The four elements | Seongjoong

Don't be mean to the plants

Study of magical plants wasn't Seonghwa's favourite subject. But since they were sharing the class with the fire house, Seonghwa was well occupied with watching Hongjoong as he worked with the soil. The teacher had taken them to the lower side of the hill, she was teaching them about the insectivorous plants, and their benefits.

They followed the teacher until she stopped in front of a row of plants and called them 'pitcher plants'. She said they were named so because they literally looked like pitchers. She was explaining how these plants only grow in nitrogen deficient soils, but Seonghwa was having fun watching them close their lids as he touched their edges.
"Hey, don't do that, it's rude." Hongjoong whispered behind him.
"Rude?" Seonghwa asked as he touched another pitcher.
Hongjoong shrugged, and pulled away Seonghwa's hand.
"You don't know, they think your finger is an insect, they close their lids for food, it's disappointing, plus do you know how much energy they spend in just closing that lid?" Hongjoong told him.
"Oh, I am sorry." Seonghwa said.
Hongjoong smiled and ruffled his hair, "It's alright."
A few minutes layer, while Seonghwa shared his attention between the teacher and Hongjoong, a short boy from air house came over. "Good afternoon, miss." he greeted the teacher.
"Good afternoon. What do you want?" The teacher asked.
"Professor Daeshim wishes to have Kim Hongjoong in his cabin, ma'am." the boy spoke.
The whole class turned to look at Hongjoong, who looked at ease.
"Hongjoong?" The teacher called out and Hongjoong raised his hand.
"Yes, he's here, you can take him." The teacher said.
Hongjoong stood up and looked at the small boy. Then turned over to Seonghwa and said, "I'll keep my books here, bring them if I don't come back."
Seonghwa nodded and watched as he made his way out of the class.

The bell rang three times marking the end of the class, Hongjoong did not come back. So Seonghwa gathered both their books and headed out with Mingi.

Wooyoung was tired, he was once again caught cursing by Yunghoon and this time he was given a week of patrolling at night as detention. All the tiredness went away when he saw San entering the common room. Things were better with him, Wooyoung kept talking to him, even though San showed no interest. Once or twice, Wooyoung could swear he saw San smile, perhaps he gave up on keeping his image with him. San had started speaking to him, still, Wooyoung had to pester for hours to get a sentence out of him. The only thing that bothered Wooyoung was the faraway look in San's eyes. He hated it when San looked at him like that, it scared him, that probably San isn't even here. That he is somewhere away.
"Hey, we gotta change, we have Physical training." Yeosang snapped him out of the thoughts.
Wooyoung groaned, but stood up nevertheless and followed Yeosang.
He saw San at the bookshelf while heading out, he waved at him, to which San nodded. It wasn't much, but Wooyoung was happy.

This time for physical training, Wooyoung persuaded San to pair up with him. Yeosang looked disappointed, but gave in. Seojoon had once again said, "Students, start fighting." So they were practicing different defence techniques. Wooyoung was no match for San. Though he excelled at martial arts in the normal world, San definitely had more practice. Each attack came swiftly with full grace. Wooyoung couldn't believe the strength those nimble hands held. Each time a blow came, each time he fell down, failing to defend himself. Each time San gave him a hand, each time he stood up again. Wooyoung knew San was yet going easy on him, otherwise he wouldn't have lasted this long.

Another punch came, this time Wooyoung had enough sense to defend, he threw a hand, caught San's arm. And just when Wooyoung was advancing, he saw something that made him stop: a dagger strapped to San's waist, below his linen top. Wooyoung's breath hitched as he widened his eyes.

San was deadly enough with his bare hands, giving the boy a weapon to play with wound be a wild decision.

"What is that?" Wooyoung asked.
San looked where he was pointing, and quickly pulled over his top to completely cover it again.
"N-nothing." San said, his voice low.
"What nothing? You're not supposed to carry knives with you like that! You know that, right? Are you trying to kill someone or what?" Wooyoung pestered.
San made an annoyed face at him, "Shh, come here." He said, his voice still low.
He pulled Wooyoung over to the edges of the ground, "Listen, I don't trust him," he nudged his head towards the teacher, Seojoon, "I only keep this during physical training. Don't be loud about it." San said.
"Don't trust him, what do you mean?" Wooyoung asked.
"Um, every other teacher is alright. I mean, Seojoon has been teaching since three or four months I guess. Before him, Eunshim taught us. He was good, but he disappeared one day and then we found him dead. No one knows what happened. And then we got Seojoon as our new teacher." San said.
"Are you saying he killed Eunjin?" Wooyoung asked, startled.
"Eunshim," San corrected him, "and no, they would not kill to be a teacher here. But I just don't like him, he doesn't seem genuine about teaching us." Sans said.
"So you carry a knife around?" Wooyoung asked again.
"No, it's only if he does something," San raised his hands, "I wouldn't touch the knife unless he does something."
Wooyoung narrowed his eyes at him, "You're weird."
San smiled at him, showing his dimples, "Let's get back to practice."
"Yeah, just kill me." Wooyoung scoffed.

Mingi was sitting in the library, doing his homework, when a shadow fell over his notebook. He looked up to a familiar frame. "Song, the book is called 'Elements: history and magic'. It has it." Yunho said.
"What?" Mingi asked.
"Oh stop being naïve, the prophecy." Yunho said.
"Oh." Mingi said and stood up, to look for the book.
Before he could leave, a hand grabbed his shoulder. Mingi did not turn around, he knew very well who it was.
"Work harder next time, Song." Yunho whispered and laughed.
Mingi jerked off his hand and went off.

A/n: ay ay ay Im back! Sorry for a week of no update, I've been busy and this chapter was just a filling so it was difficult to write lmao. Thank you!