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There was someone outside Jiwoo’s house.
Shallow breaths hidden behind the thin wooden door, floorboards creaking from heavy footsteps. Pacing, panting, then… unmoving.
Kartein was familiar to most people who visited Jiwoo’s home by now — after treating him for so long he could even sense the kid’s presence in his sleep. Got used to the feeling of Subin and Jisuk arguing or moving around the house like they lived here themselves.
At first he wondered if it was someone from Shinwa, or Amyeong as the assassin claimed he owed Jiwoo. Or maybe one of Jiwoo’s friends, but that couldn’t be right. They were all in secluded training.
Even if they weren’t, they would have known that Jiwoo wasn’t even home. And Amyeong would have followed Jiwoo if he planned to keep the boy safe, not lurk around the house.
Both Jiwoo and Kayden had opted to go out to eat tonight, Kartein staying home after being utterly drained from healing the boy and craving nothing but rest. They told him that they wouldn’t be home until half past midnight.
It wasn’t even nine yet.
Everything in him was screaming that the person behind that door wasn’t Jiwoo, wasn’t Kayden, or anyone he knew.
This was an unfamiliar and wholly unwelcome presence.
So Kartein stayed still, every inch of him the predator he was supposed to be. Yellow eyes gleaming gold in the pale moonlight, fixed on the door.
Lingering, waiting, watching for something to happen.
Nothing did.
Before he could get up to investigate, the footsteps faded. Leaving Kartein with an uneasy feeling churning his gut.
It kept happening.
Neither Kayden nor Jiwoo seemed to notice it, both constantly focused on training or other things of the sort.
The figure had no presence, and being a doctor himself he would have known if it had something to do with his own mental state rather than something outside.
It didn’t, and it kept appearing. Nothing gave it away.
Kartein tries to ignore it. Paranoia, he tells himself, over and over again until he believes it.
He doesn't.
Unsettling as it was, it remained harmless overall forcing Kartein to leave it be.
Then Kayden had to leave for two weeks, called in a favour. I have to head out so they won’t come find me here he’d said, won’t find Jiwoo here he didn’t say, but they both knew that was why.
He’d reassured the kid he would be back as soon as he could, and then he was gone.
The house felt a little empty without the man, Kartein had grown weirdly used to him being a constant in the home even if he would never tell him that. Still, they made do.
It was nightfall again, Jiwoo drying dishes while Kartein lay on the couch reading a book the boy had bought for him a few days ago. Long pale fingers caressing smooth paper, eyes gliding over each word as the boy’s humming lulled the hushed air.
It wasn’t idyllic in any sense, but it was routine.
Then, Kartein stilled. That feeling churned in his gut digging its way deep into his ribs.
He felt like he was being watched. They were being watched.
He blinked hard. Paranoia, it had to be that. It was irrational to assume anything else. This area was unusual in many ways, one of them being it was almost always incredibly safe. Always.
Then a crash echoed from the side of the house and Jiwoo flinched hard, enough to almost drop the glass cup in his hands. Fumbling it mid air before catching and gripping it tight.
“What the..”
The kid muttered under a low breath, Kartein still heard it though.
“Jiwoo, go to your room.”
The boy turned to Kartein, amber eyes similar to molten pools of pink honey under the moon’s harsh glow. Confusion and trust and an ounce of fear shone in those eyes as Jiwoo opened his mouth to ask why, but one glance from the man and he froze.
A stifled second passed before Jiwoo nodded, abandoning the glass on the counter and running upstairs.
Kartein doesn’t move until he hears the faint click of Jiwoo’s door locking.
His steps are slow and deliberate. Not a sound stirs the suffocating silence as he moves to stand at the door. Then, he hears it. The shallow breaths quickening erratically. As if they’ve been caught and they know — Kartein’s watching them too. Waiting.
Whoever they are, they aren’t an awakened one.
Good, that makes them easier to deal with.
Jiwoo’s upstairs, the boy is safe and the threat lies in front of this door, but Kartein is no idiot. He knows whatever is behind it wants him to open it, just be naive enough to let them inside.
Who knows how many times they were here, just watching any of them. Undetectable due to how average they really were, how pitifully regular.
So, his hand hovers over the handle. Never turning, just holding. He waits and waits and waits, then the footsteps fade and Kartein swings the door open fast, almost ripping it off the hinges.
A middle-aged man stands a few feet away from the steps, a camera held firm in gloved hands. A sick smile sliding off his face and before the man can even think to run, Kartein stalks up to him, knocking him out cold with a flick of his hand.
Photographs scatter across the pavement the second the body hits the floor.
Kartein stares, dusting off his hands as he bent down.
Glacial blue eyes glared at the scattered photos, taking them into his hands.
Each photograph was of Jiwoo. Different moments where he was alone in a store, at the mall, with Inhyuk or Jiyoung or Kayden. Even some with his friends. Every picture had a dark red heart traced around the boy’s face.
Every. Single. One.
Different messages written in sloppy cursive below each heart, vile versions of what only a deluded love-sick mind could ever come up with.
Purple fades in and out of Kartein’s vision, knuckles white and trembling as he grips these disgusting insults to photography in his hands. How dare they, to his patient.
The streets are empty, devoid of life entirely when the filth groans at his feet, rubbing its bruised head and chancing a glance at Kartein.
He smiles at it, at this regular piece of waste. Dark wings rip out of his back, a black hole of goo oozes out beneath the body.
Some part of him finally understands the thrill Kayden gets from this as his smile grows, something devilish in its wake. Porcelain hands toss the photos and camera into the sin filled swamp. That sickening feeling taunting him is washed away, replaced with petrified choking sounds of the thing before him.
It tries to scream but it’s too late, and then it’s gone.
In a fraction of a second his wings retreat, hidden back inside his body.
The streets are empty once more.
When he steps back in the house, it’s as quiet as he left it. He closed the door gently and headed for the stairs.
Kartein knows the problem is gone, he was free to transform back into his malnourished cat form and rest. Yet something in him compelled him to check on the kid.
He reasoned it was to see if the kid was alright, ignoring the small beads of sweat on pale palms when he turned the corner and saw Jiwoo’s door wide open.
Quickly striding inside, he saw the boy sprawled on his bed. Lips parted open for small bated breaths to leak out of, head buried deep in his pillow while a blanket was draped haphazardly across him. Somehow managing to cover most of the floor instead of Jiwoo.
And instead of changing into something more comfortable to sleep in, Jiwoo was in the same clothes as a few hours prior.
He must’ve waited up for Kartein but winded up falling asleep.
Kartein sighed, fingers pressing at the bridge of his nose. He grabbed the wool blanket, smoothing it out and properly covering the boy. Jiwoo squirmed, burying his head further into his pillow completely oblivious to the world.
He looked so young, so innocent like this. No wonder Kayden went to such lengths to protect him, this kid was good to his core and practically a magnet for trouble.
Kartein shook his head, hand running through his hair. A soft citrine yellow glow emitted from his body and he changed back into cat form, padding his way over to a comfy looking arm-chair. He yawned, closing his eyes and losing himself to a pleasant slumber.