Chapter Text
“You’re letting Bang Chan make the team for the annual magic academy competition?!” Kahee exclaims exasperatedly.
“Son, please calm down,” the headmaster of Nora Magic Academy pleads. “You know that we must take a different approach to things if we want to have a chance of saving the academy from closing down.”
“And what’s wrong with Chan?” the headmistress, also Kahee’s mother, chimes in. “He is familiar with the school and with the students, and you’re already so busy with helping in other areas of the school now that you’ve graduated. We had a great talk with him and he is very enthusiastic about it.”
“Well, I thought that I would at least have a say in who would come in the team,” Kahee spits out and grits his teeth in annoyance. “Or at least in who would make the team. I always have.”
“Kahee, please,” his father sighs. “You know that we haven’t done well in the competition the last few years, and you have been swamped with other things to do these first few weeks of the semester. It's time for something new, and even though you are helping us now, we still call the shots.”
“And we thought that you could maybe train and supervise the team, along with Chan,” his mother offers. “If you’re not too busy—”
“I’ll do it,” Kahee states determinedly. "And if I'm not happy with the team, can I change it?"
The headmaster lets out another sigh. "Son, please just give them a chance. Our school stands for giving everyone a chance, and we trust Chan's ability to make a team. You have plenty of time to train and prepare them."
Kahee opens his mouth to protest but closes it again when he sees his mother's stern look. "Fine. I'll give them a chance."
"Welcome, everyone!" Chan claps his hands together excitedly while Kahee grumpily stands next to him, arms crossed. Kahee tried to convince Chan to let him have a say in who comes in the team, and usually, Chan would be so nice to agree, but Chan had already made his choice. This team is going to be it, Chan feels it.
The students in question nervously shuffle their feet around on the grass from where they stand in a semi-circle, most of them are only first-year students. The academy is for people of any age, and there isn't any limit to how long you could spend in the academy, but most decide to graduate after they've worked through all classes or found a job somewhere, which is often after three or four years. Nora Magic Academy is a pretty small school and doesn't have the most advanced resources, but the atmosphere is great and the headmasters are kind, they give everyone a chance, so Chan likes it.
"We've gathered here, outside, because, as you might remember, I have asked you to be part of the team for the annual magic academy competition," Chan explains. "It will be fun and also a great learning experience, so why don’t we introduce ourselves? The ones from the same year might have met already, but for those who don’t know each other, let’s tell a little about ourselves, how we’re connected to the school, why you agreed to be on the team, and show off our magic.” He turns to Kahee. “Kahee? Do you want to start?”
“Sure,” Kahee grumbles. “I’m Kahee, the son of the founders of Nora Magic Academy, and I’m a fire mage.” He balls his fists and they become engulfed in flames, showing off his magic.
“I have already graduated so that I can help on the business side of the school, so I won’t be part of the team, but I’ll be supervising and helping out a bit, kind of like a coach. Not that I have any say in what happens…”
Chan flinches at Kahee’s scoff and presses his lips together to hide the awkwardness he feels. He has already tried to talk to Kahee, tell him that these students have a special connection to the academy despite being first-years, that they have a reason to fight for this school too, but it didn’t work, so he guesses he will just have to prove that he can do this and that this team has potential.
“I’ll go next,” Chan says and waves friendly. “Hi, I’m Chan as you might know, and I’m an Illusion mage.” He gives a short demonstration by making himself disappear and then reappear. He chuckles at the awed gasps he receives.
“I am in my third year at this academy and I have been appointed to be this team’s leader, so if there is anything bothering you or if there are any questions, you can come to me. If you can’t find me, you can also go to Kahee, but he’s usually busier than I am.”
A few students timidly nod, while another student, Minho, scowls a little at Kahee. Chan hopes that there won’t be any conflict in the team, but he’s feeling like that is wishful thinking right now.
“Who wants to go next?”
“I’ll go?” A shorter student, Changbin, offers as he raises his hand. “Hi, I’m Changbin, I have speed magic, meaning that I can go fast—” The boy starts sprinting so fast that Chan can barely see him, but he quickly bumps into another student, Minho. They shriek and topple over, and Kahee facepalms.
“Sorry!” Changbin apologizes quickly and helps a grimacing Minho up. “Uhm— I’m a second-year student, but as you can see, I have only worked on my speed, not on my control.” He awkwardly chuckles as he sprints back to his initial spot. “And I came to this academy because, uhm… I actually wanted to go to a more high-end academy, but I was rejected because of my lack of control.” He rubs his neck a little before he continues. “But I want to help this academy because they did accept me despite my flaws! I also asked my parents to invest, but they said no…”
An awkward silence falls, and Chan sees Kahee scowl while other students either just fidget around or try to hold in their laughter. No one is really speaking up after Changbin, but Chan guesses that the first-year students are shyer.
“Who wants to go next? Minho? Since Changbin kind of tagged you?” Chan tries to keep the situation light, but his joke falls flat. He also chose Minho because he knows that he is the oldest after Kahee and himself.
“Sure, whatever,” Minho shrugs, but he doesn’t seem very enthusiastic. “Hi, I’m Minho, and I’m a wind mage and I’m a first-year here because I, too, have been rejected everywhere else.” He pauses for a moment, but continues when he sees Chan’s expectant look. “Right— a demonstration.” Minho squeezes his eyes shut before suddenly a wind begins to blow around Minho that lifts him up from the ground for a few seconds.
“My personal record is lifting myself up five centimeters for ten seconds, and while I am eager to learn more, I am terrified of heights.”
Kahee sighs deeply and pinches his nose, and Minho sends him a glare but says nothing. Chan quickly continues to the next one before Kahee can comment on anything.
“Next? Shall we just go alternating, so now the one left from Changbin goes, and then the one right from Minho?"
The students nod and Jeongin timidly steps forward.
"Uh, hi, I'm Jeongin and I'm a plant mage." He waves a little and rubs his earlobes in embarrassment. "I have the same motivation as the rest for wanting to help the academy, because no other academy accepted me… For me, it's because they find my screaming annoying."
"Screaming?" Changbin asks, tilting his head.
"Yeah, uhm, my magic works with sound," Jeongin explains and crouches down and brings his head close to the grass. "Uhm, you might want to cover your ears," he warns before he takes a deep breath and he starts screeching at the ground. Everyone immediately covers their ears at the harsh sound, not having expected this volume.
Once Jeongin stops, they curiously look at the ground to see… not much. Maybe the grass had grown a little?
"What did you do?" One of the students, Seungmin, asks.
"I made the grass grow!" Jeongin beams proudly, and Chan coos internally.
“Oh! That’s a cool ability!” Another student, Hyunjin, cheers, and Chan is glad to see the supportiveness.
Chan shoots a quick glance at Kahee to see that he’s still sporting the same scowl on his face, so Chan continues. “Next one? Jisung?”
“Right. Hi, I’m Jisung and I’m a first-year student with explosion magic, but it’s not really impressive yet,” Jisung explains and snaps his fingers to show tiny sparks all the while he himself flinches at them. “Uhm, I was rejected by other schools as well, because the first time I blew up the headmaster’s office, and after that, I was too scared to do anything other than creating sparks, but I’m really grateful that Nora Academy gave me a chance to overcome my fear.”
Chan hears Kahee grumble something, but Chan is at least glad that he doesn't say it out loud. Minho gives Jisung a high five, probably bonding over their fear for their magic.
“Nora Academy stands for giving people a chance, because it’s okay to be scared, especially when you don’t have much control over your magic yet and/or if you didn’t have the opportunity to develop your magic from an early age on,” Chan says, hoping to distract from Kahee’s bad mood, and he is glad to see Jisung’s grateful smile widen and Minho’s frown disappearing a little.
“But putting them in the competition team…” Kahee mutters under his breath, but Chan ignores him and proceeds.
“Next? Felix?”
“Yup, uhm, hi, I’m Felix, and I’m a weather mage,” he waves and gives a small smile. “I’m a first-year too, and I would like to give a demonstration of my magic, but, uhm… I don’t really know how to control my magic, or how to, like, do it. That’s why I, too, was rejected from other academies.”
Chan opens his mouth to give some encouraging words, but Kahee cuts him off.
“ Really? ” he snaps and turns to Chan to look at him exasperatedly. “Chan, did you pick them based on the fact that they were rejected from literally every other academy to exist?”
Chan tries not to flinch as he gives Kahee a determined look back. “No. I picked them based on their strong bond with the academy, their willingness to learn, and their potential. The fact that they have been rejected helps in that they probably don’t want the academy to cease to exist, but what helps even more is that they don’t want that because they want to learn. There are plenty of students that have been rejected by other academies, but when I talked to these kids, I felt that they were exactly what I was looking for.”
“Do you hear yourself, Chan?!” Kahee exclaims, throwing up his hands in disbelief. “They are either literally afraid of themselves, or they don’t even know how their own magic works! And on top of that, they’re first-years .”
“Exactly!” Chan counters, clenching his fists to stop himself from raising his voice to the same level as Kahee’s. “They didn’t have the opportunity to develop their magic yet, and that’s what our academy is for, helping people. We still have plenty of time to develop their skills, and the competition takes into consideration whether the students are first-years or not."
“But they can learn that in the classes, we don’t put them in the team for the competition!” Kahee argues, getting more fired up judging by his hands that are catching on fire.
“You haven’t even talked to them yet!—”
“I don’t have to to know that they’re not fit!”
“Well, I think they are , and the headmasters have chosen me to create the team!” Chan can’t help but raise his voice now, frustration clouding his mind, he just needs to get his point across to Kahee. In their argument they don’t even notice the skies turning dark and that it starts to drizzle. “They have the potential!”
“And how do you know that? Are you clairvoyant?”
“No, but—” Chan abruptly stops when a lightning bolt strikes nearby and he feels raindrops splash onto his skin. “Huh?— Rain?”
“I’m sorry!” Felix squeaks and slaps his hands in front of his mouth. “I— my magic works according to my emotions, I think.”
Kahee groans loudly and glares at Felix. “Great, so it’s going to rain every time you’re scared or sad or something?”
“Uhm— it might—”
“Well make it stop! ” Kahee shouts at Felix and Chan quickly yanks the man at his arm to prevent him from approaching Felix. Chan knows that Kahee absolutely hates the rain, especially as a fire mage.
“Calm down, Kahee! This way it isn’t going to stop!” Chan urges and gives him a stern look. Kahee luckily relents, and Chan turns back to the rest to see that a few students have stepped in front of Felix protectively and are trying to shift Felix's focus from Kahee to something else.
"Please give them a chance, Kahee." Chan turns back to Kahee with a serious look. "With the right guidance, they can come very far, but you have to give them the opportunity to learn first. You can help them with that, you can help the academy."
Kahee sighs deeply when the rain lets up a bit and he grits his teeth. "Fine. I'll see how they learn. Let's just continue."
Chan feels like this is an opportunity that he should seize, so after checking if the students are okay and apologizing for their outburst, he suggests that they resume their introductions.
"Sure. Hi, I'm Seungmin and I'm also a first-year student…" he trails off and seems to hesitate for a moment, so Chan tries to give him an encouraging look. "I have hypnosis magic, and, uhm, most academies don't accept hypnosis mages, but this one did, and I'm grateful for that, because I would like to disprove that hypnosis mages are inherently evil and I want to learn how to use my abilities for good causes. I would never take advantage of anyone with my magic.”
A silence falls as the others stare at Seungmin in either awe or slight hesitance or both.
“Would you like to demonstrate your magic?” Chan asks after another beat of silence.
“Ah, well— that’s not necessary,” Seungmin waves off nervously. “I would need a volunteer because I know from experience that it can be dangerous to use on myself, but I don’t want to pressure anyone into it, so it’s okay.”
“I can volunteer,” Chan offers with a smile.
“Really?” Seungmin’s mouth falls open a bit as he stares at Chan with big eyes, and Chan can almost feel how surprised he is to hear that someone volunteers. “Are you sure? I’m not the best yet, but I’ll try to do something easy.”
“Yeah, sure! You have to start somewhere, otherwise you can’t make any progress.”
Seungmin exhales in relief and manages a small smile as Chan comes closer.
“Just tell me what to do,” Chan smiles, trying to make Seungmin feel as relaxed as possible.
“Uhm, you can just relax,” Seungmin answers and squints his eyes as he concentrates and brings his hands up to wave them around and wiggle his fingers.
Chan barks out a laugh and slaps a hand in front of his mouth in surprise, suddenly feeling more happy laughter bubble up in his throat. He giggles and wheezes and starts to lose his balance before Seungmin snaps his fingers and Chan’s laughter dies out.
“Wow, did you do that?” Jisung asks, mouth hanging open in awe while Seungmin nods. “How?”
“Uhm, yeah, I just amplified the stimulation to the laughter part of the brain,” Seungmin explains as the other students hang on his every word. “I used it a lot as a kid, and I perfected it thanks to a book that the academy let me read.”
Chan grins widely at the students being so excited to learn and he feels more confident in his choice of people for the team. He isn't necessarily a confident person, but if there's one thing that he is confident in, then it's his ability to recognize people's passions and determination.
"Last but not least, Hyunjin?"
"Yes, hi, I'm Hyunjin, also a first-year student and I, uhm, I am a self-taught potion brewer," he says as he takes out a little flask with a green liquid inside it. "I don't have any magic, and most academies only accept potion brewers for a job, not as a student, but Nora Academy did! And I'm excited to learn from actual potion books!" Hyunjin beams and it makes Chan feel warm— or is that because of Kahee’s burning hands next to him? Chan hopes that Kahee won’t snap again.
“This potion I thought of myself, though,” Hyunjin continues and shows his flask. “It’s supposed to still hunger and thirst, and although it tastes a bit bad, I think it works?” He drinks the potion and grimaces at the taste before he shrugs. “I feel less thirsty and hungry, I think?”
Chan hears Kahee exhale irritatedly, and before Chan can do anything to stop it, Kahee starts talking.
“I’m sorry, Chan, but really? ” he exclaims. “Okay. Yes, Nora Academy stands for opportunity, and I can maybe just accept that you chose a hypnosis mage to join our team— while you know how people see them— but a non-mage ? How is he going to be useful in a magic competition?”
“Potions can definitely be useful,” Chan simply answers. “They can enhance abilities, help focus, and all kinds of other useful things. And Hyunjin is self-taught, so if there is a potion that we want for which there is no recipe, he can probably make it himself.”
“Fine. I’ll give him that,” Kahee growls, and the flames around his hands flicker angrily. “And our hypnotist? What is he going to be useful for? It’s forbidden to use magic on other teams, he can’t use his magic in the robot battle nor in the escape room, so can he at least ride a broom?”
“I can try—” Seungmin offers and Chan quickly backs him up.
“Let’s think about what we’re going to do for the competition later, okay?” he places a hand on Kahee’s arm to try to calm him down. “We’re not going to win the competition based on pure individual skill, you know that from the previous years, so we have to discern ourselves from the rest in what makes Nora Academy unique: we give the underdogs and the people with less conventional magic a chance , and we encourage the bond and cooperation between mages and non-mages.”
“Whatever,” Kahee sighs, and Chan sees the flames engulfing his hands diminish. “As long as you guys train hard and actually put in as much effort as you say you will.”
“Of course we’ll work hard. We want this school to stay just as much as you do,” Chan assures, and it luckily seems to calm Kahee down some more. He then turns to the students again and claps his hands together. “That being said, we’ll be having gatherings to train specifically for the competition on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I hope you’re looking forward to it as much as I am, and I’ll see you tomorrow!”
The students have mixed reactions, but everyone seems to want to try to make this work, for which Chan is grateful. He knew that Kahee was going to be difficult about this, but he also knows that that is because Kahee just cares so much about the academy, he just needs to see that these students have the potential, the passion, and the drive to do well. Chan knows that, he can feel it.
Minho is simultaneously looking forward to today and he is kind of reluctant. He is honored to be picked to be part of the team for the competition, and the rest of the team all seem very nice, he had talked to the other first-years already, and since it was a small academy he had seen the others before too because Changbin is in the same classes as them, but after the introduction they had talked some more and bonded over their experiences of getting rejected by other academies and their reluctance towards Kahee being their supervisor slash coach. At least Chan is nice and has some authority, and the headmasters seem to support Chan, Minho thinks, so it will probably be fine.
Minho jumps off his bike and puts it down against a fence before he heads over to the grassy spot in front of the academy where they had the introductions yesterday. Chan and Kahee are already there, discussing something. They stop and greet Minho once they see him approaching, and not long after, the rest arrives too.
Chan and Kahee explain the details and structure of the competition for the ones that aren’t familiar with it, of which Minho is a part. He had heard about it, of course, but he had never visited it before. Apparently, the competition starts with every team giving a show with their magic, and while it doesn’t have any strict requirements, most teams just flex their power and do cool tricks. After that, there’s a broom race, which is, as the name implies, just a race on brooms, and every team has to pick one member to represent them.
Then there’s a ‘robot battle’, where every team fights against an army of robots, and the team that has eliminated all robots first wins. The competition ends with an escape room to test the agility, versatility, and teamwork of the teams. The escape room will have different puzzles to solve in order to collect the keys to move on to the next room, and, again, the fastest team will win. It makes Minho kind of nervous that everything will have to be done quickly, but on the other hand, he thinks that this team might have an advantage in teamwork— although, maybe other teams have participated in the competition together for multiple years already, but for first-years they might be above average.
“We thought it might be good to start with deciding who wants to be our representative for the broom race?” Chan suggests and brings out a broom. “The academy only has one broom, so we’ll have to take turns riding it if there are multiple volunteers, but anyone can volunteer since the broom is powered by magic— ah, sorry, Hyunjin.”
“Dangit.” Hyunjin pouts and stomps a little with his foot. “I wanted to try.”
“Maybe someone can take you for a ride once we’re done?” Chan offers and Hyunjin’s face lights up as he nods eagerly.
“I’d love that!”
Chan smiles and starts explaining how to ride the broom, which buttons have which function, but Minho isn't really listening that well. He's afraid of heights and he already sees that others are actually willing to volunteer, so Minho is glad that he doesn't have to.
After Chan is done explaining, he quickly demonstrates how to fly the broom by slowly flying it himself, up, down, and making turns. Looking at it already makes Minho's head spin.
"Oh, dear," Jisung breathes next to him.
"Tell me about it," Minho agrees. "You're afraid of heights too?"
"Yeah."
At least I'm not the only one.
"There, easy, huh?" Chan smiles after landing back on the ground. "Who wants to try?"
Everyone raises their hand except for Minho, Jisung, and Hyunjin, who just watch the others take turns with either quivering eyes, or with envying eyes.
"Oh, Felix," Kahee begins when it's Felix's turn, and Minho tenses. "Because your magic is related to wind, you can also choose to fly manually or enhance the flying experience with wind. It's what most people do if they have a wind mage in their team."
"Oh, uhm…" Felix trails off and nervously fidgets with his hands. "I don't know how to summon wind yet."
"That's okay, then you can just use it automatically for now," Chan assures and Minho lets out a small breath of relief for Felix. That relief is quickly replaced by anger as he sees Kahee sigh impatiently.
Fortunately, he doesn't say anything and just lets Felix ride the broom in peace, and even when Felix seems a little scared while flying, Kahee keeps his mouth shut and only shows his annoyance on his face.
When everyone is done trying out the broom, Chan asks if there is anyone who really wants to do it for the competition, but no one immediately volunteers.
"Minho, why don't you try?" Kahee suggests and Minho tries to stop himself from glaring at him.
"No, thank you."
"Come on, at least try? You don't have to fly high right now or anything, but it would really be amazing if you, a wind mage, could ride the broom." Apparently Kahee doesn't know what no means. "Wind mages really have an advantage."
Minho presses his lips together and frowns. He really wants to say no just to go against Kahee and because he really doesn't want to, but on the other hand he also wants to overcome his fear, although, not necessarily via flying a broom.
"I am also willing to do it," Seungmin offers. "I think it's kind of fun to fly it, and I want to be useful."
"Thank you, Seungmin," Chan smiles. "You're definitely useful even if you don't want to fly the broom, though."
Minho feels grateful for Seungmin standing up for him, but of course, Kahee isn't done pushing yet.
"I still think that Minho should at least try. Maybe it will help for his fear of heights too."
Minho opens his mouth to give a snarky comment back, but Chan beats him to it.
"No pressure, Minho. You can try and stop whenever you want, fly as low as you want, and decide that you want Seungmin to fly for the competition after, it's all fine."
Now that Chan says it instead of Kahee, Minho feels a thousand times more inclined to try. Let's see it as a start at overcoming my fear of heights, he decides.
"Okay, I'll do it," he says, trying to act more confident than he feels. "I don't think I can use it manually, so we won't see the difference between manual and automatic, but whatever."
"You're a brave man," Jisung comments, and Minho snickers, feeling more confident. When Minho swings one leg over the broom and Chan explains the controls one more time, though, he feels his heart ram against his ribcage in nervousness, and his hands become sweaty. He isn't going to back out now, though, Minho isn't like that. He focuses on keeping his breathing steady and on the encouragements that he hears from the others. I don't have to go high, just start with a few centimeters.
Minho slowly lifts his feet from the ground and dully feels his magic flow into the broom, making him levitate above the ground. He can't help but smile proudly as he hears a few cheers from the rest, and he feels comfortable enough to start moving slowly, and it's actually kind of fun.
After a minute or two of that, Minho feels like he can go a little higher, so he starts to steer the broom up and— wow!
The broom shoots up and Minho's heart sinks all the way to his feet as he frantically tries to get the broom back down. Damnit, why won't it work?! He had listened to Chan's second explanation of how to operate the broom thoroughly, so why isn’t the broom cooperating? Fuck— the broom yanks to the side, and then down and then up again while Minho isn't even doing anything anymore.
"Help!" he screeches as he squeezes his eyes shut and clamps himself to the broom, terror overtaking his body and causing him to freeze.
He hears voices come from below him, but with the wind blowing past his ears he can't make out what they're saying.
"Try to use your magic to counter the motion of the broom!" Minho hears Kahee shout.
"I— eek! — I can't!"
"Then push the abort button and catch yourself with your magic!"
"I can't!"
Minho is way too afraid right now to be able to do anything other than hold on to the broom for his dear life and focus on anything other than the feeling that he is going to die. The broom is still frantically changing direction and Minho doesn't dare to open his eyes to see where he is or what the rest is doing.
" Please, guys! " His voice cracks in desperation.
"Hang on, Minho! Changbin is going to catch you!" Chan shouts as loudly as he can. "We will count down until you have to push the abort button and then Changbin will sprint to catch you, but if you can, it would be good to use your magic to soften the fall!"
"O-okay!" is all he can manage to get out. As long as he just gets off the broom and on the ground alive, Minho is fine with anything.
"Do you trust me, Minho?" Changbin yells at him.
"No, but it'll have to do!" he tries to joke to distract himself from the absolute terror that he feels, but it doesn't work. He doesn't really trust Changbin because he barely knows him and the only thing that he has seen from Changbin is him running into things, but he is also very glad that Changbin will try, because anything is better than falling or crashing to certain death.
"Okay, Minho, on three!" Minho's hand carefully slides to where he knows that the big red abort button is, his eyes still screwed shut and his hand trembling above the button. "One… two… three!"
Minho presses it and feels the broom abruptly stop before he feels the weightless sensation of falling. In his terrified state, he tries to summon his magic to soften his blow, but he has no idea if it's working, or how close to the ground he is. He only knows that his heart is trying to pound out of his chest and he is praying that he doesn’t die.
“I gotcha— oof —” Changbin’s voice sounds simultaneous with Minho finally feeling the wind of his own magic and a harsh impact, knocking the wind out of him. He coughs and heaves out heavy breaths as he tightly holds onto Changbin and buries his head in Changbin’s shoulder to ground himself. I’m alive. I’m on the ground, he thinks as he feels a soft and comforting arm rub his back.
After being frozen for a minute more, Minho slowly but surely opens his eyes and looks up and around, still heaving out uneven breaths and shaking. He notices that they’re pretty far off from the rest, apparently the broom had wandered off quite a bit.
"Are you okay?" Changbin asks, making Minho realize that he is lying half on top of Changbin and— oh, their faces are kind of close.
"Uh— yeah," Minho mutters breathily as he gets off of Changbin. His ears are burning. "Sorry."
He stands up but wobbles on his legs as he's still feeling shaky, but Changbin quickly stands up to stabilize him.
"Oh no, don't apologize." Changbin shakes his head as he keeps his arm around Minho's waist, and Minho notices that Changbin sounds slightly out of breath too. Is that because he used his magic or was he scared too? "I would be hecking scared too, and I'm not even really that afraid of heights."
Minho feels tingles where Changbin squeezes comfortingly and somehow he feels a little floaty, like he isn't real, but Changbin's words are nice and grounding, they help him deal with some of the lingering shock.
When they come back to the others, the team immediately asks if Minho is okay and they all praise Changbin for catching him.
"That was terrifying! What happened to the broom?" Jisung looks shaky too, his trembling hands covering the lower half of his face.
"I think it malfunctioned. It's an old broom after all." Chan takes the broom from Changbin and inspects it. "We'll have it fixed as soon as possible, but I imagine that you don't want to be our representative for the competition, Minho?"
"No," is all Minho can manage to say right now. He doesn't want to see any brooms any time soon.
"Seungmin? Do you still want to do it?" Chan then asks.
"Uhm, yeah if the broom is going to get fixed," Seungmin shrugs. "Maybe then I can also take Hyunjin for a ride? If he still wants to."
Hyunjin's face lights up as he happily nods. “I’d love to!”
Kahee doesn't look particularly happy, but Minho won't focus on that, he'll focus on Changbin, who is still supporting him with a strong grip, and Hyunjin's excited smile that distracts him from what happened.
“Great, we’ll try to have it fixed by Thursday,” Chan says. “For now I suggest that we take a small break, and then just practice our magic a little in relation to the competition and think about the opening performance on Thursday?”
The rest nod, and Minho is glad to take a breather now. He imagines that at least some others need that too, looking at Jisung’s pale face and Changbin’s slightly shaky hand on his back. He isn’t sure if Chan had noticed that everyone needs a break as well, but either way Minho thinks that Chan is going to be a good team leader—
“Yes, let’s work our hardest!”
—if Kahee isn’t going to ruin it.
End of chapter 1.