Them and Us | Ateez

Unknown to him

"Had a quickie or something like that?"
"What?"
Hongjoong's eyes resemble an owl as he peers at his friend.
"Your hair's a bit dishevelled and I can certainly say I did not see so many wrinkles on your shirt when we parted."
"We didn't fuck in the hallway, Mingi, that's nonsense!"
"I mean, it would have been pretty short but both of you at least released the tension?"
"Do I look like I released some tension to you?"

"Well..." Mingi tilts his head while looking at his friend.
"Better luck next time?"
Hongjoong slides his fingers through his hair in badly masked frustration. Mingi's face softens.
"You will resolve whatever issues you have with Seonghwa. He seems pretty nice."
"Yeah, a total sweetheart, isn't he?"
The red head laughs while shaking his head.
"Alright, I'm dropping the subject for now. What are we doing here? I don't think this is the right place for a lesson."

"We, my dear friend, are in the Academy's graveyard."
Mingi snorts.
"My last school had a soccer field, this one has a graveyard. Nice. Say, do students end up here after exams?"
"Not that I know of." The black haired male snickers.
He walks to the elegantly structured fence and pushes the gateway open. Mingi follows him inside.
The place is actually pretty small and has only six graves.
"Is this a burial place for the principals or something?"

The raven head chuckles, shaking his head. There are four benches, two of which have pillows to sit on.
"Make yourself at home." Hongjoong sits down and leaves the nearest spot open for Mingi.
The male takes the place next to his friend, having the direct view of the gravestones.
"This looks more like a chilling place if not for the grand view in front of us. Do people just come here to sit and stare at the graves?"
"Necromancers come here to practise communication with the dead."

"With them?" Mingi jumps in his seat, scooting closer to the backrest.
"Yes, they are the only spirits nearby and most of them are the same age as this Academy. Ancient. But don't worry, none of them were principals." Hongjoong explains.
"How do you...what do you..."
"I want you to try and make contact with them. They enjoy talking."
Jerky, high pitch laughter leaves Mingi's lips, which are pulled into a forced smile.
"When I said the whole talking with the dead is cool and scary, I actually put the emphasis on the scary part."

"You will have to do it eventually so start early. I don't know what kind of sorcery you are imagining but it won't happen with a snap of fingers. First we have to understand what helps you establish contact with the dead."
"What if I can't..." the red head's question grows quieter at the end.
The male to his left lets out a deep breath.
"You are here, learning how to be a necromancer. You passed the exam to get in. I doubt you are a normal human with no connections to the dead. If you were, you would never have gotten out of that storage room."
"How so?"

"We were buried. Sounds familiar?" Hongjoong asks.
Mingi frowns, nodding his head.
"Yeah, someone whispered it to me during the exam until I went crazy." he delivers an over dramatised answer.
"If you had no means or chance of talking with the dead, you wouldn't have heard a thing. The dead were speaking to you, they were." the black haired male lifts his hand to point at the resting places before them.
The taller male curses loudly, clasping a palm over his mouth right after.

"Seriously? How does that work? Were they all sitting around and watching me do the puzzle? Was someone sitting on the chair I was sitting on?" the questions come like the water from a waterfall.
"Let's keep some questions so our teachers have something to do."
Hongjoong smiles. He liked to jump to answer anything thrown his way but once in a while, he lets others think for themselves.
A thought enters Mingi's mind as he makes eye contact with the other.
He will never fully discover all that Hongjoong is in this lifetime.