hold me 𐦍 yeonbin

012 ᯓᡣ𐭩

Soobin has coaxed more humans down from panic attacks, withdrawals, and bad highs than he can count. He knows how to bring humans to reality and recognize their environment. Pixie panic attacks don’t look different aside from the insane amount of dust they leave behind.

A layer of purple covers the table and everyone’s clothes and hair when it all settles. Each breath Yeonjun took while hyperventilating sent more into the air, and Soobin thought he might pass out. This is the Yeonjun he saw on the floor of the magic store, with hollow eyes devoid of color, not the cute pixie sleeping in the van or watching Planet Earth on his couch.

Bora rests her head on Siyeon’s shoulder, her hand on Siyeon’s head as she strokes her hair. She is just as frightened as Yeonjun, like she saw what he saw. Comforting two panicking magical creatures at a table with a human at each of their arms is not how Soobin imagined he would be spending his weekend.

Bora offers Soobin a weak smile. From one human to another, Soobin smiles back the same.

“Did you like the tea?” Soobin asks, making sure Yeonjun is still with him.

Yeonjun nods. His breathing has slowed but his eyes are still fixated on a point beyond Soobin.

“I’m sorry,” Siyeon says quietly.

It’s unclear whether it’s an apology for bringing it up, or for what Yeonjun went through that made them both shake in their seats. Both, most likely.

“There’s nothing you should be sorry about. You weren’t there,” Yeonjun says.

“I’m sorry about the doctors, your wings—if I let it all just happen—”

“Shh,” Bora coaxes urgently, brushing Siyeon’s hair away from her face and pressing her whole body against Siyeon’s arm. “It’s not your fault. You did your best. Let’s focus on what we do from here.”

What they do from here is a mystery. Soobin had no plan past crashing with an old friend and waiting before it turned out more magical that Soobin expected, so much more complex, that Yeonjun may not even need Soobin.

“Can you help us get his wings back so he can return home?” Soobin asks. “He wanted to wait until his dust returned and do it himself, but…” Soobin stops when he realizes he’s too human to understand what it is he’s asking of her.

“That would require a magic I haven’t practiced in decades. Centuries?” Siyeon turns to Bora. “Has it been centuries?”

“How would I know?” Bora shrugs.

“What kind of magic is that?” Soobin asks.

Siyeon says nothing.

“She’s talking about combative spells,” Bora says. “They have your wings locked up tight, right?”

Yeonjun says nothing this time.

“Apparently they’re in some sort of lab,” Soobin says. Yeonjun doesn’t speak over him or reprimand Soobin for talking for him like anticipated, and Soobin is quickly learning not expect anything, because he will probably have it wrong.

“Where?”

Soobin gives Yeonjun a chance to answer. When he doesn’t, Soobin says, “I was going to research local universities and hospitals and start in the area, but then he headlined. They said he escaped from a psych ward and the police are out looking for him.”

“Oh shit,” Bora gasps. 

A normal human reaction to a supernatural situation. Soobin is relieved. If Bora turned out to be a siren or a vampire or something equally as magical, Soobin would have given up already and gone home, way out of his league.