“Okay, fresh onions, basil, detergent, soap and a bottle of shampoo. Check. Anything else you’d like from the store?” Heero said as he make quick notes on a pink cat-shaped memo pad Wufei had gifted him.

 Duo sat on the edge of Heero’s table, one leg dangling while the other firmly on the floor.. “Throw in some food and beer. Have I mentioned that the guys are coming over later tonight?”

 “Okay. What time?”

 “I dunno. Maybe nine? Wufei and Tro can make it at eight thirty but Quatre said he wasn’t sure.”

 “Okay.” Heero paused to look over the list again, trying to remember if their refrigerator needed stocking. “Would you mind if I pick up some more toilet paper, I think we’re running low. And hot dogs maybe? For tonight’s dinner.”

 “Nope. Go right ahead.” Duo said readily and then grimaced. ”Do we have to eat hot dogs for dinner?”

 “Hmmm, what would you like for dinner then?” Heero furrowed his eyebrows at Duo. The idea of eating only hot dogs also didn’t sit quite well with him, especially not when they were having friends over. “I can get some pasta and beef and alfredo sauce later.”

 “Nah, never mind that. I don’t feel like cooking tonight. Have you seen my shift? I feel like I’d be dead on my feet by the time I clock out. And I doubt you have time to whip up something quick. Aren’t you on that Basil case? How about take-out? We can get some Thai, that whatsitname we went last month. They have some great spicy stuff. I’m sure the guys won’t mind.”

 Heero nodded. “Understood.” He quickly crossed ‘hot dogs’ off his list and added ‘Thai take out’ beside the note. “Anything else before I forget?”

 Duo raised his eyes to the ceiling, looking thoughtfully. When nothing came to mind, he shrugged. “Dunno. Nothing comes to mind.” He dug out his wallet and took out the card. “Here, use my card.”

 Heero shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’ll pay. You can do the groceries next week.”

 “Roger.” Duo saluted without a fuzz and slipped his bank card back into his wallet. “I’ll text you if I remember anything else for our groceries.” Duo patted Heero on the shoulder as he turned on his heels and made his way out of the office. “Well, gotta go. I’ll see you later tonight. Bye.”

 “Stay safe.” Heero called out after him and received a distracted wave in response.  

 Once Duo was out of sight, Heero added “cooking oil” and “kitchen towels” at the end of the memo. Maybe he should add some eggs and orange juice. Oh yeah, bread. Need bread for sandwiches.

 “Heero.”

 It’s only when he heard his name that Heero realized he had forgotten something. Or rather someone.

 “Relena? Oh!” His eyes widened when he finally raised his eyes from the memo to look at the laptop screen where Relena was staring back at him in amusement. “Sorry. I forgot. I didn’t mean to ignore you. That was Duo, by the way. We’re just discussing for tonight’s dinner. You’re invited as well. If you’re free tonight.” He babbled.

 Relena’s eyes were twinkling with mirth as she brought a cup to her lips and sipped. “Oh, don’t mind me. You seem to be having so much fun there.”

 Heero winced. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”

 Relena waved it off with a flap of her hand. “I’ve still five minutes to go before my meeting.”    She rested her elbows on the desk and laced her fingers together. “Tell me, Heero.” She said seriously. “There’s hearsay buzzing around both you and Duo. Are they true?”

 He blinked. “I’m sorry, are you asking me about rumors?”

 “Are you two together?”

 His face burned. “No--Duo and I--”  

 “Oh dear.” Relena’s smile turned remarkably evil. “Duo mentioned you two went somewhere last month. As in together. A date! Was it one? Not a date? No? This is just marvelous!” She gleefully pulled out her personal phone and tapped a number with one hand while the other wiggled goodbye. “Heero, I’ll talk to you later next week. Bye~ why hello, Dorothy. You would not believe what I just heard from He--”

 Then the video feed cut off before Heero could demand an explanation.

  “It’s the way you two act around each other.” Trowa said solemnly later that night, popping popcorn into his mouth while he lounged lazily across the couch.

 “Wait a sec, you two aren’t actually together?” Quatre demanded from beside him. “Why the hell not?”  

 “Could’ve fooled us.” Wufei snorted, shoving a hand into the popcorn bowl and flick one stray kernel at Quatre when Quatre’s knee shoved his shoulder.

 “Is it because you’re shy?” Trowa prodded. “This is Duo we’re talking about. I thought you were very comfortable with each other. Didn’t you say you could talk about anything and everything with him?”

 “Don’t worry, Heero. I’ve the perfect date plan for both of you. Let me get my notes first-” To Heero’s horror, Quatre rapidly tapped his phone screen with his pinky, trying to avoid getting his oily fingers on the surface and he pulled up a document.

 “I told you we should’ve ordered some toys for them.” Wufei grumbled.

 “You’re just mad because you lost the bet.” Trowa flicked a popcorn at Wufei’s head.

 “Didn’t you lose a chunk too?” Wufei elbowed Trowa in the ankle.

 “It’s all for a good cause.” Trowa said loftily.

 “You’re all the worst friends ever.” Heero grumbled. “I need new friends.”

 “That’s what Duo would say! See, you’re even saying things you wouldn’t normally say. I think that’s brilliant!” Quatre beamed. “So where’s Duo anyway?”

 The door handle rattled with the sound of clinking keys and then Duo stepped in, “Hey guys, sorry, I’m late. Got caught up with work. And then traffic.”

 Heero was immediately at the door as well, silently helping Duo out of his jacket and unwind the thick scarf from around Duo’s neck. “Welcome back. We ate without you though.”

 “Aww, it’s fine. I am--” Duo checked this watch. “ Geezus , about two hours late! Sorry everyone.”

 “I’ve wrapped your dinner up already. Should I warm it up right now?” Heero asked as he hung the jacket in the foyer.

 “Oh, thanks, Heero. You’re a lifesaver!” Duo kicked off his boots and quickly lined them on the shoe rack when Heero cleared his throat. “Can you also get me something cool to drink?”

 “Iced tea with lemon slices?”

 “Yes, my throat is parched!”

 “Be right back.” Heero headed to the kitchen, passed the living-room and gave his friends a pointed glare. “Not a word.”

 Duo settled on the single couch, sinking deep into the cushions with a sigh and put his feet up on the footstool. “So~~ what did I miss?”

 “Two Clueless Specimen In Their Natural Habitat.” Wufei answered promptly.

 “That sounds fascinating. But what is it about?” Duo wiggled his toes. 

 Trowa and Quatre shared a look with Wufei, before they all sport identical evil smirks. “Popcorn, anyone?” Trowa raised the bowl he had been monopolizing. 

“I think my roommate is a vampire.” Duo said one night when he was out drinking with his best friend. His friend had stopped drinking and stared at him, before spraying their drink at Duo’s face and guffawed at the same time. He nearly fell off his chair when he clutched his sides for laughing too much.

“You are disgusting. Ugh.” Duo wiped off the spittle from his face with a grimace.

“Sorry, I’m sorry hahahaha here--some towels. But Duo, do you know how ridiculous that sounds? A vampire? In the middle of twenty-first century?” His friend grabbed some towels from the nearest table and offered them for his face.

“I’m being serious, Quatre. I never see him come out of his room at all. His face is always so pale and bloodless. The only time I see him is at night. And that’s not saying much. And one time I saw some blood splatters on his clothes.”

“Is it the same guy you thought was a drug dealer?” Quatre asked.

“Yeah, same guy.” Duo sighed and downed last of his beer in one go.

“Maybe he only does graveyard shifts, like Trowa.”  

Duo frowned as he considered their other friend, who couldn’t make it for their night out. “He doesn’t look like a doctor to me though. Not like Trowa though.”

“How so? I think Trowa doesn’t look like a doctor either. Unless he wears that white coat.” Quatre muttered. “All those tattoos on him should be illegal.”

“Quat, you should ask him out sometime.” Amused, Duo took a swig from his beer, only to realize his bottle was already empty. Sighing, he set the bottle down and folded his arms.

“No way! We’re not talking about the traitor who couldn’t come tonight!”

“Quatre, you’re drunk.”

“No, I’m not. And leave Mister Perfect Tats out of this.”

“I’ll tell Tro you think he’s hot.”

“I do not.” Quatre sounded scandalized. “We’re not talking about him! And don’t you dare tell him, Duo, or you’ll be sorry!”

Duo held his hands up in peace. “All right, all right.”

“We’re talking about your vampire, drug dealer, weirdo, whatshisnameagain roommate.”  

“His name is Yui. He didn’t mention a family name though.” Duo tried to remember the few times his roommate had spoken to him and wondered whether they actually gave him their full name or not.

“Yeah, him. Yui. We’re talking about Yui.” Quatre grumbled. ”Why didn’t you just ask him what he does for a living?”

“When can I do that? It’s not like I can catch him on his way out of the apartment.”

“Your mind is always running around making crazy assumptions. Maybe you should talk to him sometime. Ask him about his job and whatever else you find interesting about that guy.”

“Fine.” Duo decided. “If you don’t see me again next friday, my vampire roommate has probably sucked me dry by then.”

On hindsight, it’s probably because of Quatre Duo hadn’t been able to think of anything else, except trying to come up with cue words or phrases to initiate contact with the very reclusive Yui. Still buzzed from the alcohol, Duo’s mind decided to produce various, safe conversation topics and scenarios on his way back home. Like food! Wouldn’t it be nice to invite Yui for dinner? Or maybe trade detergent secrets. How did Yui even make his laundry smell fresh but odorless, despite that one time Duo had caught Yui dressed in filthy rags? While his mind was occupied, Duo absently took out his keys to open the front door. He toed off his shoes and finally turned on the lights.

“Holy shit!” Duo jumped back.

The living-room was a mess. Broken glass was strewn everywhere across the floor. The bookcase had tumbled down. The pillows on the sofa were torn, shredded into pieces, their feathers were flying everywhere. The far wall that was probably Yui’s room was riddled with holes. Bullet holes? Three bodies laid motionless across the floor. Dead? Duo wasn’t sure. He was too occupied with staring at two people on the floor at his feet, who were very much alive.

And one of them was Yui, who recovered quickly from the shock of either light flooding the room or Duo standing at the front door, wrestling with an unknown man, struggling to escape the chokehold, until Yui finally retaliated with slamming his head backwards and knocked his assaulter out by stabbing some electric rod into his side.

“Welcome home, Duo.” Yui said, smiling, or trying to sound charming as he crawled up on his feet, patted his slacks. His face wasn’t that pretty to look at, not with bloodtrail coming down from his nostrils and the black and blue bruises on his cheekbones and the corner of his left eye.

Duo crossed his arms and glared down at his roommate. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

“All right.” Yui winced. “Let me make a quick call to my boss first to get this all cleaned up.”

“Why? Don’t you mean the police? Are you some sort of assassin?”

Yui snorted. “Nothing that fancy, I’m afraid. Come into the kitchen while we wait for my crew to clean up. I’ll make you some tea.”

“Uhm.” Duo flicked his gaze down to the prone bodies in his living-room.

“I wouldn’t worry about them.” Yui said dismissively. “They’re just out cold.”

“I’m not worried about them.” Duo heaved a sigh. “Just--who the hell are you anyway, Yui?  Is that even your name?”

Yui stared at him in consideration before reaching into the inner pocket of his bloodied dress shirt and flipped out a badge. “I’m Special Agent Heero Yuy. I work for Preventers.”

“Damn.” Duo breathed, studying the badge and the picture carefully. “It’s real. You’re a spy?”

“No. A special agent.” Agent Yuy corrected.

“Is it not the same?”

Agent Yuy pressed his lips into a thin line and sighed. “Let’s have tea, then I’ll explain it to you more clearly.”

He was in group B. Which meant he had to sit at one of the tables and wait for the people of group A to sit with him and go through awkward conversations in ten minutes or less. And hope to get at least a contact number or email address at some point in the night.

After three awkward and stilted conversations, Quatre’s anticipation dropped down to disappointment. It looks like he was never going to find someone to connect properly tonight.

Again.  

Quatre glanced at his watch and sighed. Another torturous half hour to go before this whole event was done. Before he could go back home to his lonely apartment to put on some old sappy holidays movies to nurse his bruised night. He couldn’t wait to be done with all this crap.

“Hi. I’m Duo. It’s nice to meet you.” The braid caught Quatre’s attention. It’s very long as it hung over Duo’s shoulder.

Then those long legs, that weren’t really long to begin with since Quatre was sure he was taller than this Duo. It's those dark skinny jeans that seem to hug the right places.

And maybe it’s because those eyes reeled him in too easily. And maybe the quirk of a smile.

So. Okay. This guy looked quite… attractive.

“Uhm.” Duo raised his eyebrows at him, amused. “It’s the hair, is it?”

“Everything actually.” When he realized Duo was staring right back at him with those serious eyes, Quatre quickly shook his head to get himself back in order and smiled. “Sorry, got distracted, with your uhm… everything. Nothing bad I assure you. Sorry, I’m babbling, hi. Good evening. I’m Quatre.”  

They finally shook hands, Quatre’s face burning in shame at his ineloquence while Duo laughed it off.  

“So.”

“So--.” They even began at the same time before chuckling awkwardly.

“Sorry, please.” Duo gestured to him. “You first.”

“Oh- I’m sorry. No please, you can go first.” Quatre clasped Duo’s hand and shook it to make sure he was sincere. “Please, I insist. Truly!”

“All right.” Duo began, clearing his throat. “If you insist. Tell me, why are you here? You look like you can get anybody you want. Why this?”

“Pfft.” Quatre couldn’t help it and quickly apologized. “Tell me your reason and I’ll tell you mine.”

“Okay, okay, that’s fair. Uhm--”

“Yes~?”

“My asshole friend signed me up behind my back. Said I need to get out more--"

“That’s really nice of your friend though.”

"-And hopefully get laid."

"Oh."

"But from what I see around here," Duo looked around the room where the event was held. "I’m sure I'll never gonna find someone tonight.”

"Why didn’t you refuse in the first place?"

“Heh. I’m here for the free food. Heard they contracted a prominent catering service to suit everyone’s palettes. Don’t tell anyone about that though. That I’m only here for food instead you know… dates.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”  

“Plus my friend already paid the basic package in full. No harm done getting all the advantages sans a hot night.”

“Indeed.” Quatre nodded solemnly.

“Your turn. Why did you sign up?”

“To get some.” Quatre deadpanned. To be honest, no, that wasn't his initial purpose for attending this speed dating event. But those words were out of Quatre's mouth before he could stop himself. His face was burning in shame right now.

Duo burst out laughing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult. Not that you’re not a catch though, I mean, you look amazing in those clothes, so snazzy, I mean, cute, very stylish. Uhm. I-- I’ll just shut up right here.” Duo hung his head.

Quatre blinked at the unexpected compliments and slowly smirked, resting his chin on his laced fingers, leaning closer. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” He made a show to look Duo up and down.

“Thanks! That’s what they all say.” Duo said. “But.” He stopped. “I’m not the type to sleep on the first date.”

“Oh? This is a date?”

Duo grinned. “Nope. But let’s head out right now and have one for real. There’s a great place around the block.”

“Are you actually asking me out?”

“Sure… if you want.”

“Duo, help!”

Hilde burst into the room and flung herself onto her friend, her nails digging into his skin. Duo hissed but didn’t pull away as he let himself be dragged away, stumbling over slippers.

“--the root was too old. Or maybe the glyphs were copied wrong. We had exactly three drops of blood. I don’t know what happened. But we don’t have much time--” Hilde rattled on without context.

“Wait, wait, hold on.” Duo said, digging his heels in the ground to stop advancing.

Hilde opened her mouth to launch herself in another panicked stream of monologuing, her eyes scared and darting around the room and her hands shaking while they fisted her dress. “Duo, I gotta tell you--”

“Sshhh, shhh. Take a deep breath.”

“Duo, there’s something I --”

“Hilde, Hilde, breathe. Breathe.” The no nonsense glare he gave her made her comply. Hilde took gulps of air to calmed her heart. She didn’t even realize she was hyperventilating until she realized how her body was shuddering too uncontrollably and her chest felt too small for her lungs to expand.

Duo’s hand rubbed her back soothingly. “Better now?”

Hilde nodded, swallowing a few times as she finally calmed down. A few deep long breaths later, Hilde steeled herself and looked up at Duo.

“What’s wrong?” Duo asked her.

“I’m sorry,” Hilde said and her hands clung onto his wrist. “I have no time to explain this properly.”

“Why not?”

She didn’t wait for Duo’s response, tugged her friend along again, dodging fellow-peers in the long corridors and up the stairs heading to the Tower. On the way to the Tower, or what the Professors called the Spell Chambers, Hilde had tried to fill him in with sparse information and kept glancing around, afraid that someone or something would jump at her any minute now.

“I was honestly just practising for the exams. With the girls from the Magic Theory class, you know Relena and Sylvia. We weren’t trying to do anything bad. I swear. Saw something in a book or some study. I don’t remember. Honest! We followed the instructions. I even checked it twice in the library. It has these sigils and these incantations. And we--.”

“Hilde, cut to the chase.”

“I--” She inhaled loudly. “Iturnedthemintofrogs.”

“What.”

Hilde let out a whimper, a whine maybe. Duo wasn’t sure.

Duo sniggered. “What exactly? Frogs? Really?”

Hilde finally stopped in front of one of the many Spell chambers and threw the door open and pushed her friend inside before pulling the door closed behind her back. “Please save them, Duo! The spell said we have only less than a fortnight to break the Curse before they die.”

“Wait, Hilde, you were Cursing someone with your friends? I thought you said you were practicing for an exam. That’s so--”

“Irresponsible!” Hilde cried out. “I know! And now I’m sorry I even tried. Please don’t report me to the Professor.”

“Uhm. I was going to say, hilarious. Cuz I never thought you’d be the type to Curse.”

“Duo!” Hilde whapped his arm.

“Sorry.” Duo laughed, dodged another slap while he looked around the chamber.

There was the magic circle in the center of the chamber. He gave it a cursory glance and decided it looked harmless for a Curse circle. Nothing from the sigils gave him hair-raising warnings. Not even the residual magic that still lingered in the chamber. Hilde shouldn't be having problems with this Spell, not when she was backed with Relena and Sylvia, both prospective top Magic Witches of their year.

What went wrong in the first place? Did they mispronounce the words? That was so hard to imagine.

There was a study table pressed against the far wall with several spell books spread across the surface. Pieces of chalk laid scattered outside the circle and a pouch filled with salt was carelessly dropped at the Northern sigil of circle.

“Where are your friends?”

“You just stepped on one of them.”

Duo jumped backwards and stumbled, his back pressed against the door. “Geezus! Sorry. Who did I almost kill?”

Hilde was already on the ground and scooped up one of the frogs. “Sylvia, I think.”

“Sorry, Sylvia.” Duo ducked his head guiltily. “Where’s Relena?”

“Somewhere…around here. Oh! There she is.” Hilde quickly skipped over the magic circle to scoop the second frog from the window ledge. Once she had Relena The Frog secured, she held both frogs expectantly out to Duo.

Both frogs stared at Duo with glassy eyes. Almost pleadingly. If Duo were telepathic, he'd imagined them asking him pitifully for help as well. As if having Hilde direct that same look in her eyes at him wasn't bad enough. He was such a softie.

“Uh, so how am I supposed to help you?” Duo asked.

“I don’t know how. Aren’t you technically the so-called Magic Genius here?”

“Well, not according to the Prof. Last I checked I was a nuisance and had no latent magic skills to speak of.”

“He’s an idiot!” Hilde spat. “So, are you gonna help them or not?”

“How exactly? Remember, there are rules in Spell Casting. Usually the caster can break the Spell.”

“I don’t know how! I’ve already tried the basic counter release magic spells on them. I even kissed them like those fairy tales talked about kisses being Curse breakers.” Duo grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. “Oh shut up! Nothing worked!”

“Who were you trying to Curse anyway?”

“None of your business! It wasn’t even a True Curse anyway. I was just--we just wanted to teach them a lesson.”

“Let me see the original Curse first.”

Hilde gestured to the table.

Duo picked up the Spellbooks one by one, scanned the pages that were laid open and checked the diagrams to make sure the they were properly drawn on the floor. “With this level, you should’ve been able to complete the Spell successfully.”

“I know~~~ Which is why it was strange this happened! Please tell me there is a counterspell.” Hilde whimpered.

“What kind of conditions have you set on that Spell?”

“A mild one. Nasty frizzy hair Spell.”

Duo nodded absently as he quickly leafed through the Spellbooks, checked the index a few times, flipped back and forth to check certain Spells before deciding they weren’t appropriate in this situation.

After what seem like a long excruciating wait in silence while Duo scanned the Spells, Hilde whimpered. “What are we supposed to do?” Hilde looked down at the two frogs in her arms. They looked back pitifully at her.

“You mean--what are you supposed to do? Cuz this was technically your fault.“ Duo pointed out.

“Fine, sorry. I admit it’s my wrongdoing.”

“How about--” Duo stopped checking the Spellbooks and looked Hilde in the eye. “--I rewrite the spell?”

“Are you crazy?” Hilde cried out. “That’s dangerous! You’re not even a proper Witch yet. If the Professor ever finds out, they’ll do more than just subtract your credits in class. You could get punished for real.”

“As if you three weren’t doing anything dangerous at all when you decided to Curse someone.” Duo pointed out.

Hilde flinched, pressing her lips into a thin, angry line and guiltily ducked her head.

“Look, Hil, sorry. I know you didn’t mean it. You came to me for a solution and I’ll do all I can to reverse this Curse. And we will speak none of this outside this chamber, all right?”

“It’s still dangerous.” Hilde said quietly.

“Well, you’ll never know until you try it.” Duo shrugged, shutting the books closed and went on his haunches to grab a piece of chalk and untied the salt pouch hanging from his hip. He unloaded the salt onto the floor, adding a thicker layer on the outer circle for protection, smudged a few sigils and signs with his hand and added smaller sigils in the circle of the center. He instructed Hilde to place her frog friends inside the magic circle.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” Hilde asked nervously, wringing her hands.

“Sort of. In order to reverse the Spell. I need to mirror the signs and change a few words in the Casting.” Duo dropped his chalk and patted the powder off his hands and fingers. “All we need is a drop of my blood, since I technically didn’t cast the Curse. My blood should be able to release them.”

“Are you sure?” Hilde remained unconvinced.

“Well, in theory at least. I’m still doing research on this with Ze--a friend. So now is probably the best time to test it out.” Duo grinned.  

On hindsight, he probably should’ve listened to Hilde more. She’s his best friend and came from a long line of powerful Witches herself. She had probably heard this theory before since it’s nothing new in the Witches world, but nobody had gone far enough to prove this theory true.

Until now.

“Stand back, Hil.” Hilde had already propped the table on the ground to hide herself against the wall.

Duo winced as soon as he pricked a thin knife into his fingertip to let his blood drip onto the circle, dropped the knife beside him and then murmured a Spell he had created on the spot by changing a few words from the original Curse.

The circle brightened, emitting light so bright that it nearly blinding them, wind swirled around the chamber, whipping Duo’s hair in disarray and there was a loud screech and a bang.

Once the smoke dissipated and the light no longer piercing the back of their eyeballs, Hilde coughed and waved the lingering smoke aside.

“Duo? Did it work?”

Hilde approached her friend cautiously and tried to see the circle where her frog friends once were. A thick cloud of smoke had obscured them until it finally dispersed from the air when Hilde sent a quick wind Spell around the chamber.

“Well… it worked!” Duo laughed nervously.

He didn’t sound too sure though. Hilde got closer to see--instead of two bodies lying on top of the Circle, there were three. Two of them were thankfully both Relena and Sylvia. Hilde would check them later if they have missing body parts.

The third one though… was a man. A strange man wearing strange clothes.

“Duo, what did you do?”

“A miscalculation. I guess.” Duo leaned closer. “I forgot my blood is not normal.”

“How is it not normal?” Hilde all but screeched.

“Remember what the Prof said about my lack of latent magic? He meant my blood. It’s… impure.” Duo grimaced as he spat those words.

“For your sake, I hope it’s not a demon.”

“That was one time! And it’s not a demon.” Duo said slowly. “He’s not. He feels… different.” Duo reached out carefully to press his index finger on the strange man’s forehead to peak into their memories. But before he even touched the man, their eyes sprang open, wide and dangerous, and Duo felt his world shift, his face was slammed against the floor and his arm wrenched in a painful angle. Duo cried out when he felt the man dig his knee into his back.

“Who sent you?” The man growled. “Who are you?”

“Release him!” Hilde commanded. The strange man didn’t have time to react when her hand slammed a shockwave through his back, his body convulsed violently under the voltage strike before he crumpled on top of Duo.

Duo groaned and crawled out from under the weight, one hand holding his bruised arm as he glared at Hilde. “Next time, can you please strike him when I am preferably out of range, Hil. Look what you’ve done to my hair.”

“We’re tied together.” Fai smirked and held up the hand where a red thread connected his ring finger with Kurogane’s own.

“Mokona and daddy are connected too ~<3!” Mokona held up her paw triumphantly to show her ribbonned paw, also connected to Kurogane’s hand.

Syaoran raised his hand shyly to show his own thread as well. “It seems we’re all connected.”

Kurogane’s eyebrow twitched. “Is this even remotely possible?” He demanded, his red eyes glaring at the mayor who welcomed them into this world unexpectedly.

“I’ve never seen or heard of this before.” Mayor Tomoyo looked surprised at Kurogane’s thread that split off to connect everyone of the traveling team, but then her eyes sparkled. “Kurogane-san, congratulations! You’re so blessed with so many soulmates!”

“Soulmates?”

“Significant other.” Mayor Tomoyo said in a tone as if it explained everything.

“Significant other?” Kurogane and Syaoran spluttered at the same time.

“Or connected souls.”

“Connected… souls?” Kurogane parroted brokenly as he stared in horror at Fai, who winked at him.

“Or close friends. Road buddies. Whatever you want to call it.” Tomoyo flapped her hand dismissively.

“We’re just traveling companions.” Kurogane said then pointed to Syaoran. “I’m okay with being connected to the kid. As a fellow traveler. But.” He spit out, glaring at Mokona and Fai. “Not those two!”

“Awww, don’t be mad, Daddy. Mokona and mommy love you a lot too! ~<3. Right Fai?”  Mokona hopped onto Kurogane’s face to press her cheeks all over his face.

“Yes, yes. We love Daddy a lot.” Fai let out a delighted laugh, blowing a raspberry kiss.

“In a world where a visible red thread signifies a connection between two souls, having more than one thread is rare.” Mayor Tomoyo explained. “Kurogane-san must be happy to be connected with everyone.”

“Uh… I wouldn’t say that.” Syaoran muttered weakly.

“Get off! Get off!” Kurogane roared, finally pried Mokona off his face, huffing and unsheathed his sword with a practiced Shwink. “That’s it! Let’s disconnect now, shall we? I’ll make it painless for you, manjuu.” 

The glinting sword was raised in the air.

The storm raged on the whole night. Quatre knew this because he had been keeping his eyes on the clock ever since Trowa had finally decided not to pester him with his too-charming presence. The wind howled outside the walls of the cabin. (Hopefully not exactly wind spirits asking Quatre to open the door for them.) Thick snow had obscured the windows in layers of white and gray. It was too difficult to make out some path that would lead him back to the Resort Quatre and his family had booked. Not in this weather. Thank goodness Trowa had found him before the storm hit. Quatre would be dead by now if he were still out there.

Trowa had the forethought to offer him the phone--the only means of contact that connected the cabin owner with the world outside these wooden walls--and Quatre had immediately left a message at the Resort’s front desk, telling his family that he was alive and he was hiding out from the storm in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. If the storm continued to last longer than one night, like Trowa had predicted, at least Quatre had left his family a clue where to check first once the storm passed.

Next time, Quatre decided, he’d definitely go to the Caribbeans and become a beach bum. Much better than freezing his ass on the wooden floor.

Despite the cabin having the right insulations to keep the worst cold at bay, Quatre’s body still shivered. He pulled the blanket closer around his huddled body and pressed his nose into the scarf.

His clothes got wet during his tumble down the mountains and were hanging in the bathroom to dry. All he was wearing were some of Trowa’s spare clothes: a thick woolen sweater with a rather creepy-looking Santa Claus, thick leggings that were a little too long and fuzzy socks. To ward off the cold that seem to be seeping into Quatre’s very being, Trowa had lent him a scarf and the throw blanket from the couch.

That was starting to be a very bad idea.

Everything smelled like Trowa.

“Of course, you can always slip into my bed.” Trowa had offered way too smoothly after he had done patching Quatre up. “After all, human warmth is the best comfort in this weather.”

“No, thanks.” Quatre had muttered. Though it was really tempting to accept, especially when Trowa had this really funny way of laughing and DAMMIT QUATRE DON’T START MAKING MOONEY EYES NOW.

Trowa was probably lulling him into security. That’s what all serial killers do. He’d read enough to know the signs to spot someone suspicious.

Now Quatre started to regret his decision a little to sit here instead of accepting the offer.

Quatre threw another log into the fireplace. The fire crackled and Quatre coughed. Who knew having an actual working fireplace could be too smoky for his lungs?

His eyes burned from staring too long at the bright embers and his body felt heavy from exhaustion. How much longer was he going to sit in front of this fireplace and alternative stare at the clock hanging above the fireplace and the dancing fire? How much longer was this storm going to rage?

His eyelids grew heavy and tired.

Quatre fought against sleep until he could no longer keep his eyes peeled.

*

Quatre woke up very warm and very comfortable. He curled up closer to the heat, sighing softly, held his pillow tighter to his chest and threw a leg across it, smacking his dry lips--ugh bad breath. He forgot to brush his teeth last night. What did he eat again? Last night was maybe stew--or was it--

Quatre frowned and patted his pillow. It was too solid for a pillow. Too hard. Did his pillow just laugh? He peeled open his eyes in confusion and looked around the room that was definitely NOT his bedroom at home.

“Good morning, Quatre.” his not-pillow said.

His stomach instantly dropped. Quatre scrambled backwards to get away but miscalculated his situation and found himself entangled with the blankets and the scarf and the not-pillow (“Ow! Quatre, my balls!”), and finally ended tumbling down the bed, staring at the ceiling.

This was a dream. A nightmare. He blinked at the wooden beams of the ceiling and reality finally settled in. Oh no.

“It’s a good thing I think you’re funny.” Trowa’s face hovered above him as the cabin owner looked down the from bed, his face pale and scrunched in pain. “Otherwise I’d kick you out already”

Quatre whimpered. Ah his balls. Trowa’s.

He raised his hands to hide his face in shame. “Sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll pay for the medical fees!”

“We’ll talk about that later. Now come back to bed. You must be freezing your skinny ass down there.” Trowa sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over to pull Quatre up on his feet.

Quatre let out an enraged squawk. “My ass is not skinny!”

“That’s what you got from my message?” Trowa sniggered and without warning, he gave Quatre  a squeeze. “Ah, you’re right. Not that skinny. Not by much.”  

“That’s not--did you just--you can’t just cop a feel and expect me not to cop yours!” Quatre cried out before he could stop himself. Then he stared wide-eyed at Trowa, who mirrored his shocked look as well and wished for the floor to open up underneath his feet.

When the circle from another world suddenly opened in Trowa’s left eye, goosebumps had rippled across the skin of Duo’s bare arms and the back of his neck.

Duo felt a switch had clicked out of place. Breaking whatever barrier that held Trowa grounded.  

Then the kid, Trowa, attacked him, his green eyes staring deadly right at him.

If it weren’t for his natural aptitude to magic, Duo would’ve been long dead by now.  

Volatile magic had gone out of control within Trowa. Or. It had escaped his body, along with the remnants of whatever was holding the kid sad.

Winds screeched, blasting huge squalls about the chamber (room? Atmosphere?), whipping his hair and clothes in disarray. The winds had erected a makeshift barrier around the area, howling, screeching--preventing the others in the group from jumping into the fray and break up them up.

Duo didn’t have time to glance where the others were doing but he sensed them somewhere, several feet below, attempting to cut through the barrier, maybe screaming voicelessly through the racket of storm winds clashing in their way.

Lightning bolts and fire crisscrossed the area, aiming at him from all directions.

And every time Duo clashed or dodged the attacks, Trowa would appear out of nowhere and engage him in a mid-air battle, kicking and punching. Duo sent him across the area with a blast of his magic thrumming through his arm.

Despite having been blasted several feet into the air, Trowa was immediately in Duo’s face within a second and blows were exchanged again and again, along with the spells and curses.

Trowa had become faster, stronger, crueler with every move. The barrage of blows went on endlessly until Duo could no longer keep up. Several of his ribs got broken, along with the fingers on his left and one side of his ear was throbbing and bleeding. Trowa had become far deadlier--his intent to immobilize and by extension to kill Duo radiated in waves from his body, poisoning the air until Duo wasn’t too sure he should be smelling death at this point.

Duo’s throat burned. Exhaustion racked through his body like a dead weight dropping onto his back without restraint and Trowa had sent crashing to the floor.

Duo’s screams came out silent as they passed his busted lips. His breath staggered. Short. Heaving. The ribbon that held his braid together had long since disappeared during the fight, unraveling the long locks and now they draped pitifully against the floor and his back. His limbs refused to move. Probably all broken by now with the way Trowa had attacked him.

One hand wrapped around Duo’s throat, squeezing it tight as Trowa raised him in the air. Duo struggled to breathe, struggled to get the hand off but none of his limbs were moving correctly.

Trowa’s free hand covered Duo’s left eye, fingers purposefully digging into the skin, into the delicate tissue and ripped the eye out, along with the magic that lay beneath it. Duo’s scream shred its way past his throat, in tatters and broken as his magic reserves was sliced in half with the loss of his eye.

A magic circle of winds had gathered around hand holding the eye. Trowa’s dead eyes stared at it for a moment before he held the eye closer and ate it in several bites, the magic circle still swirling around until it concentrated around Trowa’s left eye.

Trowa was about to dig into Duo’s other eye when a broadsword sailed intent on cutting off the arm holding Duo’s throat. “Release him!”

“This is a band.” Trowa gestured to the other three members in the room. Duo might have recognized them from the several of his classes but he wasn’t too sure. “A boy band, in fact.”

Duo frowned, taking note of the huge mirrors and the gymwear everyone including Trowa was wearing. “Do you even play instruments?” Duo looked sceptical as he watched the band members go through stretch warm-ups on the floor, barefooted.

“Sure we do. Quatre is our keyboardist. Wufei is our drummer. Heero plays bass and you already know what I play.”  

“Okay. So aren’t you going to play some music instead of doing yoga in front of the mirror?” Duo rested his hands on his hips.

“Haven’t you heard? The management wants to switch genres.” Trowa pulled out his phone from his pockets, tapped the screen a few times before he finally showed Duo a set of images. “We’re now being promoted as an idol band. Competing with the k-pop and j-pop groups like B*S, M*rn*ng M*s*me and M*se etcetera. Apparently.”

“What does that even mean?” Duo looked through the images of ridiculously handsome guys and girls in near-matching clothes and finally a video that streamed automatically. “Synchronized dancing? Like N*S*nc?”

“Apparently.”

“What am I even doing here in the first place?”

Trowa shrugged. “You’re going to be our front visual. The face of our group.” Trowa patted his shoulder. “The concept of idol band is simpler than it looks. Just be your charming self and do some dancing. The fans will love you.”

“And you would know, how?”

“You’re a natural. Don’t worry. Come on, let me introduce you to the guys.”  

“Don’t you even feel… a bit insulted to be promoted as… this?”

“Of course. I’m enraged that we can no longer play our instruments on stage.” Trowa shrugged. Duo didn’t think he looked enraged though. Trowa’s face was too carefully concealed with a blank mask. “But what can I do? Seems like the demographics lately are interested in this sort of thing. Dancing hot people.”

Duo caught the fleeting glimpse Trowa had thrown to one of the band members, who were doing some really topnotch gyrating moves with their hips.

“Oh?” Duo couldn’t help but smirk.

“Wait till you see them in tight pants and smear oil across their chest.” Trowa gave him a conspiratorial wink.

LOL

B*S - BTS (K-pop)

M*rn*ng M*s*me - Morning Musume (J-pop)

M*se - Muse (Love Live School Idol game)