Chapter Text
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“I think my eyesight is back!” Felix jumps up with a bright smile, turning his head side to side and closing one eye and then the other. “I mean— I can see with both eyes now!”
“Did we do it? Did we lift the curse?” Jisung’s eyes are wide as he asks it. Minho is burning with curiosity. Did Jisung’s leg come back, too? Will they still suffer from madness after performing magic?
“Let's take a look outside. Maybe the snow and ice is gone,” Chan suggests, the corners of his lips twitching as if he wants to smile but isn't allowing himself to. Minho gets up, helping Jisung stand without thinking about it.
He's still a bit dazed from the spell just now. And he isn't sure if he totally fucked up by kissing Jisung and then trying to rip off his leg. That wasn’t his best moment.
Jisung holds on to Minho's arm as if he's looking for stability. He's dead quiet, but Minho doesn't dare to guess what he is feeling. He has no idea what to say.
They're walking slow, and they're not even halfway towards the entrance hall when the others start cheering, exclaiming how they've succeeded, how the snow has melted.
Changbin pulls Chan into a tight hug and yells in his ear, a sight which makes Minho smile. Felix comes and gets them for a group hug, jumping happily as he tugs them along. Jisung finally breaks out into a bright smile, and Minho's heart feels at ease again.
A group hug is nice after all of this worrying, and it brings Minho back down to Earth. He smiles, seeing everyone so happy.
“Good god. We actually did it. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. I'm sorry for putting you guys through this—” Chan tells them, a tremble in his voice that makes Minho think he's about to burst into tears.
“Shh! No apologies today, only celebrating! We just fucking broke a centuries old curse on our family. That’s fucking awesome!” Hyunjin interrupts him, jumping with a sunny grin and rubbing the shoulders of Jeongin and Seungmin, who are next to him.
Chan breaks into sobbing, which makes Minho laugh. They all comfort the man, and thank him for pulling them all through this. Felix insists on another group hug, and doesn’t allow them to let go for at least a minute.
“Come on, let's eat something and relax for once,” Minho suggests, tilting his head in the direction of the kitchen. There's still plenty of food left even though it's not quite fresh anymore.
The others cheer and follow Minho to the kitchen. They all offer to help out with the food so the eight of them spend some time in the kitchen preparing a hearty meal.
Once seated, it hits Minho how much has happened in such a short amount of time. It feels like they've been stuck in the ice world for months, but it has barely been more than a week.
Still, he feels like he has gotten to know the others intimately, and he feels like they understand one another.
“Wait. Does this mean that I won't get any migraines anymore?” Changbin's eyes are wide and his cheeks are full of food.
“Probably!” Felix exclaims happily. He moves his chopsticks and food back and forth in front of his eyes. “Man. I'm still getting used to this seeing with two eyes. It's so cool. I can see depth.”
“I'm not shaking, either. It's nice to have stable hands while eating,” Jeongin adds with a long exhale. He looks calm, which Minho hasn't seen often before. He remembers thinking Jeongin was simply a nervous man, he had no idea that he couldn't help his shaking hands.
He also didn't know about Jisung’s missing leg until the trap was activated. “Jisung, does that mean you have two legs now?” he blurts without thinking.
“Uhm. I checked earlier and… I don't,” Jisung answers with a soft chuckle, looking down at his lap and lifting his pants to show his flesh leg and prosthetic leg.
“You don't? But why not?” Hyunjin frowns. “Are you still cursed?”
“I don't think so. Maybe the curse was never me losing a leg. Maybe it was something else which caused me to lose my leg. Either way I think the nerve pains might be gone,” Jisung explains with a shrug. He looks disappointed, but a second later, he puts up a smile and says, “I'm used to this, so it's fine! Although it would've been nice to get a better prosthetis as a reward.”
“I'm sure I can help you with that, Jisung-ah,” Chan says, eyes soft and fond. “You're family, after all.”
“He seemed a little different from family with Minho hyung when we were in our magic source or whatever just now, though,” Felix says, chuckling as he wiggles his eyebrows. Minho takes a sharp breath, ears growing warm.
“Right! Uhm. I still need to apologize for that,” Jisung says, looking at Minho with cheeks dusted a light pink. Minho frowns.
“What? Why would you need to apologize for that?” Minho is pretty sure he's the one who lost control and kissed Jisung silly without ever really asking him.
“Because I didn't stop you! And you were obviously not thinking clearly, so I should have kept you from doing something you wouldn't want to do,” Jisung explains, eyes flicking back and forth between Minho and anywhere else in the room.
“What could possibly make you think that I wouldn't want to kiss you?” Minho blurts, almost exasperated by Jisung’s nonsensical apology. There's nothing he'd rather do than kiss Jisung again, perhaps the only other thing is seeing him smile—but that sounds too cringey in Minho's mind to say out loud.
“Uhm. I thought—I thought madness made you do things you'd hate to do normally,” Jisung stammers, cheeks coloring a deeper red. God, he's so cute. And so pretty.
“Not quite. It's more that you're not in control of what you do, and your emotions get really extreme,” Hyunjin adds, a grin plastered on his face. “So what I'm getting is that you two need to get your heads out of your asses and say what you mean already.”
Seungmin laughs and agrees with Hyunjin, just like Felix, and then Jeongin, Chan, and Changbin too. God. Minho appreciates the kick in the butt, but he wishes that they'd have a little more privacy. There’s no way he’s going to find the right words when everyone else is there expecting a romantic confession.
“Well. I already told you but I don't know if you heard me, so I'll say again that I didn't stop you because I wanted it. I liked it,” Jisung says, finally looking Minho in the eyes. It takes a lot not to jump over the table and pounce him so that he can kiss him absolutely silly.
Jisung’s eyes are so round as he looks at Minho with anticipation. Minho swallows thickly. “I'll tell you properly when there's not six people looking at us like nosy fools, but let me assure you that I did nothing I didn't want.”
Jisung kicks Minho under the table with a stupidly big grin on his face, and Minho immediately retorts, kicking him back but not too hard in case he damages his prosthetic leg or hurts him.
“Now on to the next subject while the lovebirds do sickeningly sweet shit; will we still experience madness or did we free the source, too?” Hyunjin asks, waving a hand at Minho and Jisung. Minho glares at him and Hyunjin quickly bows his head, making Minho laugh.
“Well, who wants to try it out?” Minho jokes, and Hyunjin raises his hand happily. Seungmin almost immediately starts nagging that he should be careful because his body might not be used to casting magic without a big barrier.
“Stop nagging, you and Chan hyung can save me now, right?” Hyunjin jokes, which earns him a slap from Seungmin. “Okay! I'll be careful. I'll light every candle in the academy and then report back. Ah, I should have provided fire to cook on! Fool!”
“Relax, Hyunjin-ah. Try a candle first,” Chan tells him with a laugh. “You're brave enough to try magic first out of all of us now that our curse and potentially some part or the rest of the blockage is gone, so take it easy.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be careful. I'll start with a tiny flame,” Hyunjin assures the rest, waving his hand around as he stands up and walks over to the corner of the room where a candle holder with a couple of candles are.
He clicks his fingers, but instead of a tiny flame, a large roar accompanies a wide column of bright fire erupting from Hyunjin’s hand, startling everyone in the room, including Hyunjin himself.
“Oh, okay, oh my goodness…” Hyunjin mumbles before collapsing onto the floor.
“Shit! Are you okay?” “Hyunjin-ah!” Chan and Seungmin jump up from their chairs simultaneously, followed closely by Minho and the rest. They all hurry over towards the sorcerer on the floor, Minho's heart pounding fast.
“Looks like he fainted,” Minho states as he crouches, seeing Hyunjin's pale complexion. There's nothing else off about him. No burnt hands or anything.
“Chan hyung, can you tell if it's the madness?” Changbin asks him, a scowl on his face. Jisung nods, and he comes standing flush against Minho’s side as soon as Minho stands up to give Chan some space.
“I can try. I'll try not to use magic, or just a tiny bit,” Chan says as he crouches and rests his hands on Hyunjin's head. “Oh. Oh, okay, wait. I'm not even using magic but I can feel something. It's… I think it's the leftovers of Hyunjin's spell earlier. This doesn't feel like it's magic madness.”
“What is it, then? Did he use the wrong spell?” Felix asks, but Seungmin shakes his head.
“A simple flame is not something he'd get wrong. He can do that spell in his sleep,” he retorts.
“Maybe that was the case before the curse was lifted, but perhaps now it got all out of control?” Jisung guesses, and Minho nods, that could be true.
“Maybe the shock of being able to use magic so freely got the better of him,” Chan suggests hesitantly. “I'm slowly trying to build up to using the sensing spell, but it's hard to guess how much magic I should channel. Let me try.”
Chan mumbles a spell, and a flash of light appears from his hands, startling Hyunjin awake and upright. “Holy shit!” he exclaims, eyes wide.
“Woah. Okay. Okay, I'm sure now, this wasn't due to magic madness,” Chan says with a laugh. “Are you all right, Hyunjin-ah?”
“Yeah. Fuck, yes, I am. That was scary and awesome but I hope I didn't hurt anyone just now,” Hyunjin answers as he blinks, expression dazed. Chan assures him that he didn't.
“So what the heck happened?” Jeongin asks.
“I tried to make a flame. Before, to do that, I'd have to put in effort comparable to lifting a rock and throwing it. Now it's like a pebble. Or a grain of sand, even. I severely overestimated how hard it would be to… to get the magic from my source, I suppose?” Hyunjin explains, waving his arms around while talking. He then looks up at the rest and beams. “The fact that I'm not feeling weird or foggy in the brain yet is fucking awesome, though.”
Seungmin and Minho burst out in laughter at how quickly Hyunjin seems to have regained his senses. Seungmin clicks his tongue, still smiling. “You reckless fool. Glad you're okay, though.”
“Wait. Does this mean that we freed the source, too? No more madness?” Jisung asks, looking hopeful as if he's a sorcerer, too. Minho looks at Chan for answers on this one, because he has no idea.
Chan looks quite clueless, too, however. It's hard to say at this point, probably. There's no easy way to confirm it without using a ton of magic and possibly exhausting yourself or suffering something else.
“Either way, I'd say that we leave it,” Seungmin suggests after a few minutes of silence. Minho raises an eye at him. “If Hyunjin and Chan hyung have this much trouble getting used to part of the barrier being gone, I don't think we should want to free the source even more. Maybe the magic madness will still be there, maybe not, but perhaps it's a good warning point for sorcerers to not use magic lightly.”
A silence blankets the room after Seungmin finishes speaking. It's clear to Minho that he has put a lot of thought into magic madness and the dangers of magic, and perhaps he's right. Minho isn't really up for more adventures right now anyway.
“Agreed. Even if you guys decided to do something else risky I'd say good luck with that and sayonara,” Jeongin adds, shaking his head with a sheepish expression.
“Yeah, I think we've been through enough for now. Maybe a few weeks from now I'll be up for another crazy journey with you guys again,” Changbin says, laughing heartily as he pats Chan's back.
“I can get behind that. In the meantime, I'll just try to be a better roommate. Although I do have to contact my family and get all of the students back.” Chan's face pales as his expression contorts, and Minho doesn't envy him. “I'll— I'll ask my family for help.”
“Sounds like a good idea, hyung. I hope you now know that you don't have to take on everything by yourself,” Felix assures him, joining Changbin in rubbing the man's shoulders.
“If you need anything from us, let us know, otherwise I'd love to go outside and breathe in some non frozen air,” Minho says, stretching his arms above his head and taking a deep breath. Chan smiles and nods, silently telling him to go ahead.
“Does anyone want to join me?” he asks, looking around but actually only wanting Jisung to go with him.
“Yes!” Jisung raises his hand happily. Jeongin opens his mouth, too, but Minho sends him a look in warning and cuts him off.
“Okay. Let's go. We'll see you guys around~” Minho says, taking Jisung’s hand to tug him along. Jisung intertwines their fingers, and Minho's stomach does a stupid swoop. He's sincerely looking forward to some alone time with Jisung now, and Jisung linking their fingers is a welcome encouragement.
They go outside, without a jacket or anything, and Minho feels a weight fall off his shoulders as he breathes in the warm spring air, feeling the return of the flora and fauna. “Isn't this great?”
“Yeah. I'm glad it's over, and that we're all okay,” Jisung agrees softly. Minho looks at him only to see Jisung smiling right at him. He averts his eyes, unable to hold back a foolish grin.
His gaze falls on a bush with flowers that are whispering his name. He tugs Jisung over there and picks a flower before turning around and offering it to him. A melodious laugh sounds from Jisung’s lips.
“Hyung!” he whines softly, cheeks pink. Mission accomplished. “What are you doing?”
“Doing what the flowers are telling me to do and giving you a little gift because we all want that,” Minho answers with a shrug, but his ears feel warm. Jisung snickers and bumps their shoulders together. Minho bumps him back, a little too harshly by accident, sending Jisung stumbling.
He pulls on his hand, stabilizing by his waist with his other hand. “Whoops.”
“It's okay, hyung-ah.” Jisung smiles as if he's happy about tripping over his feet and Minho having to catch him. He keeps grinning in the most adorable way possible. “Thank you for the flower, you romantic~”
“I'm no such thing,” Minho denies, because that wasn't his intention. He just wanted to give Jisung something to smile about. Wanted to appreciate that spring is back, and wanted to show Jisung that he genuinely cares for him.
“Okay, well, tell me about the flowers, then,” Jisung requests, squeezing their hands. Minho hums, he'll gladly tell Jisung about the plants. He has done so before, but now, it feels like the world is different, like they're about to experience everything for the first time again.
He tells Jisung about how it feels for the plants and animals to be back. He doesn't use magic, because he doesn't want to faint or something, when he is finally getting some free time with Jisung.
“You're not worried about us, right? Am I showing you what I think of you in a way you can understand?” Minho asks as he tucks the flower he gave Jisung behind the man's ear. Jisung nods, looking into Minho's eyes with a soft smile.
“Yeah, you are, but… I'd like you to say it, too, hyung. We've gotten along so well, and I… When I brought up the possibility of us being fated, I meant it. It's because I really feel that way. Not—Not necessarily in a romantic soulmates kind of way, but it could grow into something like that, don't you think?” Jisung says in a low voice, his chest rising and falling as his breathing speeds up. In the meantime, Minho's stomach is performing a whole show.
“I think so, too. I don't think I can say it as nicely as you did, but you're pretty special to me, Jisung-ah,” Minho admits, sounding surprisingly breathless despite trying to be confident. Jisung's hand moves up to touch Minho’s cheek and wordlessly, the two of them move forward to meet in the middle, their lips touching.
Minho sneaks a peek through his lashes, just to see Jisung's pretty face up close and internalize that he's really kissing him right now. That Jisung is kissing him back now, too.
He pulls Jisung against him by the waist, and feels Jisung melt into his chest. His heart swells in affection for the younger man. He kisses him more deeply, his nose brushing Jisung’s warm cheek as he tilts his head.
Something blooms within Minho’s chest, and he thinks he might be quite far gone for Jisung. Having him in his arms, kissing him like this, it feels right. It feels good. He could do this all day.
After a long moment, Jisung pulls back, but only a centimeter or two, allowing Minho to bask in his proximity. Jisung stays quiet, so Minho asks, “What's on your mind?”
“To be honest, it's you. I'm just thinking that I'm going to annoy you with so many kisses from now on,” he says, the corners of his lips curling upwards. Minho snorts and kisses Jisung firmly.
“I'd love to see you try,” he whispers, but before he can lean back in, Jisung uses the hands that are on Minho's jaw to tilt his head so that he can place kisses all over his cheeks, nose, forehead, eyelids, jaw, and lips.
Minho giggles as Jisung continues to press kiss after kiss onto Minho's face, until he gets impatient and grabs Jisung’s cheeks to kiss him properly again. Jisung smiles against his lips, which causes Minho to grin, too, and their teeth clack.
“Hmm, you don't seem to be very annoyed, I guess I'll have to keep trying,” Jisung whispers with a bright smile. Minho hums, too distracted by Jisung’s cute face to respond properly.
They continue on a small walk, talking about anything and nothing, about magic but not about Jisung’s leg. Minho trusts that if Jisung wants to talk about it, he will. He doesn't pity Jisung, so he hopes that Jisung isn't disappointed about not having magically gained a leg either.
After enjoying the warm weather and each other's company, they go back to the academy to see how the others are doing. Minho is happy when he sees Felix smile brightly, chatting away with Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Seungmin. Chan and Changbin aren't there, but Seungmin tells them that they're busy contacting Chan's family to let them know about everything that happened.
In the meantime, Minho and Jisung join the chattering, the six of them in a circle. Jisung feels comfortable enough to lean his body against Minho's, which makes Minho feel all warm and mushy inside.
It's a calm and peaceful way to end days of worry and cold. Minho isn't sure how he'll get used to having classes again, but he has made some good friends now, so he knows that he will be fine.
“Hey, uhm, guys?” Jisung begins that night, after hearing that Chan has successfully managed to contact his family and inform them that the students can come back. Chan estimates that the students will come back in the coming two days, and that there will be a lot of questions for them. “Could you… Could you maybe not tell everyone about my leg?”
“Sure,” Hyunjin says with a shrug.
“You don't have to be ashamed of yourself, Jisung-ah,” Felix assures him with a tiny smile, and Jisung shakes his head.
“I know. I just don't want that to be the first thing people know about me,” he says, a sheepish expression on his face.
“Okay, fair. I get that,” Felix replies with a chuckle, gesturing towards his eye. “You're awesome, though. Know that!”
Jisung snickers, and Minho nods in approval. “You guys are all awesome. Thank you. Genuinely.”
“Hey, don't steal my lines. I'm supposed to be the one thanking you all,” Chan protests, making the rest laugh. Minho fake gags and calls them out for being sappy.
The night ends like that, and, under the guise of it being routine by now, they all sleep in the sleeping hall instead of in their dorms. Minho kisses Jisung good night sneakily, when he thinks the rest aren't looking, but apparently Chan spots them and squeals, which causes a fuss of Hyunjin accusing them of being too romantic, Changbin telling them to get a room, Felix congratulating them for some reason, and Jeongin and Seungmin making nonsense noises for an unclear reason.
Jisung is smiling through all of it, so it's not so bad.
Minho never thought that everything would go back to normal after this. Because it hasn't gone back to normal. All sorcerers have to get used to using magic with less restrictions than before. Chan and the rest of them are small celebrities within the academy for a while, but over time the hype and intrigue die down, and they're a normal friend group.
Not super normal, of course, because they're distant family, and they've gone through some hellish weeks together, so it feels different. Different in a good way.
Of course his relationship with Jisung is anything but normal. He doesn't really do normal, anyway, and neither does Jisung, which might be part of why they like each other so much.
Using magic isn’t quite normal anymore either. It’s like Minho can hear the plants and animals around whisper to him without even trying. It’s overwhelming at first, but slowly, it’s starting to feel more natural.
Chan is getting way better at helping the other sorcerers control their magic, and he and Seungmin are getting the hang of nullifying magic—both of themselves and others. Which is quite handy for the first couple of weeks, where most sorcerers are using way too much magic with every spell they cast.
Seungmin is still quite conservative when it comes to using magic, and he approaches everything with caution, but even for him it seems to go easier.
Hyunjin branches out from fire spells and has learned to wield any type of light, heat, and electricity. He’s a natural at every type of spell he sets his mind to learning.
The non-sorcerers also seem a lot happier—even Jisung. The whole group decides to help him get a better prosthetic leg, and with the help of the knowledge Jisung has gained thanks to making prothetises himself, they make something Jisung feels more comfortable on.
Jeongin can even help assemble it, with his newly stable hands. Jeongin seems calmer in general, and he takes up drawing, too. Felix now joins the sports events instead of sitting at the side, ashamed of his eye. He’s more open and chatty, quickly making friends with just about anyone in the academy.
Changbin is not plagued by headaches anymore, nor does he have to be in his room alone so often anymore. Minho feels like he and Chan have more than made up by now, and he can often find those two together, even outside of their room.
He still isn’t sure if they’ve freed the magic source completely or not, but it doesn’t really matter. That was never his main goal in the first place. He didn’t have one, but now he has gained precious friends, and and even more precious relationship with Jisung. It sucked, and he’d rather not be trapped like that again, but if he’s completely honest, if he’d go back in time, he’d do it all over again in the blink of an eye.
End ˚. ✦.˳·˖✶ ⋆.✧̣̇˚.