Chapter 73: Throwable portals
Byungho, concentrated on finding Seungmin's portal, could immediately feel the younger's magic. Seungmin's magic felt dark yet powerful, which Byungho assumed was normal for a demon. The brunette knew his own magic was neither light nor dark, considering he was a mixed blood between an angel and a demon. Still, Byungho managed to easily intertwine his magic with Seungmin's. The portal of both boys lit up a little when the connection stabilized itself.
It really wasn't hard for Byungho and Seungmin to connect their portals, but the reason for it wasn't entirely clear. Sure, they were brothers and good magic users, but it still impressed Matthew, who was supervising them, immensely.
"You two really don't need me for this", the blond guardian chuckled. He had been training with Wonpil while also keeping an eye on the two younger Kim brothers. Byungho had to admit that Matthew and Wonpil were a really good team and worked really well together. After all, Matthew didn't need to have 100 percent of his concentration on the portal for it to work.
Byungho hoped that Woosu was doing great with his training too. He hadn't seen the young warlock since he walked off with Taeyong, but there was reason to believe that he was doing fine. After all, it wasn't too long ago that the red-haired guardian had come over to talk to Matthew for a short while. According to the blond guardian, Woosu had been teamed up with Lee Minhyuk from MonstaX and was therefore partly responsible for mentioned group. Minhyuk, or as Byungho knew him, Mr. Lee was an amazing and skilled warlock, meaning Woosu was in very good hands.
If Byungho was honest with himself, he was more worried about Seungmin than Woosu. The redhead had a messed up moral compass to deal with and really shouldn't perform any magic for the day. Up until now Seungmin was doing perfectly fine as far as Byungho's could tell, but it could change any minute.
Ever since they started training, Seungmin had been concentrating on the task at hand and seemingly had no problem managing to perform magic, but Byungho knew better than anyone else that the younger could be pretending to be fine. He was a demon and therefore perfect liar, after all.
"We should take a break for a little bit to recharge", Wonpil suggested, stretching his fingers a bit. "I agree with that. Go get yourselves something to eat and drink while I find Taeyong real quick and ask for a couple of spell suggestions, so we can prepare other spells too that might come in handy", Matthew agreed with Wonpil before jogging off, leaving the three Kim brothers behind.
Some people in the hall were still practicing, but mostly combat and not portal spells. Seemed like the pairs were chosen pretty thoughtfully. Byungho could see some of the younger NCT members train combat spells with all sorts of elements and also Wow from A.C.E along with a fairy that Byungho assumed was part of the same group.
Byungho looked over to Seungmin, who seemed to try something with his magic while Wonpil watched him anxiously. The young demon was forming a little portal between his hands, bending it in weird shapes then he stretched his hand out like he was throwing the portal. In the form of a ball the little portal was pushed forward, getting bigger and bigger until it stopped not far away from Byungho.
The brunette blinked in confusion. Portals were usually static spells, which didn't move. They just got bigger given the amount of magic used on it. So, did Seungmin just throw a portal at him? Did Seungmin just invent a throwable portal? Byungho looked over to Wonpil, who probably had the same expression as him, absolutely baffled.
"It worked", Seungmin cheered, grinning like a child. "You saw it right?", he asked, looking at Wonpil and Byungho. Both older's nodded slowly. Seungmin was a magic genius. That was never new information, but just became very prominent.
"How the hell did you do that? Why did you do that?", Wonpil asked, walking over to Seungmin to get a better look at the portal. Byungho looked at the red vortex of magic. It looked like a normal portal and the magic radiating from it was normal too. It seemed like it was created normally and not thrown.
"Byungho, Seungmin is insane", Wonpil called over to the brunette. Byungho ripped his gaze away from the portal and looked over to his older brother. This was insane sure, but Seungmin was the sanest person he knew.
"What? Why is Seungmin insane?", Byungho asked, while passing Seungmin's portal to join his brothers. Wonpil grinned a little bit and then looked at Seungmin.
"Explain how you threw that portal", Wonpil said, nudging the younger demon beside him. Byungho focused on his younger brother. Seungmin still seemed like an excited little kid, but it was understandable considering what he had just done.
"Well, nobody said portal had to be static and remain on one spots, so ever since we started to train creating and connecting portals I thought about formable portals. Normally, portals can vary in size, so why not form? So I just began playing with one, reforming and reshaping it by always giving it a dosed portion of magic and then I thought why not throw it by letting it reshape forward and then get slowly bigger? So I did exactly that and there we have a throwable portal", the redhead explained and gestured to the red portal. Byungho had to agree with Wonpil. Seungmin was insane. Insanely smart.
Even though Seungmin's throwable portal took a lot of magical energy and needed to be practiced well, it could be very practical spell. For example, you could keep someone from falling to their death by throwing a portal underneath them or you could throw a portal at an enemy and send them far away from you.
"Seungmin you really are amazing", Byungho chuckled and ruffled Seungmin's red hair. Seungmin just giggled, still high on childish excitement about basically inventing a new form of a spell. Wonpil grinned wide being just as much of a proud older brother as Byungho.
Suddenly the three brothers heard their stomaches growl. It was their cue to finally go and get something to eat and drink, so they could train better afterwards. Maybe, Seungmin would even teach them his new spell.
The NCT headquarter had a little empty hall that was normally used for storage, according to the younger NCT members. It has been transformed into a little canteen ever since the whole headquarter had become a refuge for the ones rescued from Zendala's attack.
The three brothers got something good to eat there and a water bottle they could take with them to the trainings hall. Sadly they didn't meet anyone of their friends, meaning they were still training somewhere else. Byungho hoped that Chan was fine despite having injuries from the battle at the moon pack. A part of him wished that he could have done more to heal them, even though he had already tried his best.
"Don't look so worried", Byungho heard Wonpil say beside him.The oldest Kim brother showed the brunette a wide, almost silly grin to cheer him up and somehow Byungho cracked up a little. "Worked", Wonpil quietly cheered, making Seungmin laugh a little too.
After they had eaten something, they went back to their trainings hall, which was more or less empty now. Matthew seemingly wasn't back yet and the others, who had been training when they left, were gone too. Maybe they went to another hall or got something to eat and drink.
Seungmin put his water bottle down near the wall and then ran into the middle of the hall. Byungho put his bottle down beside Seungmin's and watched with a little bit of confusion how his younger brother began to move his hands like he was creating something between his palms. It didn't take long for Byungho to realize that he was creating a throwable portal.
"Hyung I want to try something", the redhead said, looking up from the small red portal between his hands to Byungho. "Please don't hurt yourselves", Wonpil said beside Byungho. He was probably more concerned about Seungmin due the redhead's messed up moral compass.
"We won't. Don't worry", Seungmin responded and focused back on the little portal in his hand before he raised his gaze once more to look at Byungho. "Focus on the portal and connect with it without creating a portal yourself then I will throw it to you", the young demon explained with a little excited smirk adoring his lips.
"He should have never discovered how to create throwable portals", Wonpil commented, chuckling a little bit. Byungho huffed a little, but then tried what Seungmin asked him to do. He focused on the little red portal in Seungmin's hand and tried to feel the magic radiating from it. There was this moving magical energy he could feel, but not necessarily the portal itself. Was it even a portal yet?
"I can't really feel the magic of a portal, but something similar", Byungho reported. Seungmin smiled widely as a response. "Alright. Just focus on that and then I will throw the portal", the redhead said excitingly. Byungho nodded and focused on the moving energy he could feel. He noticed that this magical energy moved the same way as the portal in Seungmin's hand. It really was the same thing.
"Ready?", Seungmin asked, slowly getting ready to throw the portal. Byungho nodded and prepared himself to let his own magical energy flow into the little moving portal. Seungmin showed a grin again and then threw the portal just like a baseball. In midair, Byungho connected the moving object with his magic and the next thing he knew he was holding a little, constantly moving, red portal in his right palm.
"No way", Byungho quietly whispered to himself, but suddenly he felt how the portal got extremely unstable. It puffed into red magical glitter before he could so anything to prevent it.
Slowly did the brunette look over to Seungmin, who at this point was just beaming with excitement. "Hyung you are amazing", the young demon screeched, clapping with a bright smile on his face. Byungho didn't really understand why Seungmin found that amazing. First off, Seungmin was the inventor of this spell and second, the portal destroyed itself as soon as Byungho had caught it. Maybe that was the point. He had caught the portal. It was basically progress with just that.
"What are we even doing here?", Wonpil spoke up with a mix of excitement and disbelieve. "We are creating new ways to use a spell", Seungmin answered, running back to his brothers. He still had this bright smile on his face and Byungho could understand it. This was simply insane. The possibilities with this were endless if it was perfected, but right now it was far from that point.
"Everything alright with the three of you?", a voice spoke up from the entrance of the hall. The three Kim brothers looked over to the entrance to see Matthew along with Woosu and Minhyuk. Byungho noted how Woosu seemed a bit more relaxed and confident than when they arrived at the headquarter this morning.
"We are perfectly fine. Just found a new way to use portals", Seungmin beamed like a little child. Matthew and Minhyuk looked confused for a moment while Woosu's face immediately lit up.
"Show it. I want to see it", the young warlock said, jumping over to Seungmin. The young redhead grinned a little before jogging to the middle of the hall, performing his little trick again. This time the little portal between his palms became visible even faster. Seungmin really was talented. He seemed to learn with every time he performed the spells.
Woosu let out a little, excited squeal when Seungmin reformed the little red portal between his hands again and again while Matthew and Minhyuk were completely stunned. Seungmin then got himself ready to throw the portal. He was aiming for a free part of the hall and not at another creature this time.
With one good throw, the little portal flew across the hall getting bigger and bigger until it had reached the ground and a normal size. Then it stood there like a normal portal, ready to be used.
"How did you do that?", Woosu squealed like a little girl, running over to Seungmin. The young warlock was bouncing up and down in front of Seungmin. The redhead grinned widely and looked back to Matthew and Minhyuk. The two older magic users were staring at the portal Seungmin had just thrown and seemingly still needed time to process what they had just witnessed.
"This is simply ingenious", Matthew mumbled, probably to himself. "It is. Portals were always seen as static. They were described as fixed gateways to other places that can't be moved after their creation, but this changes basically everything we knew about them so far", Minhyuk agreed, slowly nodding while his eyes began to shine. The older warlock seemed to slowly get excited about this too.
Byungho couldn't help but grin a little at how baffled the two older males were. Seungmin was a gifted magic user. Demon or not. He would be able to figure a lot of things out just by being curious enough to look behind the things known to the world. That was something he had always done, collecting knowledge to understand things and then use them the most efficient way. Even if Byungho would never say that to Seungmin directly, he had to admit that it was this thirst for knowledge, his overall cleverness and his mindset of using the things he knew in the most efficient way, were the reasons why he was the best prankster Miroh High had ever seen.
The rest of the trainings day was used to let Seungmin teach the throwable portals to Matthew, Minhyuk, Woosu, Wonpil and Byungho. It was hilarious to see that the Kim brothers managed to figure this thing out faster than the two experienced magical creatures. Seungmin's best student was Woosu, since the young warlock figured Seungmin's little tricks out very quickly.
When the younger NCT members and the two from A.C.E returned to the hall, they joined this little learning session with Seungmin. Byungho would never be able to properly describe how proud he felt watching Seungmin explain and teach this alternative of the portal spell to other creatures. The young redhead seemed so happy while correcting minor mistakes from others, explaining again and again how he did it and how it worked.
By the end of the day, Minhyuk and Matthew have gotten a hang of the spell but they still needed to practice a bit more just like the younger NCT members as well as Wow and Byeongkwan from ACE. Matthew commented while training, that this spell was good for combat and training, since it didn't really hurt the person you threw it at, but teleported them to a location the user chose beforehand. He also commented that this should be a standard spell for every magical creature that worked in the security business, since it would avoid injuries on both sides.
Seungmin was basically praised endlessly while he taught the spell to the more experienced creatures. It was cute how he thanked them over and over again while his smile grew wider and wider. He never became annoyed or impatient throughout the whole learning process of the others. The redhead remained very patient and very concentrated on teaching the spell right.
At the end of the day, all four Kim brothers felt like they could fall asleep while standing. They had never before used up so much magical energy in one day, but it was worth it. Woosu told them with amazement written all over his face that Minhyuk was an incredible magic user and how they had managed to connect their portals in no time.
The only sad thing was that they didn't run into any of their friends. No one of Stray Kids or Day6 seemed to be around when they left their trainings hall at 10pm. They couldn't even say they would visit them in their trainings halls, because they didn't even know where Jisung was and he was supposed to train the same thing as them.
Therefore the four brothers walked down to the entrance hall of the NCT headquarter after saying goodbye to the people that trained with them for the day. Seungmin wrote their father, so that he would come and pick them up.
"Is it possible to enter the NCT headquarter with a portal?", Wonpil asked out of nowhere. "No. Yuta secure the place way to good. I guess only warlocks with the NCT symbol or the symbol of an officially allied group can do that", Seungmin answered almost immediately whole his gaze was still fixed onto his phone.
"Isn't that super complicated to do?", Woosu asked more himself than Seungmin. "Well, I got called a genius today, but look at enchantments of the headquarter a little closer and you will see that Nakamoto Yuta is a magical creature ahead of his time", the redhead chuckled lightly, raising his gaze to look at Woosu.Seungmin was really going to be humble about inventing an alternative to an important spell.
When the four brothers reached the entrance hall their father was already waiting for them with a grin on his face like usual. "Did you have fun training?", he asked. Neither of the four brother knew how they should reply to that until Woosu spoke up.
"We kind of did", the white haired male simply answered, showing a little smile. Lucifer nodded and mirrored Woosu's smile a little. "Then we should return home now. You seem tired", he said and snapped his fingers. In an instant they were in the entrance hall of the Kim mansion.
"Rana and Samuel prepared little snacks for you while you were gone, so make sure to pay them a visit in the kitchen", Lucifer mused before he walked towards the stairs. Byungho looked a bit after his father. He still didn't know whenever he could hate him or not. In the past, he had hated him with a passion, because he couldn't understand why his mother remained by his side even though he always did something behind her back. Ever since Eve's death his father had in some way changed. He seemed more approachable now.
Byungho looked down to his hand were the golden wedding ring of his mother adored his little finger. His father was wearing the same one right now. It was strange how Byungho had only recently started to pay attention to the fact that his father, the devil, was wearing the wedding ring of his now deceased wife. It made him question if he still wore the wedding ring he had shared with Lilith if they ever had such a thing.
"Hey, Byungho are you coming?", he was ripped out of his thoughts by Wonpil, who was standing a few feet away from him. He was heading towards the kitchen. Seungmin and Woosu had probably run ahead.
"Yeah. I'm coming" the brunette said and caught up to his older brother, so they could get something to eat in the kitchen together.
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After the second part of the training had ended Felix let himself fall onto the ground, not moving an inch. He was done for today. There was no way of telling how long the young cat hybrid had been training today, but it was worth it. He felt stronger and more prepared, even though he just wished for a shower, a warm bed and his mate right now.
"You did great today", Hyungwon praised the younger. Felix sat up, so he could look at the older hybrid, even though getting up was hard when every inch of your body was exhausted. "Thank you Hyungwon-ssi", Felix thanked the snow leopard hybrid, showing him a sun-like smile despite his tiredness.
Hyungwon reached out a hand to help the ginger get up, since everyone was slowly leaving the hall. Felix took the older's hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. The young cat hybrid was a bit shaky on his feet at first, but it passed quickly.
"Rest well tonight or tomorrow will be interesting", the snow leopard commented with a bit of humor. "I will", Felix replied in a polite manner. The two hybrids said goodbye to each other for the night and parted ways. Felix went to Minho and Chan, who seemingly have been waiting for him near the entrance of the trainings hall. Both looked just as tired as he felt.
"Let's get to our rooms before we fall asleep standing and take a shower", Chan said and the two Lee brothers couldn't agree more. The three walked towards the staircase, passing some others, who were scattering around the headquarter. Felix was on the look out for Jeongin, Hyunjin and Jisung while he followed his older brother and Chan, but he couldn't spot his blond mate, the black haired siren or the blue haired warlock. Maybe they were already in their rooms?
The three were grateful to the magical stairs that made the walk to the fifth floor seem a lot short than it actually was. Someone should give Yuta an award for this staircase in general. The Lee brothers bid goodbye to Chan when they reached their room since the wolf hybrid had to walk down the corridor a bit more to reach his own.
Felix pushed the door to the room open and immediately slithered into the bathroom, giving Minho no time to react. "I'm showering first", the ginger yelled through the door while locking it. He heard Minho groan, making him smile a little bit.
"That's for locking me into the basement", Felix thought to himself, finally having his little revenge for the one time Minho locked him in the basement by holding the door handle up for five minutes. He was pretty sure he had just done it to impress Jisung.
The young cat hybrid got undressed, dropping his dirty cloths in a basked in the corner before stepping in the shower. Because he was a nice brother, he decided to shower rather quickly, so Minho wouldn't have to wait for that long. It was better that way anyway, because otherwise Felix would have fallen asleep while standing under the warm stream.
"I'm finished", Felix called out while walking out of the shower, huddled up in a big bathrobe and with a fluffy white towel on his hair. "Finally", Minho, who had been sitting on a chair, mumbled to himself. Felix lightly chuckled while his brother grabbed his fresh cloths and brushed past him to get to the shower himself.
The ginger walked over to one of the room's closets and opened it, mindlessly picking out a T-shirt and a pair of baggy, comfy pants along with underwear. He noted that besides Minho he was alone in the room, so he just got dressed quickly.
After finally being showered and dressed in fresh cloths, the cat hybrid hung up his bathrobe, rubbed his hair a little more dry with the towel and then flopped down onto his bed, not moving a muscle anymore. The only sound that filled the room was the shower running and occasionally Minho's footsteps. Felix could fall asleep right here and now, but he knew himself good enough to know that he needed someone to cuddle to sleep soundly. He raised his head a little bit and scanned the room for his phone, instantly spotting it on the nightstand next to his bed.
He reached out his hand and grabbed the phone, turning his display on only to squint his eyes at the brightness. Still, he could see that Jeongin wrote him a message, which said that his training had finished. It was send around two hours ago. Felix opened the chat with the younger and just wrote that the kitsune should come over, because he was tired and needed someone to cuddle.
It was almost immediately after Felix hit send that the door of the room was opened, making the ginger almost believe that the younger was just that quick, but it was Jisung. The warlock looked just as exhausted as Felix felt, meaning that the magical creatures seemingly worked very hard too.
"I've never used that much magic in one day", the warlock groaned, letting himself fall into the chair Minho had been sitting in just some minutes prior. "Good for you. I did plenty of running and dodging today. If my legs don't fall off tomorrow I'm lucky", Felix replied, shifting a little bit, so he could see his magical friends better. Jisung lightly chuckled, straightening his back a little.
The warlock didn't look really sweaty, but he seemed tired just like Felix, meaning that the training with the fairy Park Jimin wasn't too bad for him. Still, there was only one way to be sure. "Was training with Jimin okay?", the ginger asked carefully. "He doesn't like me that much but we managed to trust each other enough to create proper portals and connect them, so that's a win in my eyes", the warlock replied.
Felix was glad to hear that, because in between his own exhausting training he had been worried that Jimin would give Jisung a hard time, because Taehyung had a problem with him and Minho. It sounded ridiculous now.
Before the ginger could start up another conversation, the door to the bathroom was opened, revealing Minho in changed cloths and with a small towel around his shoulders. His light brown hair as well as his cat ears looked like they were still pretty wet.
When Felix looked at Jisung he had a hard time to not laugh out loud, because the warlock looked at Minho like he had just seen a deity. The older hybrid took notice of that too and smirked a little bit at his mate. He walked over to Jisung, trapping the warlock between his arms by putting his hands on the chair's armrest
"Like what you see, Hannie?", he said in a teasing voice and that was all it took for Jisung to become completely flustered. "I'm going to shower now", the warlock exclaimed loudly, pushing Minho to the side and then escaping into the bathroom. Felix started to laugh loudly, because this was just overall hilarious. Every drama on TV was boring compared to this.
It was only when Felix saw the fond look on Minho's face when he smiled to himself, that he started to calm down from his laughing fit. The look Minho had on his face was the exact same as when their parents looked at each other. Every time they would do chores together or when they took a simple walk; they looked at each other with the same fondness.
A sudden knock on the front door ripped Felix out of his thoughts and made him scrabble to his feet almost automatically. He ignored the confused look on Minho's face he saw in the corner of his eye and walked towards the door to open it.
In front of the door stood Jeongin along with Hyunjin, both already dressed in their pajamas. "He just came along", Jeongin said, nodding towards Hyunjin. The siren stood there with a big smile on his face like he had the best day ever.
"Well, I felt left out last time, so I'm not letting it happen again", the siren stated, walking past Jeongin and entering the room. Felix was a bit confused, because of the siren's good mood and looked at the kitsune for an answer.
"He liked training with the children", the blond whispered, entering the room and closing the door behind him. Felix nodded understanding the reason of Hyunjin's good mood now.
"Where are Jisung and Changbin-hyung?", Hyunjin asked, looking around a little bit. "Jisung is in the shower and Changbin-hyung hasn't shown up yet", Felix answered the siren while walking back to his bed, sitting down onto it. If Felix was honest with himself, he just wanted to sleep now. He reached his arms out towards Jeongin, hoping that the kitsune would get the hint.
Without hesitating for too long, Jeongin walked over to the ginger, hugging the other as soon as he was in reach. Felix smiled a little bit and let himself fall backwards, so Jeongin was laying on top on him. He could sleep soundly now if it wasn't for Hyunjin and Minho, who he could almost feel grinning while looking at them. Would they really start teasing them about being mates now?
"Stop doing that?", Jeongin mumbled, probably having noticed his hyungs' gazes too. "What? We were just looking", Minho stated in a teasing tone. Felix wished he could throw a pillow at his older brother, but the ginger knew it wasn't worth it since Minho would easily catch it. His reflexes were just too good.
"Let's just sleep", Felix complained and hugged Jeongin a little closer. "Well go ahead. I will search for Changbin-hyung", Hyunjin declared and the next thing you heard was the sound of the room door being opened and closed. Felix didn't really have the energy to say anything else and just slowly let the tiredness take over him. He only faintly heard how Jisung finished his shower and came back into the room, but he wouldn't remember it the next day.
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Hyunjin walked down the corridors of the NCT headquarter towards the staircase. If Changbin wasn't in his room yet, he was either still in one of the trainings halls or down in the grotto. If the siren had to bet on where Changbin was, he would go for the grotto-like room with the pool. After all, who wouldn't want to jump into a pool of relaxing water after a day of hard training? With that in mind, the young siren headed towards the grotto.
After walking down the stairs to the ground floor, the siren directly walked down to the basement floor, not even glancing at the trainings halls. It was so quiet it almost creeped him out. Just some hours prior Hyunjin was in a hall filled with young werewolves and wolf hybrids, that weren't able to sit still unless you showed them a trick or something. It was endearing to interact with them, but it made hearing nothing at all while being alone a lot more spooky.
When Hyunjin saw the door to the grotto, he released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He jogged the last few meters towards the familiar door and pushed down the handle without much thought. He entered the room rather quickly and closed the door behind him.
The siren grinned a little when he spotted Changbin floating in the water with his eyes closed. The vampire seemingly hadn't noticed him yet, which let Hyunjin get an idea. His mother will probably kill him for going for a swim in his pajama again, but he will risk it. He slipped out of his slippers while taking off his shirt and then quickly rolled his pajamas pants up, so his fins wouldn't shred the fabric when he transformed.
He sneaked around the pool a little bit, getting as close as possibly to Changbin. Without mercy, the siren jumped into the water, scaring the vampire in the process. Hyunjin giggled even underwater when he could feel the waves from Changbin trashing around in the water in fright.
Hyunjin could feel his gils and fins forming and slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the water quickly. Changbin was now upright, keeping his head above water by the simple movements of his legs and arms. The siren also noted that despite not being the tallest person, Changbin did have a well trained body.
The siren quickly shook his head and emerged from under the water's surface when he was fully transformed. He was met with a vampire that was a little pissed, but not really angry.
"Did I scare you?" Hyunjin asked teasingly, smiling a little bit. "You think you are so funny, right?", the vampire huffed and would probably have crossed his arms if he didn't need to keep his head above water. Hyunjin just smiled innocently at him while being proud that he had managed to scare the other, but he came here for something else, which he had forgotten for a moment. Changbin should be in his room resting since he had training tomorrow.
"Well, you should be up in your room getting some rest, so I would say I taught you a lesson", Hyunjin replied smugly. "So you jumped into the water yourself, smart", the vampire huffed, not really letting the other be smug. At least the siren had one advantage.
"I'm a sea creature. I'm allowed to", Hyunjin pouted a bit. Changbin didn't seem to take him serious, so he let the point drop from his face. Changbin needed to rest in order to do his best tomorrow.
"You really should be resting, hyung. The others just finished their training and are exhausted, so you can't be any different", the siren said and swam a little bit closer to the vampire to look into his eyes. If the vampire's iris was a little more red than usual, he would instantly drag Changbin out of the grotto, even if he said he wasn't tired. Somehow Hyunjin had noticed how that redness in the vampire's eyes always became more prominent every time something was wrong with him.
This time his eyes seemed normal. The red glimmer they had was as faint as the last time he had seen it. Changbin seemed a little confused though, which was the moment Hyunjin backed off again. He had gotten too close to the other again.
"Sorry. I just, I just wanted to check your eye color. You know if you iris is, is red or not", the siren stuttered like a little school girl talking to her crush. Though the crush thing wasn't entirely wrong. "Great one, Hwang", Hyunjin cursed at himself internally.
"My Red Glow isn't activated. Don't worry", the vampire chuckled. Hyunjin blinked in confusion at the word 'Red Glow'. He didn't know what a 'Red Glow' should be. Was he supposed to know? Maybe it was what that state was called when Changbin got stressed and his eyes more red. The vampire apparently noticed the confusion of the siren and began to explain it a little.
"The 'Red Glow' is something royal vampires have. It helps them in stressful situation or when they reach some sort of physical or mental limit. Their eyes turn red then, so that's what you have been checking for", Changbin explained in a bit of a rush manner, but Hyunjin understood it anyway. The 'Red Glow' seemed to be more positive than Hyunjin had thought.
"So, can you activate it on purpose too or ...?", Hyunjin asked without really thinking. The question sounded stupid said out loud. Changbin seemingly found it a bit amusing and shook his head.
"I can't, but it doesn't really take much to activate it, honestly", he replied and Hyunjin just felt overall stupid. He was one of the best in his class at Miroh High and he still asked stupid and insensitive questions. Great.
Hyunjin let half of his face sink underwater to hide his embarrassment, but Changbin seemingly found that just more funny. "Didn't you come down here to scold me and drag me to bed? Why are you hiding now?", the vampire asked teasingly. Hyunjin grumbled a little bit, creating bubbles before his face.
"Are you pouting now? Sad that you can't achieve your goal?", Changbin continued to tease the siren. Hyunjin just stared at him and weighed his options in his head. He had the advantage as long as they were in the pool why not make use of it?
The siren lunged forward, holding Changbin by his shoulder and dunked him underwater. He wanted to smugly grin and say something, but then the vampire grabbed his arm and pulled him underwater as well. Hyunjin was surprised, but that was all the reward Changbin got from pulling a creature of the sea underwater.
Still, Hyunjin felt a lot more affected by the action, because right now he was face to face with the vampire. While Changbin had closed his eyes automatically when Hyunjin had dunked him, the siren's eyes were open and he could see perfectly. He could see the vampire's handsome and sharp facial features, the cute way he frowned with his eyes closed and his kissable lips. For once in his life Hyunjin really wanted to kiss someone.
Suddenly Changbin let his eyes blink open. The black orbs with the red shimmer looked directly at the siren's face. Hyunjin knew Changbin's vision was blurry underwater, but the way the older's black eyes seemed to scan over his face in what he assumed was worry made his heart beat faster.
Without warning Changbin pushed himself upwards and back to the surface, making Hyunjin follow him in confusion, even though it should be logical to him that unlike him the vampire needed air to breath.
Hyunjin wanted to ask the other what was wrong, but before he could Changbin just grabbed his shoulders and kissed him. The siren was taken completely off guard, which lead to them to diving back into the water, because the sea creature forgot how to swim for a moment. Despite the initial shock Hyunjin didn't hesitate for one second to kiss the vampire back. It was almost like an instinct had kicked in, letting the siren respond to the kiss before his brain properly processed it.
The minute his brain did catch onto what was going on, was the moment he pulled away from the kiss and instantly brought both of them back to the surface. It was such a short kiss and even that was enough to let Hyunjin feel like someone set him on fire, despite being surrounded by water. Still, the problem was that Changbin wasn't supposed to kiss him. He had a crush on Seungmin for the gods sake!
"Why, why did you kiss me? You like Seungmin, you idiot, and he likes you. Why would you kiss me and not him, why, why would you-", Hyunjin stressed, but cut himself off when he saw Changbin, who still had his hands on the siren's shoulders, slowly widening his eyes.
That was it. He had said too much. He ruined it. He did the one thing his mother told him to not do with his ability. He told Changbin about Seungmin's crush on him, which could lead to a lot of awkward situations for them. It could even ruin their chance of being together.
"I'm, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I- By everything good I ruined it", the siren sighed in defeat. His voice cracked at the last part and he could feel how hot tears build themselves up in his eyes. Changbin apparently saw them since he began to panic a little bit.
"Nonono. Hyunjin, please don't cry. I-", he cut himself off and took a breath. He became a bit calmer while his eyes began to draw in Hyunjin's attention automatically. The black orbs with the red shimmer somehow made the siren feel a bit serene, despite the frantic beating of his heart.
"Listen to me. I do like Seungmin, but I also like you as confusing as that sounds. And that is the reason I kissed you", the vampire added slowly. Hyunjin needed a second to understand his words properly. Could it be that Changbin really liked him and Seungmin? Could it be that he was this damn lucky and just didn't see it? Of course, he didn't see it. A siren could never see her own crushes and the people they were in love with as clear as the ones of others.
"Got that, Hwang Hyunjin? I have a major crush on you as well as Seungmin", the vampire repeated after the siren didn't react for a while, looking directly at Hyunjin. That was all it took for the siren to just capture the vampire's lips with his own. Changbin having a 'major crush' on him was all he had needed to hear to throw every "I can't. He's Seungmin's" thought out of the window.
The siren held the shorter male close while kissing him and hoped deeply that he could show the vampire every little happy emotion he felt right now and how much the older meant to him.
When they separated Hyunjin did feel warm tears roll down his cheeks, but he didn't feel sad or scared. He was just damn glad he didn't need to hold himself back anymore whenever he was around Changbin, but that made a little realization nag at his mind. Was the reason Changbin wasn't affected by his siren song that the vampire was in love with him?
"What did you just realize?", Changbin chuckled, having noticed that the siren was a little bit in thought. Hyunjin focused back on the vampire in his arms. He looked adorable and handsome with that little smile on his lips. The siren couldn't help, but mirror it.
"That maybe the reason that you weren't affected by my siren song is the reason you kissed", the siren said a little smugly. "Well, if that is true, I probably will never be", the vampire replied, grinning a little bit. Hyunjin instantly got flustered and looked away, being not sure if Changbin knew what he was implying, but what if he really did? The "What-if" scenario made the siren a little more flustered while his heart did little jumps.
"By the way, one important question", the vampire went on casually and despite Hyunjin flustered state the vampire had his full attention. "Do you think it would be possible to have two boyfriends?", the vampire questioned in a rather calm voice, but he avoided to look directly into Hyunjin's eyes. The siren blinked in mild confusion. The concept of Polyamory has been around for centuries. Shouldn't Changbin as a vampire know about it?
"Of course it is possible. Polyamory existed since the ancient times", Hyunjin replied with a bit of confusion in his voice, not knowing what Changbin was exactly aiming at. "So, if I'd ask you to be my boyfriend, but also wanted Seungmin to be my boyfriend, would you be okay with it?", the vampire continued and now the siren understood what the other was hinting. It made him smile a little fonder, considering he did like Seungmin a bit too much.
"I wouldn't mind at all. I like Seungmin too, after all", the siren admitted rather shyly letting his gaze stray away until he heard Changbin chuckle. "Well, then we have a common goal in that point", he said with a bit of humor, but Hyunjin knew he meant it. He had been aware of Changbin's crush on the redhead for a while, after all.
"It will work out for you, hyung. Trust me", the siren whispered, putting his forehead onto Changbin's while closing his eyes. He could feel that Changbin relaxed a bit too, leaving it entirely up to Hyunjin to keep them both over water, but the siren would lie if he said it wasn't easy.
For the time being both could forget what was slowly coming towards them.
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