As usual, Minhyuk performed outside. He refused a tent, unlike his father. He prefer to draw his powers from nature, the moon, air and earth. Dressed in a impeccable black suit, he slipped on a white bejeweled mask before stepping off the black lanes and onto the grass. The effect was instantaneous. The lights around him glowed brighter, gaining attention to the handsome man in the white mask. 

 

As he was performing, he constantly worried for Ukwon. Occasionally he would spot a few pretty girls in the crowd and did tricks specially for them for performances' sake, nothing more. Tonight, it was a girl dressed in a pale pink dress, her skin as white as porcelain. She had been batting her eyes at him and it hadnt gone unnoticed. His eyes gleamed as he beckoned her with a finger gloved in ivory. She blushed as her friends nudged her forward.

 

He leaned in, letting his breath caress her ear and when he stepped away, her dress was a brilliant gold, Ukwon's favorite colour. The crowd gasped and applauded accordingly and he stepped back into the lights where he stood still and bowed.  

 

The way Minhyuk disappears is not flamboyant. He does not go out with a bang. Instead, he stands stock still and let's passing patrons see him slowly disappearing, like a shadow losing its color. He wants them to know that they have just missed a spectacular event, an illusionist unlike any other. When only his eyes remain, he blinks and then materializes in Yukwon's room. 

 

"Kwonnie, you're supposed to be in bed," he chided as soon as he saw the younger stretching. 

 

"But I feel fine," Yukwon said grouchily. "I want to perform. I can't let James take my place. He isn't as good as me, he'll ruin the performance."

 

"Kim Yukwon." 

 

That was all it took for Yukwon to halt in his tracks. Minhyuk never called him by his full name. There were only a few Korean families in the circus and only they understood the full significance of full names. It was a sign of absolute seriousness that Minhyuk took to calling Yukwon by his full name.

 

"You almost died today out there, how could you do that to me?" Minhyuk snarled.

 

"You'll live," Yukwon scoffed, not exactly comprehending the situation. Lets face it, Yukwon wasn't exactly the most perceptive person or he would have realized Minhyuk's feelings for him.

 

"You don't understand, do you? I can't live without you," Minhyuk spat.

 

"Don't be melodramatic, Hyung."

 

"KIM YUKWON!" Minhyuk shouted. Yukwon straightened up, aghast. Calling him by his full name was one thing, but shouting it too?

 

"You have no idea, no idea at all how much I'm going through right now, to keep you alive."

 

Yukwon flushed under the intensity of Minhyuk's stare. "What do you mean by that? Am I dying? Am I sick?" Yukwon whispered.

 

Minhyuk stared at him for a long moment. "No," he finally said. "You're not sick. I'm killing you."