Everyone is stupid except for Jeongin

Minho: okay
Minho: ignoring that chat name
Minho: i may have found something in that new spell book i have

Chan: what is it
Chan: and is everyone here?

Seungmin: yes

Woojin: yep

Jeongin: yess

Chan: changbin, you there?
Chan: i know it may be late for you, so i hope you're awake

Changbin: uh yeah, i am

Chan: great!
Chan: so minho, what were you saying?

Minho: okay
Minho: so there's this spell called fata contra
Minho: which stands for fate reverse, like, to reverse your fate
Minho: and it has the words to chant and all that

Seungmin: that's great!
Seungmin: but why did you wait until now to tell us?

Minho: because who knows what you'll do with that information
Minho: you'd probably try that spell out on your own
Minho: which is,, *very* dangerous, by the way

Chan: so that's it?

Minho: yeah

Changbin: so you'd just have to chant that, and i'd change my fate?

Minho: uh,, yeah
Minho: but there's one teeny tiny little thing that we have to do to complete the process

Jeongin: oh god no

Woojin: what is it?

Minho: we have to go to faey and get inside their tribal mountain to complete everything

Woojin: noooo

Changbin: uh, what is 'faey'??

Chan: the land of the cousins of elves, fairies
Chan: and they don't like visitors

Seungmin: yep

Jeongin: that's right

Woojin: but dont worry changbin
Woojin: we'll get there, somehow

Chan: yeah
Chan: it's pretty late around here, but we always stay up late
Chan: why are you up, changbin?

Changbin: i'm with someone right now
Changbin: i'll talk to you guys later

Jeongin: ooh 👀

"Who are you texting?" Felix breathed out, trying to make the least sound as possible.

Changbin put the phone back in his pocket, before shrugging. "Just some other creatures that I met recently."

Felix raised his eyebrows in curiosity as his arm found its way around Changbin's torso, and the half demon instinctively leaned into Felix's chest. "Really? Who? Can I meet them too? And why are you texting them this late anyway?"

"Woah, slow down," Changbin joked, fixing his position so he could stare at the dark sky better. The bright moon was a crescent, not a full one, which explained why Jeongin was still around to text. "You can meet them, soon. And, I'm just texting them...because I want to."

Felix narrowed his eyes. "You took too long to answer the last sentence." He pushed his face closer to Changbin's own and blinked a couple of times. "Am I missing something? Is my boyfriend hiding something from me? I am apalled."

Changbin chuckled, and pushed Felix away. He must've pushed Felix too hard though, because the human almost fell over the steps, but Changbin held him in place just in time. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

Felix just started laughing, before pulling Changbin in for one of his familiar tight hugs. "I wasn't hurt, Changbin. And you're so strong. I love it."

"I'm glad you aren't," Changbin smiled, "but your obsession with my strength is really weird."

"You know what else I'm obsessed with?" Felix asked as soon as he pulled away.

"What? My smile? You said that lots of times anyway."

"Well, it is your smile but, I was going to talk about that temperature control thing that you do," Felix replied, holding Changbin's hands. "Do you mind showing me what else you can do with it?"

Felix looked so hopeful and so curious, that Changbin didn't want to disappoint him. He also couldn't tell the Australian that he was weaker than before, so that meant his powers wouldn't be as noticeable as they'd been earlier. He didn't even plan on telling Felix what was wrong with him, and hoped he'd never have to until after he'd gotten cured.

So, he gently gripped onto Felix's wrists, and hoped that what he was planning to do would work. Slowly but surely, faint tendrils of a fiery yellow ran up and encompassed Felix's arms, and the Australian made a brief sound of surprise at that.

"What are those..." Felix mumbled, watching as the tendrils appeared and disappeared.

"...That's warmth and heat energy spreading through you. I just made them more noticeable, I guess," Changbin replied. He wanted to let go, because he was kind of starting to feel tired, but he liked the look of pure wonder on Felix's face as he watched his arms, and he wanted to keep on impressing the human.

"They look so pretty," Felix grinned, looking at Changbin.

Changbin nodded, before pulling his hands away. The tendrils immediately disappeared, and the halo of golden light that surrounded the two boys vanished. "I'm...I'm glad you liked it."

"Yeah--" Felix quickly noticed how Changbin withdrew to himself. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I'm just feeling tired," Changbin replied, and it was true. He felt immensely tired over something that usually never made him feel a thing. He felt like a weight was pulling him down, and he couldn't seat up straight. He couldn't even count his heartbeat, because it was too slow.

"Do you want to go back inside?" Felix asked, genuine worry lacing his tone.

Changbin nodded, before slowly standing on his feet.

Felix immediately copied his actions and moved closer to the shorter male. "I'm sorry I asked you to show me what else you could do. That's why you're probably like this..."

"No, it's okay," Changbin smiled. He shrugged to seem nonchalant about the whole matter. "I'm just feeling sleepy."

Felix nodded, and they both walked to the door.

"You don't need to follow me to the door, you know," Changbin laughed, taking off one of his gloves. His eyes fell on his exposed left hand, and his heart raced.

Black.

These black veins ran all across Changbin's hand and wrist, and the mere sight of them alone was terrifying.

"Yeah, but I want to," Felix was saying, stepping closer to where Changbin was located until his chest touched the shorter's back.

Changbin quickly shoved his left hand into his pocket, and turned around to face Felix. "I'll, uh, see you later today?"

Felix smiled, his eyes sparkling. "Yeah, you will."

Changbin smiled back, and he started becoming confused when Felix was still standing in his spot, unmoving. "Uh...aren't you heading back to your house?"

Felix stepped closer. "...I want a kiss first."

"Uhm," Changbin whispered, "okay." He leaned in and captured Felix's lips in a short kiss.

Felix's cheeks turned a bright red. "Thanks. I...guess I'll get going now. Bye Changbin," he spoke whilst waving as he walked towards his own house.

Changbin waved back, before silently unlocking the door to his house and entering.

Nights like these were common now for Changbin, and he snuck out to meet Felix so much that he got good at it. Even though Changbin's mother liked Felix, she wouldn't have welcomed Changbin meeting him at the dead of the night, considering how his body reacted to the cold.

Changbin hurried inside his room, turned on the lights, and quickly pulled off his gloves. He stared at both of his hands, and felt like hyperventilating.

Those black veins were still present, and they scared Changbin so much. He'd never seen something like that before on him, and he'd never read anything about that either.

With shaky hands, he turned on his phone.

Everyone is stupid except for Jeongin

Changbin: are you guys still awake?

Chan: yeah
Chan: is something wrong?

Changbin: my hands
Changbin: have black veins on them
Changbin: and they're fucking horrifying
Changbin: what does that mean

Minho: wait really?

Woojin: when did they appear?

Changbin: a few minutes ago

Seungmin: did they just show up randomly, or did you do something before they showed up

Changbin: i practiced temperature warping
Changbin: but i used just a little bit though
Changbin: i felt really tired after i did it
Changbin: and then my hands became like this
Changbin: and shit they're starting to hurt

Chan: that means you've used too much energy
Chan: even if you didn't use a lot
Chan: that only happens to malnourished and... sick demons
Chan: just
Chan: don't do anything strenuous right now. drink some water, eat some food, but if you dont want to do that, then just sleep
Chan: i think it'd go soon

Changbin: really?

Woojin: chan is right. sleep
Woojin: and dont ever use your powers, for now
Woojin: we'll figure out what we can do about the entire matter, and how we'll get to faey

Seungmin: hopefully we'll be able to get inside their tribal mountain

Minho: hopefully

Chan: go to sleep, changbin. you're still in the chat.

Changbin: okay

Jeongin: guys, what did i miss?

Changbin shut off his phone, staring at his hands again. He averted his eyes after a few seconds, and flicked off the lights, which surrounded the whole room in darkness.

He came to the window, and looked through it to see if Felix was still awake.

He wasn't.

Changbin fell on top of his bed, and submerged himself under his blankets. They were warm, and it didn't take long for him to feel protected by them.

The half demon stared at his wall, internally going over the events of his day. He remembered Woojin talking about them having to go to a place called 'Faey', and he also remembered how his heart lept inside his chest whenever Felix hugged him close.

Something icy trickled down Changbin's face at that moment, and he lifted up his hand to touch it, realizing there and then that he was crying.

All of a sudden, the warmth that his blankets offered him evaporated, and all that was left was Changbin trying to fight the bitter cold that gripped at his body.

Coldness didn't go well together with pain, but that didn't stop Changbin from experiencing both of them at once. He winced because of the pain his hands gave him, and his tears made the situation worse.

He couldn't even tell his mother, because he didn't want her to get worried and scared.

He was alone now, and he had to find a way to deal with that.

_______

Luckily for Changbin, the black veins in his hands disappeared before he headed to school, so that meant he could avoid answering any questions he didn't want.

Felix waited for him as usual, and after Changbin put on his mask and beanie, they left the house.

"Are you still tired?" Felix asked Changbin after a few moments.

Changbin simply nodded. He stared at the ground, intending on hiding that eyebags that were prevalent on his face. He didn't get much sleep last night, so he didn't even know how he woke up so early. He didn't feel like going to school today.

"...Do you want to go back home?"

"No--no, it's fine. I'm okay, I swear," Changbin replied, trying to convince Felix of something he wasn't so sure of himself. He just didn't want the Australian to stare at him with those worried eyes. He didn't want Felix to feel stressed over him at all.

"Okay," Felix nodded, buying Changbin's lie for now.

_______

Changbin could barely concentrate for the first half of the school day. He couldn't even write his notes properly, and Felix had taken the responsibilty to do so instead, despite Changbin insisting that he didn't need to do so.

Things got worse during lunch, when Changbin couldn't even finish his food and had to head to the classrooms earlier than usual because he was too tired.

When the physics teacher paired him up with Jisung (of all people) for a short class assignment, he was so out of it that he didn't hear more than half of what Jisung said to him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, demon?" Jisung spat, narrowing his eyes in anger. When Changbin didn't respond, he roughly shoved his shoulder. "Why aren't you answering me?"

"I'm sorry," Changbin whispered, even though he didn't know what he was apologizing soon. He couldn't wait for the class to be over.

"We have an assignment to complete. People are starting to watch," Jisung replied, though his tone now was less harsh than before. "Now fix yourself up and help me."

Changbin bit his lip, and forced himself to watch Jisung. "I...okay."

Jisung looked slight taken aback when he witnessed Changbin's face. "Why the hell are your eyes black? What is wrong with you?"

Changbin looked away, feeling sort of woozy. He tried to focus on the text book before him, but it multiplied into two's, and then four's.

He clutched his head, feeling so dizzy and weak.

"If you need the nurse, then say it. Don't freaking die in here..."

Jisung's voice faded out until it morphed with the other sounds surrounding Changbin until he couldn't decipher the younger's voice anymore.

He felt himself descending until he collided with something, and then darkness covered his vision.