Seven

The castle is buzzing with life as the Queen’s birthday gets even closer. We have about a week until the festivities officially begin, but with the amount of people and noise that has been filling the castle these past few days, it feels like the party has basically already started. I’m sick of it already.

Banners are hung up along the walls, and streamers dangle from the high ceilings. The floors are all polished and gleam so brightly that I’ve almost been blinded on like 3 separate occasions. New decorations float around into places that were previously occupied with other things. It feels as though the entire castle is being remodeled, and all I do is watch uselessly. I haven’t been asked to do anything, and I’m sure it’s because of two reasons. One, I’m unofficially a royal and it would be blasphemous for me to do anything productive. Two, I couldn’t help even if I wanted to.

Gaia and Charmers both use magic to make the tasks given to them easier. Humans are put to work doing the physical labor that their magical counterparts don’t have the time for. Usually the tasks are ridiculously hard or physically tedious, and I’ve more often times than not seen Charmers and Gaia standing around when they could have helped the struggling humans, easily. All I see when I walk out of my room is an unequal division of hard labor and nonstop magic.

It was giving me a headache.

Sehun would always stay close to my side (a drastic change from before when he would be either in front to guide, or behind for me to lead him) to make sure that I don’t accidently (or purposely) get hurt by any moving objects. We haven’t had any more incidents involving petty bullying, but it seemed as though he was serious about making sure it didn’t happen again if he was around. Chanyeol would always be right behind us watching attentively and making joking comments at the same time.

It’s funny, being around the two of them has turned out to be so easy. With them with me (and Jongin whenever he isn’t needed) I feel less like a prisoner and more like a…distant member of an extravagant and icy family.

And as of late even the Queen has made her way even further into my heart. I find myself confiding in her more than before. Telling her funny things that Sehun and Chanyeol had done. Cool things I’d stumbled upon while walking around. I’ve even explained to her my feelings on the treatment of Charmers. I’ve been too afraid to bring up the topic of human boys yet. I don’t even think that the Charmers like them, so I’ve decided to wait on that one.

She was painting my fingernails after dinner in her room one night when I spoke out of the blue about my thoughts on the boys who can control the elements. “I don’t think that Charmers should be punished so harshly when they make mistakes.” She only tilted her head waiting for me to continue. “I don’t think it’s right for them to be beaten so badly for such minor infractions.”

“Um…okay?” she sounded genuinely confused about my concern. “I’m sorry that you feel that way. Does it distress you?”

“Kind of. It…hurts my feelings I guess.” I said hesitantly. She only hummed in acknowledgement while painting my index finger a bright red.

“I see.”

“I just…I don’t know. I see Chanyeol and Sehun in their places and it breaks my heart to think that they could be so hurt after doing one little wrong thing.”

“You have a soft heart.” She said while moving on to my middle finger with the nail polish. “I understand what you’re saying baby, but this is just how things are. Each Charmer’s Gaia can treat him as she sees fit, but for you I will try to make sure that none of the Charmers in the castle are punished too bad since you are so sensitive.”

“Really?!”

“Yes, but it’s only because you are so special to me.”

“…Thank you so much.”

“You will have to learn to accept these things though. They are property once they are given to you…you know that right?”

“Yes.” I didn’t. I don’t think it’s appropriate to equate them to property, but I guess I’ve got to start somewhere with her Highness, and this is progress so I let it go.

Currently, I find myself in the abandoned gym area in the middle of one of the dusty basketball courts with an orange ball in one hand and a water bottle in the other. I take a sip of the water and then set it on the ground out of my way. Chanyeol and Sehun stand at random spots on the court with athletic gear on and sweat dripping down their faces from our previous game where it was every man for himself.

As a break, we unanimously decide to just shoot the ball for fun for a bit.

I bounce the ball twice before walking up to the free throw line and tossing the ball into the hoop. It bounces at the edge before barely falling through the net. Sehun catches the rebound and shoots a layup before letting the ball roll in Chanyeol’s direction.

As I had said before, all of the party hype had been giving me a major headache, and it was getting too cold to just walk around outside. Remembering this unused section of the 2nd floor I instructed Sehun and Chanyeol to go put on clothes that they could run around in around 2 hours ago. After putting on shorts and a t-shirt myself, we’ve found ourselves shooting a basketball around in a quieter part of the building. A rare chance to relax in private these days.

I’m surprised no one thought to even come in here to redecorate for the upcoming influx of party goers.

“For tall people, you both kind of suck at basketball.” I observe when Chanyeol completely misses a shot from the 3-point line.

“And for a short person you kind of suck at being nice.”

“I don’t know…every short person I’ve met has been pretty mean. Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Jongdae, Minseok…” Chanyeol begins to list off angry short people on his fingers and I pick up the basketball that has rolled my way just to chuck it at his thigh. It hits him and he falls to the ground dramatically hissing and acting overall too much. Sehun starts to laugh at the act.

“You guys are assholes.”

“And you are small and cranky.” Sehun says after walking to Chanyeol’s side not to check on him, but to pick up the ball before it rolls out of the court.

“That’s cause I’m so much closer to hell.” I say while crouching down like a crab and laughing evilly from the back of my throat. Sehun rolls his eyes and shoots the ball, barely making it in. Chanyeol finally picks his body up off the ground as if he just lived through being shot, still clutching his leg where the ball hit.

“Aish. That hurt.”

“Not nearly as much as you were acting like it was.” I say deadpan. He suddenly starts smiling and lets go of his leg.

“You’re right. You got me.” I scoff out a laugh. Idiot. Chanyeol picks up the basketball and dribbles it a few times.

“It’s my turn to shoot.” I say.

“No. You used your turn on hitting Chanyeol. It’s his.” Sehun chimes in.

“Well he also missed his turn while he was lying on the ground.”

“But he didn’t throw the ball, so he still gets his turn.”

“Yeah. So wait your turn shorty.”

“I’m pretty sure this counts as bullying.”

“You’d have to have valid feelings in order to be bullied.”

“I take back what I told you the other day. I’d like to return you. Where is your receipt? I’d like a non-defective Charmer.” I say to Sehun while Chanyeol tosses me the hard basketball. I catch it and bounce it in place, listening to the sounds it makes reverberating off the walls. Sehun makes a face but makes no comment so I know that I’ve won this round. I take a few steps back towards the 3-point line, I bend my knees and then jump sending the ball in the direction of the orange hoop.

Swish.

“Wah, how are you so good?” Chanyeol asks in wonder.

I shrug. “I used to play outside with my friends in the 2nd ring. Basketball was their favorite thing to play.”

“Was the Tao guy one of them?” Sehun asks after remembering the like one time I mentioned him.

I nod. “Tao and I kind of sucked at it, so we would play but be divided up and put on the teams of the two better guys. That way it wasn’t unfairly split up.” I don’t know why I decided against using Kris and Luhan’s names. I guess I’m still afraid to be overheard by someone who shouldn’t hear.

Tao and I weren’t awful at basketball though, but compared to Luhan and Kris we might as well have been. I was almost always on Kris’s team, by choice. He was great and unarguably the better player of all of us, and when it came to helping me with tips and tricks he was always patient. It was just a plus that Tao and Luhan would be extremely upset whenever we would be in the lead.

I sigh at the memory and watch as Sehun takes another shot and nearly makes it. It spins around the edge of the hoop before it starts to fall out. Almost impossibly, it ends up going right back in.

“No magic, you brat.” Chanyeol fake punches at Sehun and the latter only shrugs before smirking. Wait what did he do? Is he telekinetic too?

“Wait,” I say stopping their impending quarrel. “What are you guys’ powers? In all the time we’ve been together, I don’t think I’d seen you guys use them once.” Unlike Jongin who poofs anywhere at any time all the time, the two of them seem to avoid using their magic at every opportunity.

Instead of verbally giving me an answer, Sehun holds his hand up with his palm facing me. A cool gust of wind hits me and chills my sweating face. “Air.” He says simply.

“Whoa. Can you do anything cool with it?” I ask. He juts his bottom lip out slightly and then snaps his fingers after a moment of thinking. In the space between all of us, a small tornado forms. The dust in the area begins to get whipped up and as it gets bigger I start to cough. It dies down and I hold my shirt over my mouth and nose so that I can breathe while the dust and debris settles. “That’s amazing.” My voice comes out muffled by my shirt. I wave away the dirt. He smiles a proud smile.

I turn to face Chanyeol, and like Sehun he says nothing but holds his hand out palm facing the roof. A ball of fire flickers to life and floats right above his hand.

Oh my fucking God.

My shoes squeak against the court as I take a staggering step backwards. His eyes are on his small flame and he looks at it with so much adoration that he doesn’t notice me taking small steps away.

Sehun however, does. “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

I shake my head as my heart pounds harder and faster in my chest. How the fuck can he look at that with so much happiness. How can he…control it? I start to feel suffocated in this room, and for a moment I see Chanyeol as him. As the man who could throw fire. I don’t know who that man was, but for just one heart stopping moment I see him as Chanyeol. I envision Chanyeol as the one who destroyed my home, and my life.

The red head looks away from his hand and gives me a worried look. “What’s-” I step backwards as he takes a small step in my direction.

“Put it out.” I say softly. Sehun and him share a look.

It’s not him. He’s too young to be him. There’s no reason to be afraid of Chanyeol. It’s just Chanyeol.

But I still can’t deal with the fire. “Please. P-Put it out. Put that ou-out.” I stutter making sure to maintain my distance from him. It goes out as soon as I make the request again. My muscles relax and I can breathe easier without the fire in the room. Without it near me. My chest tightens in fear as memories from months and years ago resurface in my mind.

I was doing fine for a while. I thought that I had gotten over it all after having told others about it.

I thought I was fine.

“I’m gonna, I’m going back to my room.” I back away and Sehun takes a step forward. “Alone. I want to go alone. Just…please.” My voice wavers and he immediately stops. I turn around and book it towards the door. They don’t know what’s wrong, and I can’t tell them. I’m not ready to tell them. I don’t need another mental breakdown to happen so soon.

The back of my eyes start to burn, and I know that at any moment now I’m going to start crying actual physical tears, so I pick up my pace and duck my head so that no one wandering around the castle setting it up can see my watery eyes. On the staircase I bump into someone so hard that the two of us almost fall down.

“Excuse me Mistress.”

That voice.

My head snaps up to confirm that I know the voice’s owner and my heart squeezes when I see his face. “Luhan…” I whimper. His hair is no longer that light brown that it was when I last saw him, but nearly black, and it’s styled differently from normal. Longer. He looks great with the new hair style, and his soft smile is so fucking pleased to see me that I almost let the unshed tears fall. At my expression his smile drops.

I don’t know if he can see that I’m shaken up, but it’s obvious that he knows I am. He glances around quickly and lets out a quiet curse. He looks to the ground and bows before apologizing once more and then begins to walk back down the stairs I was walking up. Before passing me he whispers, “I’ll come find you.” And then disappears down to the lower floor. I stand shocked in my spot.

A tear finally falls and I remember that I was heading to my room. After having seen Luhan, even for those 3 seconds, I feel even worse. I rush to my room and shut my door firmly before beginning to pace around in an attempt to calm my scattered nerves.

Chanyeol’s fire.

Luhan suddenly showing up.

Chanyeol can control the thing I fear most in this world and I happen to have gotten close to him. That’s terrifying. What if he gets mad at me…will he hurt me? Will I burn at the hand of one of my very own (dare I say) friends?

And Luhan. Luhan is in the castle, and left me on the stairwell. The greeting makes me think about how different it would be if it had been Tao that I’d happen to run in to. He’d never be here, but if I did see him again he’d hug me and probably never let me go. Seeing Luhan only brought up the longing feelings that I had pushed away. I want to see them. Kris and Tao and even though I saw Luhan I don’t know when I’ll get to see him again. What if he doesn’t get to see me at all while he’s here?

Fuck. I don’t even know which one I’m crying about now.

“Luhan is here…” I mutter aloud to myself while consumed by my thoughts. I stop in my tracks and look at my door with wide eyes. Luhan is here!! Suddenly the tears stop and my emotions and hormones are overrun with the fact that he’s actually fucking here!

I missed him. I miss all of them, but God with him here I actually realize how much I miss him. My heart starts to beat now in fear. How is he going to find me? Won’t we both get in trouble if he comes to my room? A loud knock causes my heart to stop beating for half a second. I stand in panic just staring at the large door.

Is it Chanyeol? Has he come for my life? I close my eyes and shake away the thought.

“Chanyeol isn’t going to hurt me.” I remind myself. I walk slowly to the door in fear of who awaits me on the other side.

“May I come in Mistress?” I let out a mix between a relieved sigh and a whimper when I see Luhan on the other side. Wordlessly, I grab his arm and yank him into my room. I shut and lock the door behind him, and stare at him with wide disbelieving eyes. He has on a nervous smile himself.

He’s actually right here. In front of me. Luhan is right here in my room in the castle right now. I can touch him if I reach out my hand again. “How-Why, why are you here?” I finally question.

“The Queen’s birthday. I told you, I’m summoned for special occasions. Many Gaia will be in attendance; I’m here on official business.”

Business.

The thought of all of the women who will be here touching him, kissing him, looking at him makes me feel sick. A flare of jealousy arises and I don’t even attempt to calm it. Who are they to enjoy his company purely to satiate their own selfish desires? They shouldn’t be able to touch him. They don’t appreciate him for who he is.

And you do?

“Wah, are you actually jealous?” Luhan questions while leaning it to take a closer look at my face. “I never thought I’d live to see the day. I’m honored, really.” He says with a grin. I frown at the teasing tone.

“No. Shut up.” I say quickly. He stuffs his hands in his pockets. “How did you get here? How’d you find my room?”

He smirks and shrugs. “I told the Queen that I’d heard she recently welcomed a new addition to the castle, and that I wanted to personally welcome you myself.”

“Why are you stressing w- oh, ohhhh!” I say once I realize the implication of his words. I feel my face heat up, and my heart starts to speed up. Fuck.

The Queen just…agreed to letting some random guy come into my room to welcome me? What if he had been some creep? I reach out and smack Luhan’s shoulder. “Why would you say that? What if she finds out that you lied?” I hiss.

He laughs quietly. “It’s the only way I would have been able to come see you. I don’t think she’d take kindly to me going up to her say that I know you and want to talk to you.”

I roll my eyes am utter out a quiet, “Dummy.”

“And besides…who said that I was lying?” he tilts his head to the side and smiles a mock innocent closed lip smile. And there he is, the charming son of a bitch that I begrudgingly missed. We both just stare at one another after his comment, and I just take in the fact that this is happening. He’s right here.

I’m hyper aware of his presence, and it’s really taking every ounce of control I have not to jump him right here and now. That string between us feels as though it’s trying to force me to go to him, but I’m trying to fight it with all that I have. I have control and I’m not going to let my juvenile hormones run me once again, but the way that he looks and the fact that I haven’t seen him in just over a month slowly breaks my resolve. Right before I can make any move, he huffs and takes a step closer.

“Fuck it, I can’t wait any longer.” He closes the distance between us and latches his mouth to mine and I lose every ounce of determination that I had tried to keep. The familiar feeling of euphoria and heat fills my body as I lose myself in the feeling of…Luhan.

Through the slight feeling of unease that this is inappropriate in this place, I mindlessly let my hands wander as his do the same. He pulls our bodies closer together and I twine my fingers into his scalp. “Mm, fuck…” I pepper kisses down his jawline, to his throat, and leave the faintest of kisses against his collarbone. “I missed you so much.” His whispers. I smile against his skin before placing a chaste kiss to his lips.

“I missed you too. Now, take this fucking shirt off.” I say yanking at the clothing article. That sneaky smile makes its appearance.

“Someone’s eager.” I roll my eyes at his comment and help him unbutton damned shirt. Once it falls to the ground, he picks me up by the thighs (taking me totally off guard). I let out a yelp and wrap my arms and legs around him to keep myself from falling down. My surprised look causes him to smile and plant a kiss on my cheek.

Whoa, that was a first.

He walks the both of us over to the edge of my bed and sits me on the edge. I blink stupidly; he kneels in front of me.

“What are you-”

“Hush,” He lifts up one of my legs and kisses the side of my knee. “Just relax, okay?” his lips ghost up my leg and stops right at the bottom of my shorts. I watch him with bated breaths as he begins to pull them down while keeping his eyes on my own. My shorts are tossed to the side. “I want to make you feel good.” He murmurs as his hands push open my legs and he slots himself between them. Watching him pull my underwear down sinfully slow, my arms feel like they’re made of pudding. “Will you allow me to do that?”

His fingers graze across my skin as my underwear are pulled lower.

And lower.

I forget how to breath under his intense gaze.

He pauses in his movements and I remember that he asked me a question.

What did he ask me?

I blink dumbfounded and he only chuckles as he removes my panties from around my ankles to toss them haphazardly across the room so that they can join my shorts. He straightens up and places a hand in the middle of my chest. “Lie down. I’ve got you, don’t worry.” I nod and settle back against my sheets.

Even without him actually telling me what he’s about to do, I know. I’ve never done this before…shockingly enough, and like half of me is terrified of what’s about to happen, but the other half is hella fucking turned on and excited for what’s to come. I close my eyes and take my bottom lip between my teeth to keep myself calm when I feel one of my legs being hooked over his shoulder and his warm breath against the inside of my thigh.

Oh my god, I’m so nervous right now I could throw up. Why does he want to do this? I haven’t even like mentally prepared myself for anything like this to happen. What if he doesn’t like it? What if I like accidently pee on him or something! Can that happen? Can you pee on someone while they’re, you know, down there?

He kisses my inner thigh so softly that I almost don’t feel it. I figure it’s meant to calm down my obvious tension.

And then his lips go there in a short kiss that wasn’t meant to do much besides make his presence known. A gasp slips from my mouth and I slap a hand over it. The noise happened so unconsciously. I hear him chuckle from below, and I swear this might be the most embarrassing moment of my life. His tongue flattens against my entrance before moving and swiping quickly across the sensitive bud of nerves. I feel so exposed and vulnerable and good and wow.

My fingers grip at my sheets as he continues to work his oh so talented tongue in my most sensitive of regions. I squirm in place as the sensations become more intense, and dear mother of god this boy is good with his mouth…

But how many other women have felt this same way? How many women have had these same thoughts? Had these same jolts from his ministrations? The thoughts lie there in the back of my mind while most of my attention is put on the euphoric feeling that is making my stomach coil and my heart thud warning me of my impending orgasm.

“Ah, ah. Fuck I’m almost, I’m almost there.” I pant. He only hums in acknowledgement and the vibrations from his mouth are just enough to bring me over the edge. My back arches off the mattress and I whimper out his name while he continues to suck on the throbbing nub to draw out the blissful feeling.

I let out a heavy breath and open my eyes to look at the ceiling. “Wow.” I murmur. Luhan finally moves from his position between my legs and I sit up on my elbows to look at him. He wipes at the corners of his lips with his thumb before sticking it in his mouth and sucking on it.

I feel embarrassed just watching him, and I can’t believe I just let him do that. I feel my body heating up from shame rather than arousal at how vulnerable I just was under his control. He crawls up on the mattress and straddles me. “I was great right?” he asks with a pure smile and I scrunch up my nose because yes he was, but I refuse to verbalize it. “You don’t have to say it, I already know.”

The fuck? Can he read minds now?

He closes the distance between our mouths again (I can taste myself on his tongue and it’s strange, but definitely not the worst thing I’ve ever tasted) this time kissing so languidly, tender, and deep that it sends a mix of emotions through me again. It’s full of emotion in itself and I know that he’s trying to convey something through it, but even though it’s obviously there for me to pull out and name I can’t get myself to identify it.

I’m afraid to identify it.

Even if he has feelings outside of the innocent flirting and fucking we’ve done, I can’t accept them. I won’t accept them. It’ll just cause trouble for everyone in the end and I don’t want that. I’ve already locked away the very thought of letting myself get too deep in my feelings, so it’s meaningless to even acknowledge it.

He pulls away, and stands up in front of me before putting his hands into his pockets. His erection is obviously unattended to, but it seems as though he has no intention of doing so. “Aren’t you gonna-”

“Nah, don’t worry about me. I just wanted to make sure you got off.”

I scoff. “Don’t do that. This isn’t supposed to be just for me. I want you to feel good too.” I repeat his earlier phrase. “Now get back over here, and fuck me Luhan.”

His eyes widen at my choice of words and he appears to be frozen in his spot. I’ve gotta do everything for these boys I swear. I stand up and hook my finger through his front belt loop, ignoring my own partial nudity while looking at him through my eyelashes. “I know you want to.”

His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows nervously. I place the palm of my hand to the front of his pants and he hisses almost painfully.

He was going to give himself blue balls playing around.

What a fucking idiot.

I pull down his zipper and kneel in front of him as I yank the pants down to the ground. I place my hands on his legs and let my fingers dance up his thighs and stopping right before the bottom of his boxers. “What do you want?” I ask quietly. “I’m not very good at blowjobs.” I admit. I tilt my head up so that I can look at his face. “But if you want, I will try my best.” His mouth is parted and he lets out a shaky breath before shaking his head.

Now who’s flustered?

“No.” He says hoarsely. “I just want to feel you…I want to feel you around me.” I can see his painfully hard cock twitch in his boxers.

“Okay.” I say softly. I grab the hem of his patterned boxers and pull down the thin fabric before kissing the droplet of pre cum at the slit of his penis. He groans throatily. I stand back up on my feet and turn him so that his back is to my bed and I’m in front of him. “Lie down.” I instruct. He follows without hesitation. I smile briefly before pulling my own shirt off, and then ridding myself of the sports bra I had been wearing. “Just let me take care,” I straddle him and position myself above him “, of you.”

I press my palms to his bare chest and let out a breath before lowering myself down. Both of us release groans of pleasure and I bite my bottom lip harshly to keep from making any louder noises even though I know for a fact that no one would be able to hear anything from outside.

That nagging part of my mind comes back telling me that multiple women have and will be doing the same thing with him in this very castle.

Am I slut shaming him for something that he’s being more or less forced to do?

Yet here you are using him for the exact same.

But I’m not. I don’t think. He came here, and he wanted to do this.

But not for the same reasons, and you know that.

I do. I do know that, but we’ve come too far to just stop now. Whether I’m playing with his feelings, and whether or not my straying emotions are making it worse means nothing right now. Right now, we’re just trying to show one another that we missed the other.

Right?

Tired and sweating, the two of us stare in silence. After having chased our highs, we’ve resorted to gathering our energy in the comfort of my bed’s soft sheets. Unlike last time, Luhan is wide awake after and is stroking the side of my face with his hand slowly.

I let him do it since it feels nice, and it seems as though he needed to do it for his own comfort.

“How’ve you been?” he asks finally. I take a moment to think. I could be serious, but I decide against it.

“Your lessons didn’t work for shit.” I reply honestly.

He laughs loudly at the answer. “What do you mean?”

“The Queen for one…she isn’t anything like you said she would be. I was expecting some cold old woman who would like…whistle for me when I was needed,”

“But?”

“But…she’s really actually nice. She has a weird habit of touching me and I think she like, likes me. She treats me like a daughter and also like a wife and I don’t know. She’s not like a Queen as much as she is like a…powerful friend.” I tell him honestly. He stops touching my face to give me a thoughtful look.

“That’s not entirely shocking.”

“What?”

“This was the outcome I least expected, but I’m not surprised by this. She wasn’t this way with Wheein, but you two are totally different so I guess she’d treat you differently.”

“Wheein?”

He hesitates, “The last human girl.”

“Oh…”

“I’m not sure, but I think that she’s probably planning something for you. I don’t know what, but I’ll talk to Kris about it and we’ll figure it out.” I perk up at the mention of the giant dork.

“How is Kris? How is Tao? Are they okay? Have they been eating? Can you tell them that I miss them? Tell them I’m okay. I know Tao is probably worried because he’s a child, and I’ve practically spent every day with him since we met so I might as well be his mother.” I ramble. He rolls his eyes playfully.

“You’re lying naked with me and you’re going to ask about them with no problems?”

“Well I mean I’ve lied naked with Tao too but-”

His hand covers my mouth. “Okay wow, that’s something I don’t want to hear right now.” He looks grossed out, and I find myself giggling behind his hand. His expression melts into a small smile and I feel an overwhelming sense of peace just lying with him and talking like this.

But I know it won’t last for long.

“How long are you going to stay?” I ask -once his hand isn’t blocking my mouth- already dreading the answer.

“Just until the party is over.” It hurts to hear even though I already assumed that was when he’d leave. It’s disheartening to know that he has to leave as soon as the festivities are over, and even while is here he’s going to be working for a majority of the time so I won’t be able to get him alone to talk.

But that’s fine. That’s life I guess.

“Why were you so upset earlier?”

“Oh…that?” I ask sheepishly. I had almost forgotten the whole…fire ordeal.

It seems as though he takes the silence as me being upset about him not saying anything on the staircase, and I mean yeah I was kind of sad about that but it wasn’t that big of a deal. “I’m sorry for not…doing anything on the staircase. You looked like you needed a hug or words of comfort or something, and I wanted to…but there were people around and I couldn’t risk that even though literally everything in me was telling me to hold you.” He admits.

I laugh shortly. “You’re my bitch.”

He narrows his eyes at my joke after his serious confession, “You and Tao are really too similar.” I’m sure we are.

“Blah, blah, blah anyway I was upset because hmm…” how do I even start to talk about this? I sit up on my elbows and let the cover fall to my lap. He eyes glance at my bare chest briefly before looking back up. I roll my eyes.

Idiot.

“Remember how I said that I’m afraid of fire and large bodies of water?” he nods. “I found out that one of…” my friends? Servants? “one of the Charmers with me uses fire.”

“Chanyeol?”

“How’d you know?”

“I lived here, remember? I know nearly all of the guys here.”

“…well yeah. It’s Chanyeol. They were showing me their powers and I don’t know, I freaked out and I don’t know what to tell them.”

“Perhaps the truth?”

“It’s not that simple. I’m scared Luhan.” I lie back on my side and look at him as earnestly as I can. He stares back silently before he nods his head.

“I’ll talk to them then. I’ll handle it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’ll handle it. Do you need a step by step outline?”

“It’d help.”

“You’re an ass.”

“And you have a cute ass.” I chirp back. He raises his hand as if to hit me, and I hold my hands up to cover my face while laughing. We fall back into comfortable silence, and I find myself playing with the hair on his forehead. “Am I going to be able to see you again before you leave?” I murmur more to myself than to him.

He clicks his tongue. “I should have known. Ah what a burden.”

“Burden?” my hand pauses in his hair and I look at him with confusion. He grabs it and kisses my knuckles.

“You can’t get enough of me. What a burden, but, I think I might be able to shoulder it.” I snatch my hand away from him and flick him hard in the middle of the forehead. He whines and holds a hand up to the hurt location.

“You’re the worst. I take back what I asked. I don’t want to see you.”

He smiles and snuggles himself closer to me. His head rests in the crook of my neck and he kisses it playfully making a large shiver go through my entire body. And fuck, the boy just does things to me.

“Well too bad. I’m going to find you at every chance I get because I want to see you.”

And as sweet and cute as it is I respond with a deadpan, “I’d prefer it if you not come find me after fucking one of the Gaia in the castle.” Despite the harsh comment he laughs.

“I’ll make sure to keep your jealousy in mind when I come see you.”

I roll my eyes for the nth time since he arrived and stick out my tongue. He’s such an asshole,

But he’s my asshole.

Notes