"I'm Wonwoo, by the way, from the History department and those over there are my idiot friends who told me playing darts was a good idea."

Joshua felt his heart stop as he watched Wonwoo introduce himself to Soonyoung. He lunged forward unthinkingly, not even having a plan. He had to separate them. He couldn't allow the sworn nemeses to meet.

But before he could reach Soonyoung, someone stepped in and put an arm around his elbow. "Just a second, Jisoo."

Jeonghan.

Jisoo or Joshua? Which do you go by these days? Jeonghan's hold around his elbow was firm.

Joshua could hear over Jeonghan's thoughts, Soonyoung's voice, reacting slowly to Wonwoo, "You're him," and he knew this was the beginning of the end.

Or Joshuji? Would you like that, Joshuji?

Fuck off. Joshua shrugged out of his hold.

Jeonghan leaned forward, stopping by his ear. "You've already lost this one. Go home and tell your masters that you failed. Maybe you'll get a reprimand and a new assignment."

"Nothing is over yet," Joshua hissed. He nearly ran to Soonyoung's side. "Hey, I don't feel well. Maybe we should head back—"

His words might as well have been thoughts because right at the moment a very loud boy jumped between Wonwoo and Soonyoung, drowning out his words. "Wonwoo! You met Hoshi," Seokmin said, beaming with delight.

Wonwoo raised his eyebrows, looking at his near-victim with renewed interest. So this was the famous drama club president Hoshi who had saved the failing club last semester. His eyes followed the slight pout of his lips, his adorable nose and the soft-looking hair. Truth be told, this Hoshi guy looked a bit stunned still, no doubt reeling from the after effects of nearly being hit by a dart, but even then he was radiating a certain endearing warmth. Wonwoo found himself grinning. "Oh, you are Hoshi? I have heard so much about you—"

But Soonyoung was pulling away. Looking definitely green in the face, he could suddenly feel the bass pumping in his head. Unable to breathe, he felt like the roof was crashing on him.

Someone was calling his name out, a dull sound against the party, but he didn't stop. He needed to get away.

Finally, he found himself outside. Having escaped the loud party and him, he hadn't even taken his first gulp of air and he was throwing up, retching against the ground, nearly doubling over.

"Hoshi?"

Someone was rubbing his back, repeating his name in a soft voice. "It's okay. You're fine. I got you. I got you, Hoshi."

"I got you, idiot. You can do it."

"I can't do it, Wonu." The small boy stared at his friend, both kids staring at the swings in the playground.

"Are you scared?" Wonwoo asked, furrowing his brow as he looked at his new friend who was still contemplating playing at the swings.

Soonyoung pouted. "What if the swing is too powerful and I fly off into space?"

"It is not. I try it every day. I will catch you if you start flying, Soong."

Soonyoung stared at the swings with sudden determination. "I won't fly. Tigers don't fly."

Wonwoo nodded. "Tigers are basically cats and cats land on all fours." He added quickly with a proud eye-roll, "I read it in a book."

"You're so smart, Wonu. Okay, I'm going for it."

"I got you. You can do it!"

And he could. He laughed happily, earning a thumbs-up from his friend. No, his best friend. Because even though they had just met, he knew they were going to be friends forever.

But the next day, Wonu was gone.

-

"Dad, can I stay longer today?"

"It's already dinner time. You should come home like the other kids. Playgrounds are not fun after dark."

"I'm just waiting for Wonu."

"Who is Wonu? Did you find a cat or something to play with? You know we can't take strays home."

"He's my best friend."

"We moved here a day ago. You already have a best friend?"

"Yes," Soonyoung said, shining with pride. "He's very smart and reads books. Do you know a cat always lands on all fours. They can't fly. Tigers too."

"Okay," Dad looked amused. "Well, how about we meet your friend tomorrow? I don't think he will come today."

-

Soonyoung could hear them talking in low voices.

"...have asked every parent with kids in the playground. They've asked their kids. No one knows any Wonu."

"Soonie will be sad."

"We just need to educate him about imaginary friends. We all have them when we are young. He'll understand. He's very intelligent. He started reading illustrated books, you know? Our boy is going to grow up into a fine man."

"He takes after me."

"Honey, surely you've never read anything beyond the syllabus."

"Hey, don't be mean."

-

"Let's go home, Soonie."

"No!"

"We already talked about this."

"He's not imaginary. He's real. He is real!"

"Get away from me," Soonyoung gasped, as he gained some control over his body.

"It's me, Wonwoo. We just met but...uh, here, you can use my handkerchief. Stay, I'll get some water for you."

"Jihoon! Cheol!" Soonyoung shouted, instead.

"Woah, calm down, dude."

"Stay away from me! You're not real. He's not real." Hoshi closed his eyes as he backed away, still calling out for his friends. "Joshua! Cheol! Help me! Junhui! Someone, help me!"

Wonwoo watched in shock, taking a step forward but Hoshi backed further, prompting him to stop.

Someone ran past, a blur really. "Soonyoung, stop!"

And Soonyoung felt arms grab him almost too strongly. "I'm here. No one can hurt you." He opened his eyes and found himself staring in Joshua's eyes and something like fire glared back. The fire was spreading now, an invisible shield enveloping him, searing him almost but as the world began to darken at an alarming rate, he felt a comfort in its burn. Joshua was real. Not like—

He grabbed at Joshua desperately, the hold tightening when he saw Wonwoo still standing in the same spot.

His voice was hoarse from shouting when he whispered, "Can you see him?"

But there were more people now. A very angry Seungcheol already grabbing at Wonwoo's collar. "What did you do to him?"

Wonwoo staring at him in shock and trying to escape from Seungcheol's grasp. "I swear, I-I didn't...He just started shouting. He was sick so I was just...Hoshi, I-I..."

Junhui and Minghao, recently acquainted over mutual appreciation to find someone from back home, had arrived to see Seungcheol nearly murdering Wonwoo but when Junhui caught sight of Joshua holding his friend, he ran forward forgetting his initial impulse to separate them.

"Soonyoung?" he shouted, panic tearing at his voice. "What happened? Is he hurt? We need to call an ambulance."

Wonwoo stopped struggling at the name. Soonyoung?

Minghao was already on the phone. He sent an SOS to both the medical center and Mingyu. "Done. Now, leave my friend alone." The last part was aimed at Seungcheol.

"He hurt my friend."

Minghao's jaw was clenched. "Did you see him do that? No? Then, we don't know shit. Leave him right now or I'll..."

"Or what?" Seungcheol squared himself up. "You will fight me?"

Joshua narrowed his eyes at the exchange. "Seungcheol, don't."

"No, but I will and I took boxing classes all my life." Mingyu appeared on the scene, somehow managing to avoid tripping on the water hose in the garden. He pulled Wonwoo behind him, wedging himself between Seungcheol and Wonwoo.

"Oh, yeah?"

Soonyoung couldn't hear the exchange following that. All he could hear was Joshua's uncontrollably loud heartbeat against his ear and his own thoughts. Yes, there was comfort in this too, he thought. He was real, he had always been real.

But that meant everything else had been real too.

He smiled and then the shadows swallowed him up.

-

"So, if I had managed to hold you inside the party for two more minutes, Soonyoung would have stepped on the electric cable intersecting the water hose, and you would have been free by now." Jeonghan's taunting voice echoed in the hospital bathroom, lilting over the running tap at the end.

For once, Joshua didn't have any response. Nothing to bite back, to argue, just his own heart-wrenching sobs wracking his body. As soon as he had felt the guardian bracelet heating against his skin, he had pushed Jeonghan away, making his way through the crowd of people dancing on the floor. When he had seen his friend backing away, unaware of the mortal danger behind him, the sparks of the torn cable, licking against the water collecting outside the water hose, he had felt as if someone had kicked him in the chest. What were the chances of an incident like this? Always bordering 100% on his job. He hated this job. He hated the nemesis complex. He had forgotten everything, commiting the crime of performing magic in front of humans, to run to his friend. Not his assignment. His friend.

As he cried his fear out in the empty bathroom, he was reminded that his first crime had occurred much earlier. As a guardian, he was supposed to remain objective. He wasn't supposed to become emotionally involved. He wasn't supposed to be crying in a hospital bathroom.

"But, you know, there is something I don't understand. You didn't raise a finger to protect the other one. You know, Soonyoung's nemesis, Jeon Wonwoo. He was in danger too because of our friend with anger management issues. I really think Seungcheol should lessen the macho concept but I don't really care about that. I am just interested in the fact that you seem to be guarding one and not the other. If I didn't know better I would say your loyalties are biased." Jeonghan stared at Joshua with interest.

That hurt. Joshua's mind flickered back to Wonwoo. The scared boy standing in shock, trying to defend himself against everyone's questioning eyes. With Soonyoung in his arms, Joshua had forgotten Wonwoo. Jeonghan was right. To think that even the Warlock was better at this than him.

The way you are behaving people would think that someone died. Chill, Joshuji, he just passed out from shock. Anyway, from what I can sense, he is about to wake up in 3...2...Jeonghan smiled as Joshua pressed past him.

-

"I swear, I didn't do anything," Wonwoo said tensely, as he paced outside the medical center. He had been told pretty bluntly by Seungcheol and someone called Jihoon to not even dare to come inside.

Seokmin looked at him in worry. He was still processing what had happened. The rumour at the now dispersed party was that Wonwoo had beat up Soonyoung, the Uni's most adorable guy. They had all been thrown out by Dino who had threatened to call the police for creating a ruckus at his house which also turned out to be the Dean's house. Everyone had scampered off quite quickly after it.

Beside him, sat Seungkwan nursing a black eye from having got into a fistfight with someone while defending Wonwoo's "name and honour. Stop lying about Wonwoo, he wouldn't hurt a fly".

Mingyu grabbed Wonwoo's hand. "Hey, we know you didn't. Just sit for a moment. He'll be fine. You're worrying too much."

Wonwoo seemed to break out of a trance and looked at his friends. He took a deep breath. "Sorry."

The little puzzle in his brain, the strange feeling that there was someone out there whom he kept meeting but only side-stepping, his fears, the eerie feeling of being followed by a shadow, details of this other person he didn't remember in full—the back of the head, the swing of the shoulder, a fraction of a cheek, the turn of the ears, the confident walk, the angle of the shoulders and that one time he had seen a quarter of a smile—he had a feeling that the puzzle with all its incomplete bits was unravelling.

Kwon Soonyoung.

He was there, within reach.

He winced as the scar on his knee pulsed with pain at the memory of that other encounter with the name. It felt like a lifetime ago, a remnant of a nightmare. Out of a habit that he had thought he had outgrown, he pressed his knee with his hand as he sat down.

Before he could speak, Minghao and Hansol appeared, walking down the steps. Hao spoke up, "He's fine. The nurse said it's just shock. They said a lot of students have issues at the start of the term, course pressures and so on. They gave him something for it. He should be up and about in a few minutes."

Wonwoo knew it wasn't 'course pressures and so on'. The shock had been because of him. He had seen fear in Hoshi's--no, Soonyoung's--eyes.

Because it had turned out to be him. The smiling, friendly Hoshi had turned out to be the shadow from his past.

So much for Mingyu and Seokmin dragging him to a party to keep his mind off his worries. He had met the source of them head-on, without even realising it.

But he was okay, at least. He gave a sigh of relief.

"So, it wasn't Wonwoo, see!" Seungkwan said, jumping up. "I'm going to report everyone at that stupid party to the admin for defamation. Especially those thugs, Seungcheol and Jihoon."

"Let's just go home," Wonwoo said, getting up.

[ hello everyone! it has been ages since we last updated, we apologise. if you're still reading this fic thank you so much. we love you. we will try to update more often now. please be safe everyone! ]