal. After saying his goodbyes to his trainer, Yunho left after a first successful training session of meeting new people and new tricks for his powers.