*Slight TW: hints of past violence and abuse
The rain falling all around them was suddenly very loud to Jisung's ears, and he became aware of everything, including the pain from the injuries he sustained, as he stared up at Minho with uncertainty.
"Jisung."
He flinched, trying to shrink away from the hand cupping his jaw on instinct. "Minho, please help me down," he found himself saying, tugging at the chain still bruising his wrist.
"Don't pull on it," Minho instructed, voice still eerily soft as he reached out to touch the chain.
Jisung swallowed dryly, watching the other mage like a hawk. "How did you find me?"
Minho's fingers wrapped around Jisung's wrist over the chain. "I know this area, those criminals don't. Tracing your steps was easy." His grip suddenly tightened, making the fire mage take in a sharp breath, expecting pain from the harsh hold but not yet feeling any. "Stop avoiding my question, Ji. Why did you follow me here?"
A small amount of courage snaked into Jisung's chest. "I was just returning the favor, stalker."
"Right," Minho hummed, stepping back a little. His expression was barely visible, but it was dark and dangerous. "Doing that was beyond foolish."
"Are you really that angry with me?"
"Yes."
Jisung faltered, not expecting the concern lacing that simple answer. "Why?"
Minho let out a dry laugh. "Are you really asking me that after you followed me? I have every right to be angry."
"Well I'm not going to apologize after what I just saw. You're up to something and-" Jisung let out a short cry of pain when Minho suddenly yanked the chain up.
"And you are going to stay out of it, Mage Jisung," Minho snapped, cold eyes searing into him.
The bite of the chain digging into his skin had Jisung wishing he could run away. He gritted his teeth. "Let go. It hurts."
The pressure on the chain instantly gave way, but Minho kept a hold of it. "Am I clear?"
"Why should I listen to you?"
Minho suddenly turned and started walking, pulling the chain like the other mage was a dog on a leash.
Jisung tried planting his feet, but that only resulted in his feet slipping and more pain twisting through his skin. "What are you doing? Let me go, Minho."
"No."
"If you're taking me back to those people, I won't go without a fight."
A scoff. "You have so little faith in me."
"I'd have more faith if you stopped being such a-"
Another harsh yank of the chain, and Jisung's words froze in his throat as he stumbled forward and stopped within inches of Minho's face, which was still painted with cold anger.
"Think back a few weeks, darling. Remember the goblins? The wyvern?"
Jisung blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Back then you didn't see the whole picture, and you instantly believed the worst of me, just like you are right now." Minho scanned their surroundings carefully as the fire mage was left temporarily speechless. "If I let you go, you'll either be caught by Amia's men, or you might go straight to Enforcement."
"I wouldn't-"
Minho rolled his eyes. "Stop talking and just follow me."
"Take this chain off, and I might be more willing to cooperate."
"No. I don't trust you because you don't trust me. It stays on."
Jisung's chest heated with anger. "So what, you're kidnapping me?"
"For now."
Before Jisung could voice any threats, Minho lunged into a dark alley, dragging the fire mage with him roughly. "Hey-"
Minho's hand clamped over Jisung's mouth, simultaneously pulling him to the ground and against his chest. "Don't move," he whispered.
Jisung froze where he was engulfed between Minho's arms and legs, eyes glued to the street they were just on. Through the cold rain, two shadows flickered past their hiding spot, very clearly looking for someone. The figures were swift and agile, the complete opposite of the guards previously chasing him.
Minho didn't move for a long moment, his grip too firm for Jisung to fight against. Finally, he whispered, "Stay nice and quiet, and we'll make it back to my place just fine. Got it?"
Jisung struggled, but his efforts were forcibly stopped as Minho's grasp tightened.
"Nod your head once if you understand me."
Again, he tried pulling fee, if only to mouth off and curse Minho and his entire existence, but it was useless.
"Jisung."
The rain was slowly freezing him to death, so he finally relented. With a begrudging noise, he nodded once.
"Good. If you want a very troubling night, go right ahead and make all the noise you want. That is my warning." Slowly, Minho released him, but kept a hold of the chain.
Jisung stumbled to his feet and threw a glare at the other mage. "Seriously, fuck you," he hissed, keeping his voice low.
Minho didn't respond, getting to his feet and peeking out of the alley. Once he dubbed it safe, he lightly tugged the chain. "Let's move."
Blood still boiling, Jisung moved to follow, but his footing faltered when he put weight on his right leg. With a sharp inhale, he caught himself against the nearest building, wincing at the pain registering in his leg, which had gotten scraped up from sliding off the tar roof of the warehouse.
Minho tugged the chain again, his head still turned away. "I said let's move."
Jisung was not about to show any more weakness around the insufferable mage, so he gritted his teeth and followed Minho as instructed.
✿✿✿
By the time they reached Minho's apartment, Jisung was limping and a little dizzy, but each time Minho glanced back at him, he would straighten up and glare at him while pretending to walk just fine.
Minho stepped behind Jisung once his door was unlocked, and he guided him inside with a hand on his back.
Jisung shrugged him off as soon as they were inside. "I know how to walk, thank you very much."
Minho stepped past him, dragging him forward with the chain toward the sofa. "Sit."
Just to be annoying, Jisung wanted to defy every little order the other mage gave him, but Minho clearly saw that coming, because he roughly pushed Jisung's chest until he fell back to land on the sofa. Jisung winced at the protest of his injuries, but thankfully the reaction went unnoticed.
"What a pain in the ass," Minho muttered, locking the other end of the chain around the wooden beam beside the sofa.
"If this is too much trouble, I will gladly leave," Jisung offered in a sickly sweet voice.
"Yes, we're all laughing, Jisung." Minho trudged toward his bed across the way, throwing off his black overcoat before opening a set of drawers beside his bed.
While he was distracted, Jisung quickly tried picking at the chains, attempting to find a way to untangle the links holding his wrist captive. He hissed, jerking his hand back when the chains burned his fingers.
"Don't even try, darling. I laced the top of that chain with my water to prevent you from getting free. I'm surprised you didn't notice."
"This seriously does not help my trust issues with you."
Minho ignored him, riffling through his drawers before finally coming back over to the lounge area. He set the small box he carried onto the cushion beside Jisung and then sat beside it, his body twisted so they were facing each other.
Jisung's eyes naturally wandered over Minho's body, taking in the plain yet well-cut black shirt that defined the magnificent chest hiding underneath and accentuated his physique. Now is not the time, Ji.
"By the way, you're a terrible liar." Minho yanked Jisung's jacket down, eliciting a sound of protest from him as the material scraped over the wound on his shoulder.
Jisung's eyes landed on the wound, surprised to see blood seeping from a jagged slice on his shoulder. The chain had cut him? His eyes flicked to Minho. "That was unnecessary."
"Right, and lying about the fact that you weren't hurt was unnecessary, but here we are." Minho pulled the box onto his lap and popped it open, revealing neatly stored medical supplies. "And don't think I haven't noticed your leg."
"Alright, you're not stupid, we learn something new every day." Jisung tried grabbing the box, but Minho pulled it out of reach.
"If you want to hear any sort of explanation, you will sit here nicely while I stitch you up."
Jisung blinked at him. "Why are you like this?"
"You mean stubborn?"
"Exactly."
Minho closed the box again. "Alright, bleed out for a while longer."
Jisung grabbed his arm. "Minho, I swear-"
"Do you want this or not?" Minho asked, his tone hard as a rock as he held the box up.
Jisung didn't move, and then slowly released Minho's arm. "Fine. Just don't think doing this will help me trust you."
"Turn to the side."
With an extra glare, Jisung did as told. He flinched at the touch of something cold to his shoulder.
"Remember the night you and I sealed our little deal? You asked about my secrets. If I share some of mine, you ought to share some of yours."
Jisung rolled his eyes. "Does everything have to be a deal for you? You offered an explanation if I let you patch me up."
"It's not that simple. We all need ways to protect ourselves, and this is my form of protection."
"So you want something to hold over my head."
"That, or..." Minho began wrapping a bandage around Jisung's shoulder. "Or we can help each other out. You know, become allies."
Jisung turned to look at him, ignoring the pointed glare Minho gave him from messing up the bandage. "You... You want to become allies? Are you nuts?"
Minho shook his head in the way a disappointed mother would. "What's so crazy about that?" He poked the side of Jisung's mouth as he opened it to retort. "And no, you can't say it's crazy because we're 'enemies and rivals.' Those titles are self-proclaimed between us, we can change them at any time."
Jisung rubbed the spot he poked in annoyance. "Those titles exist because we hate each other."
"I'm not asking you to like me, Jisung. Think of it like this. We both have things to hold over each other. I could easily report you for leaving the bounds of your city. You could easily report what you witnessed tonight. So instead of complicating our lives and possibly getting ourselves locked up, I suggest we figure out how to help each other."
"So instead of fighting like two trapped beasts, we work together?"
"Yes."
Jisung's eyes flattened. "And if I don't agree to any of this, you're still going to keep me locked up here."
"In a way." Minho tied off the bandage. "I don't want to have to blackmail you, Jisung. Besides, doing that would ruin our other little deal, and that will only worsen both of our attitudes."
Jisung wasn't completely sure what to make of this. Everything in his chest was fighting with everything in his head, and it was messing with him. "You are the most confusing person I've ever met, Mage Minho."
Minho's lips quirked. "I could say the same about you, Mage Jisung."
"Alright... explain yourself and I'll share some of my secrets. But I'm going to be vague."
"Good, I don't want to tell you everything anyway. I do want you to stay out of my mess." Minho shifted off the couch and knelt beside it. "Lay down, take your pants off."
Jisung's cheeks heated. "What?"
"Darling, we've rolled in bed a few times, it's not like I've never seen you stripped down to your undergarments. And aside from patching you up, I'm not going to do anything to you. Unless you really want me to."
Jisung hit him with one of the couch pillows. "You're annoying."
Minho batted the offending cushion away and then pulled Jisung's boots off. "Come on, you're still bleeding and you're going to make a bigger mess than you already have."
"It's what you get for kidnapping me." The rattle of the chain only bruised the fire mage's ego further as he pulled his pants off, hissing slightly as the torn material dragged over his damaged skin. Minho helped pull them off the rest of the way in a surprisingly gentle manner, and Jisung laid back against the cushions.
Minho's hand warmed Jisung's skin as he gently pulled the fire mage's leg up in order to see the injured side.
Jisung glanced away. "I never thought I'd see the day you would kneel in front of me like this."
"Oh?" While one hand began cleaning Jisung's cuts, the other ran along his honey skin, trailing from his ankle to his knee and back down, all while Minho met his eyes. "Do you like seeing me down here?"
"You're a pervert," Jisung muttered through a blush.
"If anyone fits that title, it's you. I'm innocently tending to your injuries while your mind is going in a completely different direction." Minho smirked at Jisung's responding eye roll.
"Stop trying to distract me, Minho. I'll take that explanation now."
With a small chuckle, Minho focused back on his task. Silence stretched between them.
"Some have wondered how I know the Cold Devils. Well... I met them in a slave camp when we were kids. I never did find out what happened to them until I saw them strolling into the guild when they returned from the Island."
A cold knife twisted into Jisung's chest, the words feeling heavier at the sight of Minho's distant eyes. He nearly sat forward to take Minho's hands in a way of comfort, but he resisted, allowing the water mage to continue uninterrupted.
"It isn't always a bad thing to cut ties with your family once you become a mage. That made it easier for me to escape and forget my mother, who sold me to the slave camp." Minho only met Jisung's eyes for a second before refocusing his vision on the wounds in front of him. "I was only in the camp for a year, but... that was long enough.
"Tonight, you saw me working to annihilate those that wronged me. Those that wronged those slaves. The camp has long since been shut down, but that hasn't stopped me from finding those responsible for it."
Another silence. "And your mother?"
"Disappeared. And I've mostly forgotten her, though I sometimes wish I could have taken revenge on her." Minho began unraveling some bandages. "So if you want to report me for criminal activity, for being a horrible person, I suppose there's only so much I can do to stop you."
Jisung's heart thundered in the silence that followed. It was ignorant to think that he was one of the few out there running from a dark past. Ignorant and immature. And in a few ways, Minho's story felt similar to his. His breathing became shallow, throat tightening as things from the past began seeping through the cracks of his mind.
Loud voices, locked doors, violent hands.
"You're not horrible," Jisung managed with a quiet voice, watching Minho's hands wrap the bandages. "No one is free of wrong-doings, so it only makes you human."
Minho's mismatched eyes met his, unreadable. "Why do you say that as if you aren't human?"
Jisung pushed out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. "Because I'm not. I'm... I'm a monster."
"Jisung-"
"I killed my father." He met Minho's eyes. "And I don't even really remember doing it."
Minho's eyes were soft, his eyebrows tilted in... concern? "That doesn't make you-"
"Yes it does, Minho. My magic was new, I had little control over it." He tore his gaze away, unable to look into his enemy's eyes while spilling his guts. "My father always hated me, always wanted to get rid of me, but my mother was my savior. He was cruel to us. Every day. And we were stuck. The moment my magic came to life, he tried killing me. Mother saved me again. That night I woke up to them fighting, like always, but this time it was about my magic."
Jisung smiled bitterly. "He called me a monster, called my fire a curse from a devil. 'If he's a monster, then he must take after you,' were my mother's last words. I heard him attack her. By the time I broke out of my room, she was bleeding out on the floor. I saw flames and the edges of my vision darkened... from there I only remember dragging my mother's body out of our little cabin while it burned to the ground.
"So no, you are not a horrible person. At least, not compared to me." Jisung noticed the way Minho was staring at him and he huffed a little, a minuscule, sarcastic smile forming on his lips. "Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you care."
"Maybe I do."
"You don't," Jisung snapped. He bit his lip and looked away again. He cleared his throat. "So we've shared our secrets. I won't report you."
Minho didn't move for a drawn out moment. "Monsters come in many forms, Jisung, and I don't think you're one of them." He got to his feet, gathering the medical supplies and tucking them into their box. I'll find you some comfortable pants. You're staying here for a few days until I deem it safe."
"What? But you said-"
"It's just a precaution. For both of our sakes."
Jisung scoffed. "You don't think I'll hold up my end of the deal?"
Minho stopped in his tracks, a muscle in his jaw ticking. "You truly know how to test me," he muttered, almost inaudibly. "I'm making sure you're going to be safe. No matter how much you piss me off, I don't want anything to happen to you."
Everything in Jisung's system screeched to a halt, and all he could do was stare at Minho's back retreating to the bed across the apartment. What did that mean? And more importantly, why did Jisung's heart skip a beat?
✿✿✿
Jisung cursed under his breath, waking up in a mood instantly when his blanket was yanked away.
"Ji, get up," Minho's rushed voice came. The chain rattled, and suddenly it was no longer on Jisung's wrist.
"What? No, leave me alone." He tried rolling over to bury his face into the sofa cushions.
The chains clanked down then a drawer slammed. "Oh, seriously, Jisung." Minho suddenly picked him up like he weighed nothing and rushed across the floor.
Jisung tried pushing free, but he wasn't fully awake until Minho threw him down on his bed. "What are you doing?" he questioned, dumbfounded as Minho threw the covers over his legs.
"We've been here all night, okay?" Minho pulled Jisung's shirt off, and it wasn't until then that he realized Minho was topless as well. His brain stuttered a small amount, and then he set a harsh glare on the water mage.
"What the hell, Minho?"
Minho paused his rushed actions just to smirk. "Good, you're already flushed. Keep that look, don't move."
Jisung shut up the moment he heard a loud, demanding knock at the door, followed by a voice calling out. "Enforcement?!" he hissed, eyes wide.
"Don't worry, darling, I'll take care of it."
Minho shook his hair with his hands, making it messy in a way that was unfairly attractive, and then answered the door, leaning an arm up on the frame. "Morning, Enforcer Ells."
The gruff man on the other side of the door simply pursed his lips in a very unamused way. "We have reports of a warehouse in the industrial district going up in flames. Flames that seem to have appeared out of nowhere. We have reason to believe Mage Jisung was behind it. Have you seen him since yesterday afternoon?"
"Seen him?" A smile was evident in Minho's voice. "I've been with him all night. Seeing him, and hearing him, if you catch my meaning."
Jisung felt his skin flushing warmer and he quietly groaned, "Minho," in embarrassment.
"Are you being dishonest in any way?"
"Does it look like it?" Minho leaned to the side, and Jisung instantly pulled the blankets further up his body to hide his naked torso at least a little out of pure instinct. It's not like he was showing anything, but... still.
Ells saw him right away, and the bottom of the Enforcer's neck began blooming red. "So he's been here all night?"
Minho smiled and winked over his shoulder at Jisung. "All night."
"I, um... Alright. We will continue this investigation elsewhere." Without another word, Ells retreated, looking much like a skittish dog guilty of getting into something.
Minho pushed the door closed, locked it, and started laughing.
Jisung would have been laughing too, but he was much too distracted by the sudden heat rising through his whole body so rapidly that his head was beginning to spin a little. He threw the blanket off and tried getting to his feet, but he stumbled and landed on his hands and knees. Spots sprayed through his vision, and he closed his eyes, trying to ease the dizziness flooding his senses.
The distant sound of his name reached his ears through muddy air, and seconds later, hands were braced on his shoulders.
"Whoa, Jisung, your eyes..." Minho kept talking but all of his words were unclear and fuzzy.
Jisung didn't realize he'd opened his eyes until his vision focused on his arms. Steam and smoke were rising from his entire body, and then he realized... the anti-magic chain... it affected him just like the cuffs did in the Amulet Mountains. His magic needed to let loose now.
"Minho," Jisung rushed out, frantically grabbing the water mage's hands. "The chain..."
Minho's eyes lit with understanding. "Oh shit. Okay, take it easy, we need to get away from flammables."
"Everything is flammable!"
"I know, I know, I'm thinking."
Jisung tried getting his clouded brain working. "Wait, how far do you live from the river?"
"Twenty minutes if we run."
A jolt of pain shot through Jisung's head, his vision flickered. And then Minho was suddenly yelling something and dragging Jisung by his wrists.
"Damn it, wake up, Jisung!"
Jisung had a difficult time opening his eyes and raising his head, but when he did, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Minho's apartment was engulfed in fire... and so was Jisung.
"Oh finally," Minho breathed out as Jisung withdrew his fire. The water mage scooped him up, threw a wave of water in front of them, and bolted out onto the street.
"Minho, your magic-"
"Is useless against flames that hot," Minho panted, sinking to the ground. "I had to get you out, but I didn't want to burn you with my magic."
Jisung tried getting out of Minho's hold. "But we have to-"
Minho's arms tightened around him. "There's nothing we can do, darling. It's coming down, and I'm not too attached to the place."
Jisung stared at the burning building, something akin to guilt eating away at his insides.
"If he's a monster, then he took after you!"
"That thing is a devil, born from a devil!"
"It's okay, Jisung," Minho said quietly. "I shouldn't have left that chain on you for so long, I'm sorry."
"But it's your home."
"No it's not, it's just a place."
They watched as the roof caved in, pushing out waves of choking smoke and debris.
"I'm so fucked," Jisung whispered, staring at the mess. Ells was going to be thrilled about this.
--------------------------------- So... just cause they spilled some secrets, doesn't mean all mysteries are solved! Always be aware, that's my hint/ lowkey spoiler ;)
Also! As I've been typing this up, my eyes have gone cross-eyed multiple times cause I'm falling asleep and have to get up early, so if there's any mistakes with anything, that's why lol.
Hope you enjoyed! Let me know your thoughts as always, and thanks for being awesome, babes. Thanks for reading >u<