Say the name, Seventeen! Hehe, and guess what? I do actually stan SVT now haha

Okay, on with the chapter-

Up until nightfall, it was pretty boring and a little tense between Seonghwa and Hongjoong. Seonghwa tried to talk to Hongjoong, but the younger was avoiding him like the plague and Seonghwa didn't like that one bit. The Elven Prince thought he had done something wrong, but he couldn't think of anything that he might have done wrong.

'Was it...wait, maybe it's because of the kiss! Is that why he's avoiding me? Is he embarrassed maybe?' Seonghwa thinks to himself, looking over at Hongjoong who was by the fire talking with San.

For a split second, Hongjoong looks back as he feels eyes on him and the two make eye contact for a few seconds. Hongjoong manages a tiny smile, as if he's reassuring Seonghwa that there's no tension between them even though there obviously is. Seonghwa smiles back, wanting to confront Hongjoong but at the same time not wanting to. Seonghwa was never one to shy away from confrontation, but with Hongjoong it felt...different; embarrassingly different.

As they break eye contact, both Hongjoong and Seonghwa hide their faces in their hands. Hongjoong thinks about it for a little while, but finally decided to go over to Seonghwa. He wrapped his arms around himself, feeling the chill down to his bones. He sat beside Seonghwa in the dirt, shuffling closer to the Elven Prince. Seonghwa looked up, side-eyeing Hongjoong.

Seonghwa just stared at him, a little bit confused as to why the boy who had been previously avoiding him was now curled up against him, shivering at the cold.

"Do you want to go into the tent? The blankets will keep you warm enough" Seonghwa said.

"Ah, no, I'm fine over here" Hongjoong looked up and smiled.

'His smile is cute' Seonghwa thought to himself, smiling back.

Seonghwa, after a few short moments, wrapped an arm around Hongjoong's waist, the younger snuggling into him a little more. They just sat there, an odd silence falling over them; it wasn't awkward but it wasn't comfortable either. The air seemed to get thick and Seonghwa internally swore that he felt as if he were being choked by it, so he finally decides to say something to maybe try and clear the air. 

"Are you embarrassed about the near kiss earlier?" Seonghwa says, straight to the point as he always does.

He feels Hongjoong tense up, and suddenly the younger shuffles away from him a little. Seonghwa silently curses at himself, knowing that he probably made the situation so much worse. The elven prince turns away from Hongjoong, and he feels himself shiver from the cold. 

"W-we should probably go back to the uh, tent" Hongjoong stutters, standing up and walking towards their shared tent.

Seonghwa follows closely behind, and the two instantly wrap themselves underneath their respective blankets. They turn onto their sides, so their backs are just barely touching. However, although they try to sleep, it doesn't come to either of them. Their minds are too busy thinking about the almost kiss, and although Seonghwa mostly accepts that he perhaps feels something beyond friendship for Hongjoong, the younger of the two is very confused and has no idea what to think nor what to do. He's never really had a crush, nor has he had anyone crush on him, so he has no idea how to go about this.

It seems that the cold has really caught up to Hongjoong, because he turns over onto his other side and curls up against Seonghwa's back, already feeling much warmer. However, he can still feel the awkwardness between them and as much as he wanted to disappear into nothingness because of it, he knew that it wasn't exactly possible. He then absently wonders if his mother would believe him if he said he almost kissed an elven prince, and then laughs quietly at the silly thought.

"What are you laughing about?" Seonghwa asks.

"Uhm, n-nothing. Just uh, something stupid" and with that, Hongjoong said nothing else as his eyes fluttered closed.

Finally, he was falling asleep, but Seonghwa was wide awake, unable to keep his thoughts from endlessly swirling around in his head. He groans quietly, closing his eyes. Sleep doesn't come to him very quickly, but after about an hour, he drifts off. 

Outside, San stoked the fire whilst Jongho just sat on the other side of it silently. 

"I think Yunho knows who Hongjoong is" Jongho says suddenly. 

San looks up, confused, "and what makes you say that?" 

"I…" Jongho frowns, "he's a powerful enough sorcerer. His mentor could have told him something, I don't know"

"Do you even know who mentored Yunho hyung?" San raises an eyebrow, smirking.

"No, but do you?" Jongho shoots back. 

"Nope, I don't" San frowns, "I don't think anyone knows actually. He's never said anything about the one who mentored him. All I really know is that he's still alive and probably super old by now" 

Jongho goes to say something else before he hears a loud howl in the distance.

"Shade Wolves" Jongho gulps.

"We'll be fine as long as the fire doesn't go out" San says.

However, the fact that none of them know who actually mentored Yunho was plaguing San's mind, and he knew he most likely wasn't going to get any sleep that night...

Hello, I'm back UwU I kinda uhm, missed updating I guess. Ik its only been about a week lol but yeah UwU