The morning began with an argument in P'Zee's office, where they had been summoned.  Zee was furious and wouldn't even let them sit down.  Gun and the others tried in vain to smooth things over.  Gemini, listening to this, completely lost his appetite.  Fourth fiddled with his hands nervously, twisting his fingers and picking at the skin on top.  Gem noticed this and discreetly placed his hand on his back, as if telling him that he was right next to him and not to worry.

“Come on, Zee.  We are the Knights of the Light, and they will soon be too.  They have to be prepared for everything, for every threat and every eventuality.” Gun walked over to Zee and explained to him what had happened in the last two days when their head of department was away.

“I know that.  Fourth, can you tell me where you spent the last two nights?”

Fourth was so surprised by this unexpected question that he was speechless.  All he could do was stare blankly at Zee and blink his eyes.

“I've assigned each of you a more experienced partner, haven't I?”

He was answered by a few grunts and nods.

“Then why do you change rooms as you like? I thought my order was clear to everyone.  Is it really that hard for you to do such a simple task?  I have assigned you the more experienced Knights of the Light so that you can learn from them, but also to keep you completely safe.  I ask again, where have you been the last two nights?”

Fourth was unable to answer.  Gemini gave him a worried look, then answered himself.

“Fourth was with me.  He had nightmares.  We were supposed to go to the boss and ask the boss to let us move in together, but P'Zee, you weren't here, how were we supposed to ask you?”

“So you figured Fourth could just disappear from his apartment? If Tay hadn't told me that and if Gun didn't saw you two together and Gun found the bed empty, what do you think would have happened?

Fourth shook his head.

“You don't know, do you?”

Zee stared at him, drilling a hole in his stomach.  For the first time, Fourth got really scared of P'Zee.

“Boss, stop it, the boys haven't done anything wrong, why are you so upset?” NuNew chimed in, hoping that if he spoke, Zee would leave them alone, after all, their relationship had become much closer and warmer recently.  He miscalculated.  Zee stayed as cool as an icicle in the Arctic.  And they knew it had to be.  They understood him, and that made them feel even more guilty.  He carried on his shoulders the responsibility for the entire Institute, for each Knight of Light, for all students.  No wonder he was pissed off by their nightly escapade the night before, even if both missions had been successful and risky.

“New, I was very disappointed in you too.  How could you allow inexperienced and not fully trained candidates to take part in such a dangerous task?”

“It wasn't that dangerous, and we had a plan.”

“It wasn't, because you fought demons of the lowest order!  They were the least dangerous ones! But what if they were stronger?! Did you even think about that? You almost didn't knew what you were fighting against!”

“Oh no, Zee, you've gone too far now.” Max interjected, placing a hand on Zee's shoulder.  “They did great, you have to admit that.  Don't you remember how old you were at their age?  Don't you remember the two of us fighting the powers of darkness alone?  And we were as inexperienced as they are now back then.”

“That's not the point. I'm the boss here, I'm responsible for everything.”

“No, Zee, seriously, leave them alone.  They did everything perfectly.  They had a plan, they were prepared, Tay, Gun and Mix knew everything and if anything bothered them, they wouldn't let it happen.”

Zee sighed heavily, resting his heavy head on his hands.  He felt physically and mentally exhausted.  He had had enough.  He wanted to stop being the boss for one day.  What Alexander had warned him about was still ringing in his ears.  One statement stuck with him: "Don't keep them in cages at the Institute, because then they'll rebel against you, and instead of getting skilled and trained Shadowhunters, you'll make more enemies.  Let them return to their world, even if only for a moment.  There's a lot of pressure on them right now.  If they are to remain strong and invincible, you must trust them."

Trust...

Trust inexperienced teenagers who were lucky enough to run into relatively harmless demons only by chance?  But he had no other choice.

“Okay, I'll give you a week off. And in fact, we talked about Fourth and his guardian should share an apartment with Tay and Gemini.  Boys...”

“Finally you should admit that you were worried about them.  It's okay to worry about your students”.

“All right!  Let it be with you.  Yes, I was worried.  You can't deny, Max, that our job is dangerous, even if we only fight the weakest demons sometimes.”

“Oh, Zee... Give them some leeway.  They've already proven they can do it.  You don't have to be so overprotective.”

“I'm not overprotective.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No?”

“Yes.”

“No.  I'm just the boss, I have to keep them safe.”

“Let me remind you again,”  Gun spoke again.  “We are the Knights of the Light, that's our job.  Boys have to learn, they have to face more and more difficult challenges.  Training and training are useful, but nothing replaces real combat.  If they are to be fully prepared for what awaits them, they must face it themselves.”

“I know that.”

“Leave it then.”

“All right.  I'm not saying anything anymore.  But next time, I'd rather know what you're planning, so I can help out somehow.  You're due tomorrow for now.  Today is the last exam for you.  Those who have already passed it can pack up and visit their loved ones in the world of the Non-Magical.  Others can do it only after passing the exam.  Goodbye.”

Max and Gun smiled at each other.  They won this match.  Zee gave up.  In the past, it wouldn't have been so easy for them, and Zee certainly wouldn't give up more learning and training.  However, this time Zee knew that on front of him were probably the most talented and magically powerful young adepts of this difficult art of being the Knights of the Light.  Add to that the fact that there was definitely a Hybrid between them, who had powers they had never seen before, and he probably shouldn't have worried that much.  The problem was that despite his entirely magical origin, Zee still hadn't completely shed his human instincts, such as the desire to protect those close to him, such as Fourth, Gemini, and of course NuNew, of course.  he was more worried about than the others.

* * *

A few hours later...

First usually ate meals alone, sometimes only in the company of his brother, and this habit didn't disappear even at the Institute, even though here he interviewed all the candidates for the Knights of the Light and each of them seemed pleasant enough to have lunch with him.  It was hard for First to get rid of old habits, so this time he also took a tray of food to his room, which was completely different from Fourth's room.  Fourth knew that was where he would find him, and that favored his plans.  Peering through the slightly ajar door, he saw First sitting cross-legged on the floor at a low but fairly wide rectangular table.  In front of him were dishes in several dishes, the mere sight of which Fourth's mouth watered.

“Oh, nong Fourth! Come, little brother, eat with me.” First invited his brother, and as he sat down, he conjured up an empty plate and cutlery for him.

“Woow!  So now you can conjure up things?!”  Fourth exclaimed in genuine delight, marveling at the new skill his older brother had learned.

“Not so much to conjure as to summon if he's anywhere near,” First replied modestly.  His sorcery skills still surprised him sometimes.

Thus, their conversation entered the topic of training and training.  Both complained a bit about Zee, who assigned them pairs for the next training sessions (First got Max, which he was moderately happy about, and Fourth got Nat, whom he somehow couldn't get along with even though Nat looked very close to New and Zee)  and laughed at the task they were given (watch the BL series that Max, on Zee's instructions, wrote down on the list that each of them received and prepare a short scene from a given series in pairs, apparently Zee claimed that acting could also be useful to them, how  Neither First nor Fourth knew, but they preferred not to disobey their boss.)  The series came from the planet Earth I and starred their counterparts from a parallel reality.  It was quite an interesting experience to see myself in such a role on a laptop, phone or TV screen.  And it got even weirder when Gun informed them that one day they might have a chance to meet the characters of these series.

“Meet? By what a miracle?!” First asked a little too loudly.  They were sitting in a lecture hall where Gun was teaching them the difficult trade of acting.  Khaotung was not with them, he had to return to the world of the Non-Magical, where he informed his fans about the inevitable termination of the contract with the Scuderia Ferrari team.  First didn't even try to convince him to stay with the team, he knew what it cost him and he didn't like how he was treated there.  In return, Khaotung signed a very favorable deal with Alpine, where from then on he would ride alongside French Shadowhunter Pierre Gasly, which both were extremely happy about.  Only Alex Albon wished Khaotung had gone to Williams with him.

“It would be fun to have two Thais on one team, don't you think?  It's like having an entire national team in Formula 1!”  Alex was joking then.

When First thought about what Khaotung had told him, a smile formed on his lips.  He was happy that his partner was happy, and watching him enjoy his training again and willingly get up even early in the morning just to run to the simulator or to the racetrack again made him doubly happy.  The more that Tung kept repeating that it was his merit.

First took a list from the notebook lying on the bed behind him and quickly ran a pattern through the titles:

"2gether"
"A Boss And A Babe"
"A Tale of a 1000 Stars"
"Bad Buddy”
"Cupid's Last Wish"
"Cutie pie"

“Those actors look exactly like our Zee, New, Nat and Max, don't you think it's a pretty unusual coincidence?”  First asked, stopping reading the list of titles.

“Oh, because it's them.  New mentioned something about it, that it was Gun's idea, and Zee didn't seem to want to say no to him or something.  Apparently it was about Offa, but what exactly, I don't know, so I won't tell you.”

“Yeah, so it's them.  That clears up many things.  Okay, let's move on.”  First was surprised that Fourth knew a completely different version of events than what Gun had told them, but quickly remembered that Fourth and Gemini had been absent from class that afternoon because Zee had summoned them.  When he tried to ask them about it, they replied that it was nothing.  But why did Gun say one thing to Fourth and something completely different to the rest of the students?  It seemed suspicious.  He made a mental note to tell Zee just in case.  There was something wrong with Gun's behavior.

“And what are you actually doing?”

“I'm looking for something for me and Max, it must be something easy because I don't think I'm a good actor.”

“How do you know?  You tried?”

“Er...?”

“Exactly.  It might be worth a try?  Now I can believe anything.”

Fourth went back to eating, and First went back to searching the show list for himself.  He knew the plot of each of them, but somehow he had a hard time imagining himself acting out a cute scene with Max as his partner.  He decided that in this case both he and his younger brother were screwed, and he didn't understand why they would act out such scenes at all?  What was this supposed to teach him?

"Dear Doctor I'm Coming For Soul"
"He's Coming To Me"
"Love Mechanics"
"Love Stage!!"
"My Engineer"
"Not Me"
"Secret Crush On You"
"Sotus"
"Theory Of Love"
"Until We Meet Again"

“Do you think we'll be able to see them all?”

“We've got plenty of time, and we'll be doing this as a group.  We'll watch the first one the night in the next week, New has already invited us over when our free week will be over, we're just supposed to grab some snacks.” Fourth remembered.

“Oh that's great!”

“I think so too.”

They went back to eating in silence.  Fourth looked out the window.  The weather was fine, neither too hot nor too humid or sultry, the sun was shining, but there was also a gentle, refreshing breeze that moved the branches of a large, spreading tree planted nearby, long ago, in which Fourth recognized some species of maple, and it made  that the shadows of the leaves danced on the walls of the room and on the floor.  He plucked up his courage and asked a question that had been bothering him for some time.

“Have you ever really fallen in love? I mean... Did you ever loved someone for real? So much that you felt empty inside when they were not with you?”

First stopped eating and looked at his brother, surprised by such a direct and unexpected question.

“Mmm.  I think so, why?”

„I ask because I don't think I know anything about love.”

“You don't know anything about it? And NuNew? Wasn't he your boyfriend?”

“Can I be completely honest?”

“You know you can.  You can tell me anything, I'm your brother. I won't judge or hate you.”

„Well... I never really felt like I was in love with New. He's a lovely boy, very nice, polite, he's always taken good care of me, but... I don't know, I think I missed something between us.”

“I see.  So now someone has come along to make you feel different?”

Fourth thought.  How was he supposed to say it, how to explain that every time he looked at Gemini he felt like Gem is the funniest boy in the world, and yet there were times when they even accidentally touched or when they looked into each other's eyes and then  his heart began to beat faster, and he thought that he wanted more, that the fleeting touch of a hand or even the pleasant warmth of Gemini's thigh when they were sitting close to each other was not enough, that he wanted much more, he wanted to brush Norawit's fringe from his forehead with his hand  he wanted to pull him so close that the only border between them would be his clothes, he wanted to kiss him and at the same time he wanted to take care of him, he wanted to always see his smile and hear his laugh, he liked the tone with which Gem called his nickname,  he liked the fact that Gem, though he had been looking for him for years and had made no secret of the fact that he had liked Fourth ever since, had never tried to cross the line, had never been intrusive, had always respected his private space and allowed him as much leeway as possible and just needed.  Gemini was very different from NuNew in this fact, who went so far as to beg Fourth to give them a chance, who often hugged him and kissed him on the cheek whenever he felt like it.  Fourth thought Gemini was much more afraid of rejection, afraid to the point that he didn't want to risk it.

He finally found a way to tell First about it.  The elder brother smiled, thought for a moment, then replied.

“Just because a Gemini doesn't initiate anything doesn't necessarily mean he's afraid of rejection.”

“No?  How do you know?”

“From what you're saying and what he's told me and NuNew himself, he loves you very much and enjoys even a brief moment with you.  I didn't think this kind of love could really exist, you know me, no one has ever truly loved me before, I have a hard time recognizing love and you can't take me for an expert, but I'm not wrong on this one.  Gemini loves you, understand?  This isn't just some puppy crush or whim like it was with you and New.  He would sacrifice everything for you if you asked him, he would follow you to the end of the world, and if your happiness depended on it, he would give his life for you.  I know it hit him hard when he found out New was your boyfriend.  Phuwin said that he cried a lot, sat for hours in his room, watched all possible sad movies and series about unhappy love, listened to similar songs, hardly ate and didn't want to talk to anyone, but later he went out to people changed.  He talked to New and told him that if New really loves you and you love him, then he doesn't mind, he just wanted you to be happy.  Anyone would be heartbroken in his place, and I'm not surprised at all, but he takes it differently.  He puts your happiness and your well-being above himself, above his own dreams.  Wouldn't it hurt if you had to watch the person you love hug someone else?  He's hurt too, but he doesn't talk about it.  I don't think it's me who should say it, but him, but both New and I are afraid he'll never say it.  Although he doesn't look like it, he is shy.  I guess he thinks he's the reason you broke up with New, he feels guilty and that's why he backed out.  Go to him and talk to him, not me.

Fourth was no longer persuaded.

The sense of Gemini's behavior finally dawned on him.  Gemini never shied away from any intimacy between them, sometimes throwing some flirty text, there were times when he would forget himself and Fourth would catch him looking at him dreamily, but when asked about it, Gemini would back off, make excuses.  Fourth wasn't sure whether to be happy that someone like Gem loved him (after all, Gemini Norawit was special in many ways) or sad because he wasn't telling him the truth.  However, after talking to First, he understood the reasons for his behavior.

“Stupid Gem!”  he shouted, running out of First's room.  He felt as if he had suddenly moved into the action of some poorly written romance novel in which the main character runs around like crazy in search of his beloved.  He was afraid that he would not find him, that they would miss each other.  In one of the BL series he watched with New, the main characters ran to confess their feelings to each other, but they ran in opposite directions and never found each other, never confessed how they felt, never crossed the barrier that separated them.  When they met the next day, they pretended nothing had happened because it seemed to them that the other didn't reciprocate the first's feelings at all, and then they began to avoid each other, and although they had something great in common, both were heartbroken.  At the time, Fourth didn't understand it, he criticized both characters for not explaining it to each other on another occasion.  But now he understood perfectly well their doubts, their insecurities, their fear, or even panic.  He was afraid too.

He was afraid he had misunderstood everything.  He was afraid that his friends and brother had drawn the wrong conclusions, he was afraid that it was all in his head, that he had made it up, that he wanted sincere love so much that he got the delusion that Gemini loved him.  He was afraid that if he told him, he would lose a friend, the only person other than his brother he could rely on.  And he was also afraid that it might be too late, that perhaps Gemini was slowly backing away and finally let him go.  If that was the case, he would have to let him out of his life, and the thought hurt terribly.  Fourth couldn't take it anymore.  he wanted to know.  He wanted to know the truth and throw himself off the burden of the hidden truth about himself.  He wanted to see Gemini's reaction when she told him.  He wanted to know, to have confirmation of all this.  Even if it hurt, though now there was the hope he needed so badly.

He ran down the long corridor of the Institute, remembering that Gem was supposed to train in the gym with the other Knights of the Light.  Fourth and First already had time off because they had already passed the test, as did Joong and Book.

Fourth breathed a sigh of relief when, through the large glass door, he saw that Gemini had just then knocked Kaownah to the mattress with one effective and accurate blow.  He stood there for a moment to catch his breath.  He smoothed his hair as if his perfect appearance depended on the success of his mission.  He was scared, but that's what he wanted.  He was tired of waiting and uncertainty.

"It's good that you're here," he thought, and pushed open the door on which was written "pull to yourself."  He laughed nervously when it didn't open, and only then did he see the writing.  He looked around to see if anyone had seen his embarrassing slip-up, but luckily they were all busy.  He took a deep breath.

“You can do it, Fourth,” he said to himself, trying to give himself courage.  It was a difficult but very important conversation.  He entered the room slowly, as if by accident.  He didn't want to attract the attention of others, so he just sat nearby and began to observe what was happening around him.  Fluke Natouch rubbed his sore cheek with his hand, looking reproachfully at his sparring partner Turbo, who was smiling innocently at him.

“You didn't have to hit so hard,” he scolded.

“I had to if we were to pass this exam,” Turbo replied cheerfully.  “Okay, sorry about that.  Maybe I got a little carried away.”

A bit further on Cooheart, Earth Katsamonnat tried to surprise Pond, but due to the huge difference in build (Pond was tall, well built, while Earth was petite and slender) he didn't stand much of a chance even though he took advantage of the moment when Pond turned his back to him to  see who had entered the room.

“You're too big, nong Pond.” Earth looked offended as Pond again instinctively blocked his blow.

“Are you saying you can't make it?”

“I can handle!  What do you take me for, nong Pond?”

Fourth chuckled softly at this.

Their examiner that day was none other than the department head himself, Zee Pruk, but he looked completely different.  He wasn't wearing a perfectly tailored suit, just a blue and pink tank top and blue shorts, and white knee-highs.  It was strange to see such a changed boss.  Zee circulated between all the couples and gave them expert advice.  From time to time he showed the correct attack or punch technique.

“You don't have to worry, P'Earth, it's up to me to pass the exam, not you,”  Pond consoled him.  Fourth thought that wasn't fair, because it was obvious in advance that Pond was the stronger of the pair, even though Earth was already a qualified Knight of the Light.  He also didn't understand why Gemini got Kaownah in the pair, since they were both just students, since Gemini lived in an apartment with Tay and Kaownah with Off, but that just cleared up quickly when he saw that Tay was sitting on a wooden low  on a bench on the other side of the room with a provisionally bandaged left hand.  Apparently, Gemini was too strong an opponent for him.

Zee walked over to Gemini and Kaownah, eyed with a critical eye how Kaownah, for a change, landed a well-aimed punch right into Norawit's jaw (Fourth hissed in pain he couldn't feel at all but could imagine as Gem leaned dangerously into  back and would have fallen if Kaownah hadn't grabbed him around the waist and held him up in time).

“Gemini, Kaownah you both passed. You can go change and go back to your rooms.  You're free now.”

“Yeeeeey! We made it!”  Gemini and Kaownah high fived each other.

“Congratulations brother!”  Phuwin ruffled Gemini's hair and Gemini responded by tickling him.  “Ouch!  Don't do this!  No!  Stop!  I give up!”

Amused, Fourth shook his head and laughed loud enough that his laughter reached Gem's ears, who immediately stopped attacking his brother.  Phuwin took advantage of his moment of inattention and returned the attack, tickling Gemini to the point that he writhed and squealed, trying to escape his brother.

“Just a little while longer and I'll change my mind and consider you a failure if you don't stop,” Zee warned sternly.  “Gemini, run away to yourself and don't disturb others.”

“Yes, boss, I'm sorry.”

Gemini withdrew.  He spotted Fourth and walked over to him.

“I hope you haven't seen my total and utter failure?”  he asked, reaching for a blue towel lying next to Fourth, with which he began to wipe the dripping sweat from his face and chest.

„Failure?  You passed that exam? Where is the failure?”

“True, I passed, so now I'm at peace.  And that means... That I'm coming back!!!  Oh, you have no idea how much I miss Rose and the other dorks in my class!  I promised Rose I'd stop by and tell her everything.”

“Rose? Are you talking about your non-magical friend?”  For some reason, Fourth felt uneasy just remembering the girl.

Gemini noticed his grim expression and replied as if reading his mind.

“Are you jealous, Fotfot?”

“Me?  Jealous?  About what?”

“Oh... Rose maybe?  But don't worry, there's only you in my heart.” Gemini said something again that made a flock of angry butterflies dance in Fourth's stomach, especially as he bent down and lovingly brushed his bangs back from his forehead.  “You are very handsome, Nong Fourth.  Rose will never win against you, even if she is the most beautiful girl in the whole universe.  It must be you.”

His breath tickled his neck, causing Fourth to involuntarily turn his face away, quite accidentally causing his mouth to land on Gemini's chin.  They both froze for a good minute and were only looking at each other's eyes before jumping away from each other as if electrocuted.  Fourth had completely forgotten about his confession plan, now that had faded into the background, all he could think of was that if he only lifted his head up a little, if he craned his neck just a little, he could surely kiss those damn tempting,  a huge mouth that always caught his attention as well as Gemini's extremely beautiful eyes.  Before Fourth could say anything, Gem broke into a mad dash and ran away, hiding in the room.

It must be you.

“What was that supposed to be?” Fourth asked himself, and only after a long while also went to his apartment.  He quickly remembered that in the Non-Magical world, he had no one to turn to.  The people who pretended to be his parents were never his parents, they were kidnappers who did it for reasons unknown to Fourth.  He had lost contact with his friends long ago, and NuNew was really more of a part of the Magic world.  He shrugged and decided that he would spend these few days in the secret cabin he had shared with NuNew before.  He knew he should give Gemini and himself time.

One sentence bothered him.  A very short sentence spoken in a deep, soft voice right into his ear.

It must be you.

4️⃣♊4️⃣♊4️⃣♊4️⃣♊4️⃣♊4️⃣♊

So...

What do you think? Do you like this chapter? Is it good? I wanted to give you something beautiful but I'm not sure if it worked 🥺😭

Tell me!

~Annie