#honestly yall can never tear away supernatural/fantasy genre away from me

[jenoptimist]

rest assured, you would never trust a telepath again

The way the cold air wrapped itself around you had you shivering, hunching your shoulders into youself in a feeble attempt to trap in any traces of heat. What you were wearing was no help as it differed from your usual cozy attire. The outfit you wore was extra special since it was the night of the grand award ceremony that Chenle was nominated in. Your boyfriend had been raving about it for weeks on end and you knew he deserved it because you witnessed first-hand how hard he worked.

In the distance, you could see the tall building that it would be hosted in and you thanked the gods above. In any other circumstance, Chenle would have picked you up and the two of you would go to the venue together. This time, however, you were arriving on your own because of a hiccup that happened at your store. It was as if events kept piling on today and what made it worse was that your taxi dropped you off at least four blocks away from the venue because of the traffic. You should have just apparated there like you had originally planned.

A shot of irritation ran through you when someone pushed into you as they made their way down the opposite direction. The sidewalk wasn’t even crowded! They just had to bump into you, didn’t they? If you were a worse person, you would have hexed them but seeing as you weren’t taught to use your magick for such petty purposes, you bit your tongue and trudged forward. You really couldn’t wait to be in the comrforting presence of your boyfriend.

“Hey!” A man yelled from behind you and you chose to ignore him since he may have been calling out to someone else but walked a tad bit faster, just in case–you never know what could happen, especially if he was magically inclined. “Hey! Excuse me!” A large hand grabbed your shoulder and spun you around. Without a moment of hesitation, you mumbled a spell that had the stranger be shoved backwards, falling on his back. “Is that any way to greet an old friend?” He said loudly.

Old friend? You had a strong connection with most of your friends, even the ones that were overseas, and this guy? This guy with his half-up half-down hairdo was someone that you definitely didn’t have a connection with because you most certainly did not know him.

‘Please trust me. Someone’s following you,’ his voice rang in your head and it took all your power not to jump. Telepaths weren’t people you came across by regularly since those possessing the ability was thought to have died out, allegedly due to madness. Although you weren’t entirely sure. ‘If you don’t believe me, check the other side of the road. There’s someone lurking at the end of the block.’

Tru to his word when you followed his instruction, hastily sneaking a glance at the direction he told you, you did find someone there. It felt like your blood ran cold. How long had that person been following you? How did you not notice? The more questions that popped up, the more ill you were starting to feel.

“Not going to help me up?” The stranger chided, a chuckle following his words as he stood up. ‘I’m going to hug you now, alright? It’s all for appearances’ sake.’ You followed his chuckle, which sounded robotic to your own ears, and gave a terse nod.

After letting he let you go, you made a big show of greeting him. “Wow, it’s been so long! I haven’t seen you since, what, you left to go study abroad? How have you been?” He played along, smoothly wrapping his arm around your shoulders as he whisked you away from the area. “Are you headed to the award ceremony, too?” You asked, noting how his attire was similar to yours.

“Yeah, I’m actually one of the nominees. Figured you were as well ‘cause of what you’re wearing.” Hyunjin admitted as he dropped his arm from you shoulder and offered his elbow to you instead, which you declined. You had just arrived at the entrance and you didn’t want Chenle to get the wrong idea if he saw the two of you arriving together, arm in arm. Especially since he didn’t know who Hyunjin even was.

“Oh,” you arched a brow, “bragging are we?” You teased as you handed your jacket to the staff. The two of you were directed to the reception area that was buzzing with chatter. Scanning the crowd, you were quick to find your boyfriend, his bright orange hair highlighting him among the natural colors and random spots of blues, purples and greens. Just as you were to say goodbye to that man that had helped you, he steered you away and directed you to a group of people with an arm around your waist.

“These are my friends,” Hyunjin said before he began introducing them to you one by one. You tried to remain pleasant, shooting them friendly smiles, but all you wanted to do was shove his arm away from your face and run over to your boyfriend. Chenle’s eyes were definitely the ones you were feeling at the back of your head. “This is y/n. They’re–”

“Sweetheart.” A voice cut in. You almost sagged in relief when the arm around your waist was replaced with a more familiar one. There was a level of wrongness that you were feeling but without your familiar, a cute black cat that you doted on, you couldn’t be too sure. Hyunjin seemed like a nice enough guy, though, so maybe it was the effect of knowing that someone was following you. After a quick kiss to your forehead, Chenle added, “You’re finally here.”

“Yeah, sorry,” you replied as you leaned into him, “there was a bit of a situation.”

Concern etched itself on you boyfriend’s features immediately. “What! What happened? Are you okay?” He was looking for any indicators that you were harmed, eyes wildly scanning you from head to toe.

Before you could even begin to explain what had happened, including how your day started off terrible, Hyunjin beat you to it and began relaying the situation that played out.

Chenle’s smile seemed pleasant when Hyunjin finished speaking but there was a tick in his jaw that you recognized immediately. “Thanks for helping. We appreciate.” And with that he spun the two of you around and lead you to the rest of your coven.

“What’s wrong?” You whispered to Chenle as Donghyuck began a dramatic re-telling of how Minhyung messed up the potion they were working on for weeks.

“There’s something off about him.”

“Who? Hyunjin?” Your boyfriend nodded. “He seems harmless to me.” On your walk on the way over, he was full of bright smiles and loud laughter. Yes, it could be said that he was suspicious because he just happened to be going to the same destination as you were, but you could rule it as coincidence. Or fate.

Chenle’s brows furrowed, his mouth twisting. “I don’t know. I don’t trust him.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about because I probably won’t see him again after tonight,” you kissed his neck, just below his ear. “Now forget about him and let’s enjoy tonight.”

*

You were wrong, of course, because the gods loved playing games with you. Two weeks after Chenle won the award for the category that he was nominated in, the telepath walked into your small store. You were in the middle of re-arranging a few bits and pieces when you heard the bell ring and when you looked over to acknowledge them, you were surprised to find him by the counter. Hyunjin held his face in the palm of his hands, looking at you with a goofy smile.

“Hey,” he sang, watching as you took the crystals that were misplaced by a customer and walked over to the counter. “Busy?”

Remembering that your boyfriend was weary of them man, you told yourself that you would act cordial but with caution. “Not today.”

Hyunjin hummed. “Let’s have lunch! I’ll treat you!”

You almost dropped the crystal you were holding in shock. Hyunjin was very straightforward and if you were the witch you were a handful of years ago, single and desparate for love, you would have swooned at such an attractive guy being as bold as he was. A telepath, too. Other witches were a dime a dozen and being one yourself meant that you weren’t particularly curious about them. Younger you would have probably tripped over your feet in hasty agreement. But, again, that was you in the past. The you in the present was no longer looking for love because you found it in Chenle, who loved you endlessly and never failed to remind you that he did.

“I don’t know,” you replied, “there’s other stuff that I have to do.” You weren’t good at making up excuses on the spot and you were sure that it was very obvious. Judging by the way he chuckled, he caught it.

“Aw come on! Please?” At this point your familiar, Beans, had stopped prowling the area and hopped onto the counter. There was an odd atmosphere in the air when he did, staring at Hyunjin intensely. The man looked at Beans and when they met eyes, the air disappeared and your familiar settled, curling in on herself. “It’ll be fun!”

Eventually, you gave in. There wasn’t much to do, anyway, and, well, you were your own boss so nobody would be on your tail for closing up shop early. Hyunjin really was harmless; he was sweet, funny and had a boyish charm to him. In fact, he becomes a regularly presence in your shop. He embedded himself into your life easily, meeting up for coffee or lunch frequently, watching a new movie in the cinema every now and again, and a lot of the time he helped you around the shop. Whatever wariness you were holding quickly evaporated the more the two of you spent time together.

The reason why you were with Hyunjin more often was because Chenle was busy. He was off working on more potions and the like so that he can get more recognition. As much as you supported him and wanted him to thrive, you missed the days where he would surprise you with lunch that he made, or when the two of you would go on spontaneous dates. He never had time for that anymore, any time for you, but you didn’t have the heart to tell him how you were feeling because it was selfish. His work was something he took pride in and you didn’t want to distract him from it just because you were feeling lonely.

It wasn’t just Chenle, however. All of your other friends had very demanding jobs too, so nobody really had time for each other anymore.

When you and Chenle finally had time for each other, it didn’t go like you though it would. It was the first time you saw him in almost three weeks and the first thing you did was argue. At first, it was over something small that you were willing to overlook because you knew how snarky he got when he was tired. But then it escalated and escalated and escalated and soon you found yourselves trying to shout above one another. It was brutal. The two of you had never had an argument like this and the night that you planned including lots of cuddles and movies was long forgotten.

“Lele, please,” you sighed once silence took over. Your throat felt raw and you were tired. A cute night in with your boyfriend was all you wanted but apparently that was too much to ask. “I just wanted to spend some time with you.”

That elicited a scoff from him. “Spend time with me? What, have you gotten sick of that telepath?” At the surprised look that you gave him, he laughed. It was bitter and ugly and it was something that you never wanted to hear again. “Yeah, I know that you’ve been spending all your time with him,” he looked at his fingers. “He’s dangerous, y/n, I–”

“Dangerous? Chenle, he is not dangerous!” Your boyfriend scoffed again and you couldn’t believe that you were arguing over your new friend. You were so over it. At that point you just wanted to curl up in bed and try to sleep, maybe your dreams could offer some happiness. In the heat of the moment you said, “Hyunjin makes time for me. Which is more than I can say about you.”

“I make time for you, y/n.” Chenle answered, eyes hard.

“Don’t you dare lie to me,” you retorted, “I haven’t seen you in weeks! And now that we can actually be together, we’re arguing! Gods, Chenle!” You sighed heavily. “I think you should go. We can talk when we’ve both cooled down.”

Your boyfriend stared at you intensely, a tick in his jaw, before nodding curtly at you. The moment he left, you fell back on your couch. The night was a disaster and you would definitely need to talk to clear the air, but for now you would eat some of the cupcakes you bought earlier and watch some romcom movies.

Beans curled up by your feet and you bent down to scratch behind her ear, holding back the tears that were welling in your eyes. She has been weirdly silent recently. While she was no means a chatterbox, she did enjoy adding comments every now and again. It often had you stifling a giggle so that your customers wouldn’t know that your familiar feeding you her opinion of them in your mind. She was a fiery one and you loved her for it.

Two hours into your romcom movie marathon, you vaguely heard the door open. Strangely, the wards you placed hadn’t alerted you that someone was at the door like it normally did. Maybe the boys were pranking you again, it wouldn’t be the first time.

“Honey, is that you?” You called out, pausing the movie. Secretly, you hoped that it was. You wanted so badly to make up with him, the guilt had began eating you up minutes after he left your apartment. “Chenle?”

‘Guess again.’

You had time to let out a scream before you became unconscious.

*

When you woke up, your eyes had trouble adjusting in the darkness. Your mind raced. Chenle was right. Hyunjin was dangerous. Why hadn’t you listened to him? What did the telepath even want from you? You had nothing to your name apart from your small store. Unless he was actually targeting your boyfriend. You felt faint at the thought.

The shackles on your wrists were cool against your skin as was the metal chair you were confined in. You mumbled an incantation in hopes that you could escape which resulted in nothing. The shackles were most likely created with something that disabled your magick. A curse escaped your lips.

When the door opened, the lights turned on and you saw Hyunjin step inside with the a group of people that you vaguely recognized as the men he introduced you to before. You regarded them coldly but gave the telepath a look of betrayal.

The man himself smirked at you as he began to ramble, something that was reminiscent of a villain’s monologue that was shown in children’s movies. The other boys were in agreement with him as he told you about his plan of getting close to you and then, once he had gained your trust, would swipe you away from Chenle. This plan that he created was made for petty reasons, mostly to do with the fact that he wanted to see your boyfriend, his long-time opponent, crumble to pieces.

By the time he finished, you were left speechless. Did he really want Chenle to fail so bad? Why couldn’t he just take it as healthy competition? Before you could even open your mouth to say something, anything, there was a cloud of smoke by the door and there was Chenle in all his glory. His eyes were glowing like they always did when he used his magick. From behind him, you could see the rest of the boys, their colorful hair a comforting sight.

They made quick work of defeating the small crowd that Hyunjin was with, Chenle was especially lethal and in all the years that you knew him, all the years that you were together, you never once saw him like that–scarily cold and ruthless. By the time he reached you, he wasted no time breaking the shackles and hoisting you in his arms even though you were perfectly capable with walking. With a nod to your friends, he apparated the two of you out of there.

Neither of you made a sound as Chenle made another round of checking you for any injuries. You sustained none except for the slight discoloration on your wrists which was fine because you were able to accelerate your healing by making some tea with a lot of the herbs that you owned.

“I’m alright honey,” you assure for the nth time. “No injuries.”

“Still,” he muttered, “I could’ve lost you.”

You grabbed his balled fists in your hands and pressed a kiss into his knuckles. “But you didn’t,” another kiss and then, “now, we need to talk about our argument and how you knew Hyunjin was dangerous.”

Chenle frowned. “You were right about me not spending time with you anymore. And I’m sorry I started the argument. I found that you were hanging out him with all the time and I got jealous. I also just knew that when the two of you came in together during the award ceremony that something was wrong. Especially when you said that your day was horrible. Hyunjin has been experimenting with dark magick recently but I wasn’t sure until I caught him working on his upcoming project.”

“Oh,” that was a bit of a shock and your mind was getting dizzy at the sudden turn of events. “Well, I’m sorry, too. I said some pretty awful stuff that I didn’t mean. I don’t mind that we don’t see each other as much because I know that your work is important but it gets lonely, you know?”–he nodded–“And I should have listened to you when you said something was off about him.” Beans walking around Chenle’s legs, like she was begging for attention and the sight of her made you frown. “Do you think he did something to Beans? She hasn’t been speaking to me recently. Or, well, since Hyunjin entered the shop.”

“Yeah, possibly. I can ask Jeno to check on her tomorrow?”

“Please.”

“I’m going to take this weekend off,” Chenle announced, peering at you through his lashes, “we should go on a date.”

A smile blossomed on your face and you jumped at him to capture him in a hug. “Of course!” When you began babbling about the different things you wanted to do, he let out a small laugh. It was the one he did whenever he was amused and it sounded like music to your ears.

As the two of you curled up on the couch, Beans hiding somewhere, Chenle repeatedly pressed kisses to your cheek as he wrapped his arms tightly around you which made you feel warm.