#like wym hes not 2 anymore :/ wym shes not 6 :// | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

youseissi · 5 years ago

Text

𝚂𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚂𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚍 현실판에

Chapter 2 - Tell Me Who You Who Am I

Word Count: 9110

Chapter 1 ✧ Chapter 2 ✧ Chapter 3 ✧ Chapter 4 ✧ Chapter 5 ✧ Chapter 6 ✧ Chapter 7 ✧ Chapter 8 ✧ TBC ✧ AO3 ✧ Masterlist

Everything had settled into a peaceful routine that went on totally undisturbed for barely over three months since they started living together. That is until they got caught up in it again.

On a night like any other, Yunho had just hit the button to look for a match on the game he was currently hooked on at the time. He usually had a few nights per week for himself and he spent it doing just that, playing games to forget how tired college actually made him and everyone else in the whole building.

The pop up to accept the found match appeared the same time as his phone started ringing besides him on the bed, it was Hongjoong calling. He picked it up immediately bringing it to his ear, but he only heard the sound of the other hanging up on him. Weird. The screen lighted up on his hand showing a new text notification out of many many he had missed before, apparently his roommate had been blowing up his phone for a while.

He hit cancel on the game’s dialogue box that counted down incessantly still waiting for him.

8 p.m

joongie

dude anser me

its serious

finally

look i need you to come save me

8:01 p.m

you

wym

8:01 p.m

joongie

i don’t have much time to explain

cardinal at the mall

the one next to the museum we went last week

i tried running but this kid got lost

she said she lost her parents

was crying

i couldn’t leave her

now we’re hiding on the second floor

cuz everything is happening t the first floor

if i move she cries

very loudly

you gotta come help us idk what to do

if you come thru the stairs from the parking lot i think no one will see you

the cops aren’t here yet

please

8:01 p.m

you

got it

omw now

don’t move

8:01 p.m

joongie

couldn’t even if i wanted to

we’re not in a good spot

too close to the ledge

but i can see the stairs from here

joongie is now sharing his location

The way there felt like hours, when in reality it didn’t take more than ten minutes since the location was so close that he could run there by foot. Around the mall a commotion was starting to form with a few police cars and media vans setting up camp, but thankfully the place wasn’t sealed up yet as Yunho managed to sneaky in through a back entrance into the garage floor.

It was unsettling, for the first time in a while the fear creeping up around him was no one else’s but his own while walking around the empty the floor. Going through the door and up the stairs, that were clearly never used beyond emergency situations, only made him feel worse. The unnatural light and silence filled the all white space giving it a bad atmosphere.

Once he finally made to the second floor doorway he understood what Hongjoong meant by bad spot. The floor they were in cut off in a circular shape above the downstairs entrance hall with a small glass ledge to give a clear view of what each side had to offer. It didn’t work in their favor as the exit in which he stood was between storefronts making the only path besides the edge.

Yunho risked taking a peek beyond his hiding spot behind the shielding door. Downstairs

people stood filling the hall spaced out like an army formation waiting for orders, The Cardinal was easy to spot, dressed in a wine red velvet suit and sitting on a chair from a nail kiosk placed in front of his temporary minions. He looked inattentive scrolling through his phone. The other guy wasn’t anywhere in sight. Not good, Yunho thought.

In comparison to the missing invisible man, Hongjoong was easy to spot which was an even worse sign. If the villain downstairs did not continue with his back turned, he would be noticed right away. The small man hid away behind a plant pot, a small silhouette behind him barely visible as well, Yunho assumed that was the little girl he was trying to protect. They also were stuck in front of a sealed wall between storefronts.

Objectively thinking Yunho was there only to make sure they weren’t controlled, he couldn’t do much else protection wise. Would be so convenient if he just could teleport them out, but all they could do was rush to sneak away before that tall guy appeared. They couldn’t waste time. The other met his eyes and gave a nod with worry shaping his face.

Yunho tried rushing quietly towards one of the hallways by his side, which wasn’t easy with his huge body having to crouch while also trying to stay the farthest away from the exposing ledge as possible. Nonetheless he made it, not wasting time to stand straight and run further in, trailing through the maze of halls to make a covered path back to the other side in which his friend was waiting at.

The distance was short, but not simple as an obstacle appeared when he took a sharp turn and almost bumped into the until now missing sidekick. He cursed under his breath as he went back pressing himself against a wall close to the corner. He took a peek yet again waiting to see what direction the big guy went, but the man only continued to roam around for a while. As if he was looking for something. Again.

He turned his back and Yunho took the chance to take off towards the next hallway, expecting to circumvent him, but of course the phone in his pocket fell right at that moment. He stopped in his tracks practically as an instinct to try and save it, his shoes screeching against the floor so close from being out of a sight.

“Hey!” he heard a deep voice call out although he didn’t stop to get even more confirmation that he was now being chased. He ran at full speed not minding the noise he made anymore, trying to make distance between him and the loud footsteps that seemed to keep getting closer. Finally, he made it full circle and reached the edge again now close to his target.

He stopped where the hallways and the balcony met looking behind him for the first time. The tall man just now turned the corner with some distance between them that didn’t give him much time to reach Hongjoong and back.

“Run, go go go!” Yunho yelled at the his friend that was watching his disheveled arrival with alarmed eyes. It took the other only a small moment to register it, grab the kid and sprint forward, impressing Yunho a bit with his quick reflexes. The small girl cried loudly in his arms and he could be seen clearly from downstairs, but after how loud Yunho yelled their stealth mission had already been considered a fail anyways.

The man chasing him now already less than two meters away was ready to catch them, and Yunho didn’t really wanna wait to see whatever he was going to do with him when he did, so he lunged forward trying to push the other back enough to make an opening for himself to run as well. Unexpectedly he got grabbed and got himself pulled forward towards him.

Yunho clearly wasn’t a fighter, his long limbs more of a deterrent than a vantage in trying to get himself loose from his grasp. His opponent however had some experience and it wasn’t long till Yunho was being immobilised with his arms behind his back on the floor, the other holding him down.

He proud himself in at least putting up what he considered enough of a fight. That is until he looked up to see Hongjoong still standing there looking torn, lowering the kid down. Yunho cursed his idiot friend for not leaving him behind when he cleared told him to run, like this he would be caught for nothing.

The small man looked ready to get involved and start off the fight all over again but the tiny girl hugged into his leg yelling and weeping then, the big guy on top of Yunho focusing on her as well. For a second the world stopped, none of them knowing how to make their next move when a voice behind them robbed all of their attentions yet again.

"What do we have here?" asked The Cardinal himself now standing a few feet away watching the ordeal. His voice was pleasing to the ear, his head tilted slightly in curiosity and eyes almost gentle beneath the mask. If everything about him didn't impose a impression of superiority, or arrogance as the two civilians perceived it as, then you could almost believe he had good intentions as he eyed the child clinging to Hongjoong's leg.

Everyone was frozen in place as if paralysed by the sudden intrusion. Even the kid stopped her cries, the villain now going towards her.

"Don't move." He told the kid's current protector that started to protest.

"What's your name?" He asked crouching in front of the little girl that promptly bursted into tears as a response.

"Don't cry." He ordered her and she stopped, easy as that. "You have to calm down and be strong now, okay?" He continued in a less authoritarian tone, cooing over the girl like a parent.

"What's your name?" the villain tried, but the girl didn't speak.

"Answer me." Yunho could hear his impatience growing through his more commanding tone. His mind raced as he waited for the right moment, when his assailant was distracted just enough for him to move again.

"Haseul" the little girl let out, her voice a bit hoarse from crying so much.

"That's a pretty name. Is this your brother?" The villain's tone was now back to being soft at the child's forced compliance.

"No." The kid answered and the mask covering the villain's face moved as he furrowed his brows.

"Did you come here with him?" He tried a different route than just guessing their relation to one another.

"No."

"Who did you come here with?" the villain started a interrogation now, going back and forth with the little girl, trying to figure out what to do with her.

"With Mama."

"Do you know where she is?" he continued to ask softly.

"No"

"Okay." The villain let out a sigh at that. "Do you know where the toy store is downstairs? The one right by the entrance?"

"Yes"

"You're gonna take that elevator, press the button number 1, walk straight ahead to the toy store and sit down on the couch by the playpen, okay? Do you understand me?" the command back in his tone, he tried giving clear instructions that even a child could get.

"Yes."

"You'll forget you saw me and forget that this happen. I'll send your mom to find you soon, be a good girl and take a little nap while you wait. Now go." He finished and the girl went on towards the elevator, not crying anymore as the villain watched over her till she was already inside and the elevator moving.

"Now, first problem solved. What's next?" The Cardinal said turning towards them again. " I guess you were here trying to help that kid." He said slowly his indicator hitting Hongjoong chest.

"And you." Yunho thought he was now talking to him, but his eyes went past his. "Why am I seeing you right now?" He enunciated slowly again tilting his head.

"Uh…" the guy practically straddling Yunho didn't seem to have a answer ready for that so the villain moved on.

He put both his hands on either sides of Hongjoong's face, cupping his cheeks and looking into his eyes as he starts his orders for the shorter man.

"Go downstairs, stand by the other people and wait for my next order. Understood?" He always spoke in a steady slow tone, coating every word with what Yunho could feel as his power manifesting.

While The Cardinal's power didn't affect him personally, it still reach and manifested all around him and it felt almost like what he would experience as an emotion. It left his mouth with an unpleasant feeling as if he had taken a spoonful of honey, thick and hard to swallow, a faint taste of wine made him feel light and his head felt full of cotton. His perception slowed down as if he was underwater for the few seconds the sound was resonating in the air, although he wasn’t really bound by any real weight he didn't trust himself to be sharp or precise with his moves while hearing it.

Hongjoong didn't answer immediately, his shoulders trembling slightly. He was seething with anger and Yunho imagined that at that moment he must’ve been trying his best to resist the enchantment. The people that were being controlled didn't give off any emotion, their auras a dull weak grey and Yunho could only assume that meant they were fully numb during the influence.

He had to do something fast before his friend went away, what would happen to Yunho when they realise he can't take his orders? Was his acting skill good enough to pretend he did? The fact that the big guy wasn't invisible already messed up his credibility. His thoughts raced as he tried to think of a way out of this situation.

"Answer me. Do you understand?" The villain's tone was harsher and more commanding this time, even more heavily coated with power.

It was almost pitiful seeing his friend's fingers curl up into fists as he tried his best to oppose his orders. Yunho knew how awfully the feeling of being controlled affected the other, the helplessness of the past incidents already developed in the form of a trauma in his mind.

He felt the pressure over him give in just slightly, his opponent either tired or distracted, and that was enough for him to push his weight up,not wasting any time in trying to spring towards his friend.

It wasn't even funny how he immediately got pushed down again only being able to free one arm that he stretched out pathetically as if he could reach the other. If only he got a bit further. But he couldn't, he was too far away. Tears formed in his eyes out of frustration, feeling the helplessness himself now.

The Cardinal didn't even flinch at his sudden outburst, still focused on Hongjoong.

"Yes, I understand." Yunho whimpered at how low and weak Hongjoong's voice sounded as he answered, feeling like he just got punched in the stomach.

He came here to save Hongjoong and if only he hadn't screwed up they wouldn't be going through this. If only he could touch Hongjoong for just a second. If only his outstretched arm could reach him. If only his power wasn't bound to him, he would gladly give it to Hongjoong that would use it for so much better.

As tears overflowed and his desperation only rose, he trashed under the weight of the villain's sidekick focusing on these ifs and his own power. He could feel his power surging in his hand, something Yunho had never noticed before. It coursed through his body, running up his arm until it reached and accumulated in his fingertips, his digitals feeling hot almost burning.

If only it could go beyond himself and reach Hongjoong.

But the short man's back already started to distance himself from his blurred vision, taking his first steps away from the whole ordeal.

"Second problem solved." The Cardinal now had his attention to the teary Yunho on the floor and he could only feel embarrassed at himself being seen in such a state.

His piercing eyes held curiosity as he inspect his prisoner's face in silence.

"Now what do I do with you?" The villain mused out loud. "So many questions, so little time." He held a hand to his own cheek deep in thought, gaze still focused on his prey.

Suddenly The Cardinal fell backwards, pulled with force by the back of his shirt’s collar and not being able to regain his balance. His companion reflexively moved to help forgetting about the trapped boy beneath him. Yunho took his chance again to push him away with his own weight again, this time a pair of hands helping him by pulling their opponent as he pushed.

Free from their grasps, Yunho now ran forward taking several moments to process that it was Hongjoong that opened this breach, the other running by his side. They made their escape before the villainous duo could recover and chase after them.

✧

The next few days Yunho mused over the happenings that lead to their escape. Hongjoong felt a miracle woke him up, sure that his willpower to resist had already completely ran out by then. Yunho tried focusing on his power often trying to replicate that surge he felt.

He always thought of his own power as a passive skill. He didn't need to do anything to activate it, it was always on. Now that he knew how it felt he tried to really feel it as an entity rather than just a concept. It was like breathing or blinking, imperceptible unless you put thought into it.

It flowed through him warmly giving him the impression of what it would be like to feel your own blood circulation. He concentrated it in his hand and, without the stress and threats around him, he could feel it dissipating outwards as if heat was coming off of him.

Although he never wanted this power, he not once thought about turning it off. Now he tried to do exactly that and meditate the power to stop and flow out of his system with his mind. It worked while he kept his eyes closed, the constant invading silhouettes of colorful lights not appearing in the dark of his eyelids like before. It was short lived ending as soon as he opened his eyes.

The moments of peace would be welcome as he went through crowds or heated arguments in class if not so fleeting. He sighed, unable to escape the overwhelming amount of feelings surrounding him constantly.

As time continues to fly by, he practices it without a certain objective, just the flow of it. One day The Cardinal appears on TV and his sidekick is clearly plastered across the whole frame. It sparks an idea in his head.

Hongjoong jumps from the couch turn to him.

"It's him! It's that invisible guy! Is he not hiding anymore? Why aren't they talking about him?" He exclaimed as he walked to Yunho's side at his desk.

Yunho was focusing his power to flow towards Hongjoong. This time he could feel a thread of energy connecting them, unlike the sloppy burst of power that was all over the place last time he tried using it on him.

"Ah!" The taller boy was about to tell him about his findings when he felt the ring in his hand break apart and fall down.

"Oh, he became invisible again." His friend commented in confusion as he bent down to pick up the remaining of his busted ring.

The ring was lowkey important to him which kinda sucked, but he was more curious about why it broke unprompted. The pieces felt powdery and fragile in his fingers and he smashed the rest without much effort.

Had his power done that? Had it gone through the ring? Perhaps this was proof that it indeed took a physical form. Could he maybe capture it?

If it was energy similar to heat he was out of luck on something permanent, but it was a start. Yunho looked at the tv still showing his opponent from last week and he turn to Hongjoong that now stared at him worried.

"Hey, do you have a ring that you can lend me?"

"That would fit on your fingers? Probably not." He answered, mock on his tone.

"No, just get me a ring that you don't like that much. I wanna try something real quick." He insisted rolling his eyes.

As expected of his fashionable roommate, Hongjoong grabbed from a drawer a transparent box full of rings separated into tiny slots and brought out a few he wasn't too fond off.

Yunho grabbed one that looked more cheap and held it with a closed fist while trying to imagine the energy concentrating into it. A few moments passed before he let it go, not really knowing what to expect or when to stop.

"Put it on." He said while handing the ring back to the shorter boy.

"Why? What did you do?" He looked skeptical, but was already positioning the ring on his finger as he spoke.

Yunho immediately knew it worked because from the moment the other touched the ring he couldn't see his aura anymore. There was no dancing lights surrounding him, no worry or confusion or pent up stress or any other emotion filling up the air that Yunho breathed and weighted down on his shoulders. Only his own. That were ecstatic right now.

"Why are you smiling like this? You're start to creep me out a little." The older asked with caution, confused.

"Joongie, look at the tv."

"That guy again! Wha- ah, is it the ring?" Yunho nodded at him, a smile on his face. "Yunho that's amazing! Now we're safe, The Cardinal can't control us anymore!" His roommate exclaimed with a smile on his face and Yunho felt fond of the way he said ‘we’ even though Yunho already couldn’t be controlled.

As he said those words, he grabbed onto Yunho's shoulder in excitement and the ring fell with the sudden movement. A quick look confirmed it was broken, it's texture weak and crumbling without much pressure.

"I'm pretty sure that ring was pretty sturdy before you touched it. You kinda own me a new ring now." He pointed out, his excitement dwindling a bit. "But you can just do it again, right?"

"That's why I told you to get one you didn't really like. I can do it again, but I'm afraid it'll just end up in the same way. It might still take a while to perfect it, but I already have a few ideas on what to do next to improve it." Yunho said, mind racing with the possibilities of it. Now he wouldn’t have anymore risk of getting caught up in this incidents involving the villain and neither would Hongjoong. That made him feel tons lighter, even more thinking about the break he would get from his friend’s overwhelming feelings.

"That's great already." Hongjoong continued with a mischievous look. "With that we can finally stick it to that arrogant prick."

"I mean, it would be nice if we just never saw him in person again. Even if the ring was unbreakable it wouldn't protect you from getting beat up, you know." He interjected, frowning at the other eagerness to affront The Cardinal.

"Yeah, I guess so." He quiet down after that, deep in thought and Yunho again wished he could turn his power off on his own, guessing what the other was thinking by his feeling.

He wanted to protect Hongjoong, but now he worried he might be opening him a path into even more trouble.

✧

The next few days, Yunho waited. Some of his classes were soon gonna move to the lab for more practical classes and an excuse to enter the labs was exactly what he needed. Until then he could just focus on his normal life and deflect Hongjoong’s nagging.

The older one now used a few accessories Yunho had “enchanted” as he called it. Yunho didn’t particularly felt that was the right word for what he was doing, but he still couldn’t describe it better. Metal seemed to work best, so maybe it could be considered forging.

That had also given some better perspective on the items lifetime, when Hongjoong used it out of his view it lasted with no problems whereas around him everything wore off quickly. It probably had to do with actively repealing Yunho’s power which wasn’t a good sign if it was supposed to be used against the villains that seemed to have way more aggressive powers than him.

As much as his roommate wanted to be protected, he was clearly getting tired of losing his accessories to his experiments. Yet Yunho pushed him to keep using them around him, summing up some lames excuses to just have a break from feeling way too intense emotions that weren’t his.

Yunho made that much effort to live alone before for a reason. Feeling everyone else’s feelings twenty four seven was exhausting and Hongjoong in special was a constant rollercoaster of emotion. The other just always felt so intensely all the time, it didn’t give him a break.

Usually the power holder could identify two or three types of people when it came to this. The most common were the people that lived mildly just going step by step, emotion by emotion not bothering him much.

Then there were people that were moved by reacting, feelings constantly activated and affected by their surroundings, living bound by their own perception of others. He could tell this type easily by how often he’d feel worry and relief from them, the clear anxiety keeping him on edge, but overall they were easy to get used to and he knew how to deal with them well, showering them with validation gave him great payback.

And then there was the type of people like Hongjoong that were just actively feeling all the time, regardless of anything else and laced with confidence in his own self. He just had a fire in him that didn’t dwell down, opinionated and vocal about everything he was involved in.

And Yunho felt that fire, he felt Hongjoong’s usual distraught at the news and his excitement while he worked on reforming clothes to his style and his huge satisfaction when his intuition was right and how inquiet he got when him or one of their friends was going through a down phase that had nothing to do with him and the boy couldn’t help.

It was just so strong and it never stopped.

Yunho mused that the other was someone to look up to with the way he lived to the fullest even when they were just college students getting beat up by student life. A great motivator, you could just look at him and feel inspired which was great, but sometimes Yunho felt invaded.

As if everyone’s feeling was being pushed onto him so much that he couldn’t notice his own anymore. And he knew that sooner or later that’d explode on him if he wasn’t careful. He had learned the hard way that his feelings had to be tended to, as a kid it was hard to distinguish what were his emotions and what wasn’t when he was still not self aware.

Life is a pursuit of happiness, yet no one could feel happy all the time, right? But young Yunho had started to believe he could, if everyone around him was happy he could feel happy too even if he himself wasn’t. It wasn’t long till he grew up compressing his real feelings, pushing them away for better ones. Even if his weren’t half bad, so so was not enough when he could just feel pure joy from someone else.

The drop when he couldn’t brighten the mood around him would affect him more than it should. Being alone felt empty and numb. It took a long depressing time and a feel heartbreaking situations to understand what was wrong and he still couldn’t handle serious situations well.

Now having Hongjoong not filling up the room with his emotional presence he could breath and take a second to just feel in peace with himself.

✧

It was still one of those waiting days that Yunho saw his suspected lifelong nemesis again. He wasn’t expecting it at all and the thought of the situation still made him feel unsafe at his own living space as one day he opened the door to their room coming back from class and just saw the gigantic silhouette going out the window.

He might’ve thought it was an animal had the room given to them not been in the fifth floor. Looking at the direction it had come from, in Yunho’s bed laid an phone on top of his messy covers. Not any phone, his phone. The one he dropped around a week ago.

A single notification popped up as he turned on the screen, a message from an unknown number.

12:30 pm

unknown

Stay away from the cardinal or there will be consequences.

12:45 pm

you

don’t worry i don’t wanna anything to do with all this

12:46 pm

unknown

Good. We’ll be watching you so don’t even think about trying anything funny

The thought that they knew who he was and that now he was under surveillance was frightening, specially the fact that the guy had been there inside his room. Yunho didn’t really know how to react to that. At hindsight he should’ve told Hongjoong, it was also his room after all, however he didn’t wanna give the other even more reason to feel personally attacked by the villains.

He couldn’t get it out of his mind the rest of the day though, as the initial shock faded his own curiosity rose up. He didn’t want anything to do with it, but now that he had a contact to text, why not, he guessed.

14:57 pm

you

so you’re the invisible dude right

The typing indicator came up a few times, but after an hour Yunho wasn’t expecting an answer anymore.

17:33 pm

unknown

I gave you a warning, seriously it won’t end well for you Yunho.

Don’t contact me again

Okay, not really up for talking I guess… After that he dropped it, slightly creeped out from seeing the other calling him by name.

He didn’t want to be involved, but he was still curious about the invisible guy’s origin, because realistically it would be too much of a coincidence for him to be his brief childhood friend. Nonetheless, the thought persisted on his mind that there could be a chance that it was the same person he knew of and it had him intrigued beyond his usual caution.

Maybe it was his guilt conscience that had his interest peaked. He didn't like to dwell on his regrets, but his initial reaction of running away from that kid years ago was something he wished he hadn't done. At least not so lastingly, after all their powers may have been different, but their overall situation wasn't so much.

If anything Yunho might’ve been the privileged one for the first time in his life, for having such easy to hide powers. Both were scared to show their true selves and be rejected for being different, but Yunho could just pretend it wasn’t his case while the other most probably could not.

Powers like theirs didn’t come with an instruction manual, even now at twenty years of age he kept finding out new aspects to it still. To him the potential now felt unlimited as he learned more and more exciting things he could do with it, to control it, but that was a perspective of his adult self.

As a child they had no control over it, powers were like an involuntary act like blinking or breathing and the kid just didn’t know it was abnormal or ‘wrong’. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like growing up invisible, how the other must’ve struggled at being thrown into the world not even understanding his own self and already having to deal with the consequences of it.

And to top it all off, the only person that could see him shunned him away the moment they noticed he was like that. Yunho felt like trash thinking about it.

✧

Finally the lab days arrived, and Yunho had so much planned out already. At first he cursed having those chemistry classes, he was coursing a computer engineering degree and he didn’t think it was particularly useful to get the same generalised class as all other engineering courses, specially when he just wanted to write some code or explore game design.

It did pay off now tho, giving him enough insight to know what he was looking for and what to do with it. Sneaking in with his access code later on in the day, he swiftly took up a spot in front of a microscope and rushed to take out his research material out of his backpack, not wanting to stay there not even a moment more than necessary.

Switching two pieces of the same ring under the lenses, he analysed the difference closely. Yunho had been hoping he could identify what his power did to make them break so easily, and if he was lucky signs that his power had any physical form.

And lucky indeed he was, it seemed his power made the material structure more spaced out with little invisible to the eye grainy crystals forming in between any microscopical free space they found.

He tries forcing more of his power into it and that explained why things would become porous and dissolved like sand, with this tiny shards expanding into it until they overcame the original material.

That meant he could definitely make something more sturdy with better material. He’d have to study a lot of atomic structure and boring stuff like that and it made him groan at the thought of it but he was willing for the pay off.

Suddenly the door opened with a loud thud, interrupting his thoughts and almost giving him a heart attack.

“Hey, found anything useful?” The fashion major said making his way to Yunho without much discretion.

“Ah… you know, it’s rude to come in without knocking” Yunho ignored his question still grasping his chest and trying to recover from the jumpscare. His roommate laughed at the exaggerated reaction, stopping to sit down next to him. “I understand how this works better now, so soon I’ll make something durable and stop breaking your accessories.”

“That’s great, I was running out already. Care to explain what am I looking at?” Hongjoong asked a bit sarcastically as he leaned into his space to look at the microscope himself.

“Do you see those little clear dots? It’s probably my power, it grows till it takes too much space and makes the ring break.” The taller said towering over the other’s back to look too.

“I see” Hongjoong hummed. He sat back and watched Yunho gather the things he brought over back into his backpack. “So, I was thinking…”

By the other’s aura Yunho already knew whatever it was, it was trouble. The yellow hesitance swayed in his vision with sprinkles of orange and red fierce tones, fitting of Hongjoong’s ever so warm visual presence.

“I was thinking, if you can make it last, couldn’t you make something to stop The Cardinal as well? Maybe sprinkle some of those crystals on handcuffs or something? I know you said it was hard to approach him, but that was when I couldn’t see the other guy. And I’m not thaaat defenceless I’m sure I can put up a good fight if I can see my opponent.” Hongjoong went on, continuing to list reasons to convince Yunho that they could win with his power.

The younger was appalled at Hongjoong eagerness to take on both of the villains like this, but he’d be lying if he said that his curiosity wasn’t peaked at making a device that could stop The Cardinal’s power.

With his power taking physical form it was indeed possible, even if temporary. If he could make a device that rendered the other powerless for just a while…

Developing something like that presented itself as a puzzle way too stimulating for Yunho’s mind, already scheming what would it take to make it for real, what approach he should take that would be the most effective and he had to grip the table and stop himself for a moment before he fell into that rabbit hole.

“I just hate it, even if I get to be immune to his power I don’t think I can stand by as everyone else is dragged into it. Yunho, please you’ve got to help me. I understand the risk I’d be taking, I’m not dumb. Just give me something to fight with and I swear I won’t bother you about it again.” Hongjoong pleaded, and Yunho hated the feeling overwhelming him, pure, desperate and selfless.

“I think this will be a mistake, but if my best friend asks me like this how can I say no.” Yunho answered with a sigh giving in and Hongjoong smiled widely practically bouncing off his seat to hug the younger.

“ But ,” Yunho continued holding up a finger before the other got too excited. ”I really don’t want anything to do with this past this part. You can go play batman, but I refuse to be your Robin, okay? Consider me James, I’ll try and see if I can give you some equipment that works against them. After that you’re on your own, I refuse to go get my butt kicked with you.”

“And who said I’m getting my butt kicked?” Hongjoong retorted with a pout, but the corner of his mouth couldn’t contain his lasting smile. “I get it you don’t want to fight, that’s your choice and I respect that. You’ve already been doing more than enough by protecting me all this time with your powers, I’m thankful really.”

Yunho couldn’t help but smile too at the other words.

✧

Turns out building little prototypes for Hongjoong was way more fun than Yunho had predicted. The younger already had a natural hand with technology and his creativity combined with years of reading comic books filled his head with ideas not only of ways to apply his own power, but of plain weapons to help the other fight and capture the villain.

If The Cardinal was a supervillain then Hongjoong would have to be his antagonising superhero, and so that inspired the fashion major to work on an uniform to make himself easily recognisable, but also cover his identity.

Much of their enemy’s tactic fell on swaying the public’s mentality and the last thing Hongjoong wanted was to be publicly recognised by his little internet following. Standing up to the other was sure to earn him a spotlight over all types of media and he hoped it would work out in his favor, raise the moral of those that had been controlled before.

That being said his uniform wasn’t flashy or anything of the sort, just a very stylistic and accessorised black suit, followed by a mask and hat covering the lower half of his face and shadowing his eyes.

In a week he had it done, Yunho finishing some of his projects soon after, thanking the god’s for the college’s facilities offering so much for his course. It was truly amazing what you could do with a 3d printer plus some chips and cables.

Hongjoong was dressed up in his attire, showing off his designer skill to his friend in their room when Yunho presented him with his first set of gear.

“So I made these three items so far, they are still prototypes and need testing, but are ready to use already.” Yunho started dropping the tech on the table.”I’m making something more permanent to deal with their powers for good, but that might take a long time still.”

“Okay, walk me through it.” The new hero asked.

“So those earphones, I made them embedded with my power. I made them hollow inside so that the piece of rubber I added inside has space to expand well before it becomes too much. So it’s not like it’s unbreakable or anything, but they do have a trick to them to help you out in that case.” The technician started explaining, Hongjoong looking slightly lost, but understanding for the most part humming along.

“They are completely noise cancelling, all you hear will actually be filtered by a mic, that way if the duration runs out the mic breaks as well and you’ll hear nothing. It’ll be a pain, but it should be enough for you to make a escape without hearing The Cardinal’s voice.” He continued.

“Ah I see, you thought it out so thoroughly, I’m impressed.” Hongjoong stroke the other’s ego seeing how excited he looked talking about his creation, making him bashful to the the point of his ear reddening.

“Yeah, I mean, nothing I make can last forever so we’ve got to consider what to do when it breaks. I made this one rather easy to do maintenance with refills for the inside though so I would rather you didn’t let it get to that point. Also if you press the button here on the side it calls me. You know, for emergencies only.” He finished describing his most fond masterpiece.

“Got it” The older nodded. ”Next.”

“Okay, those gloves then. Easy to explain, they are basically a weak taser. Mainly to take care of the big guy, they give a nice stun for you to get past him. Just use it as a last case scenario trick up your sleeve since they don’t have much charge. I’m working on something better and long ranged, but maybe in the meantime you should actually go out and buy a taser.” Yunho explained, and Hongjoong hummed in response.

The older had mentioned not wanting to use any heavy weapons, taking the ethics of the heroic role seriously, and so Yunho was trying to accommodate his wishes, although it was hard to escalate the effectiveness without also escalating the pain.

“The last one is just a charm for you to put on in a bracelet or necklace to use in daily life. It’s easy to open and refill so you can use it around me as well.” Yunho explained handing him a little tiny star.

Hongjoong swirled the tiny sparkly item on the tip of his finger analysing it from every angle.

“It’s so pretty.” He mumbled, a soft smile falling on Yunho’s face. “You know, sometime you need to really explain to me why I should use it around you. We never talked about your power since we first met.” The smile in his face faded as fast as it came. “I just don’t want to make it harder for you, if you need me to use this there must be a reason, right?”

Yunho sighted at that, knowing the time to open up would come. He just never knew how to talk about serious things like that, his power specially.

“I just see and feel things in a different way and it can be overwhelming sometimes.” He answered not really wanting to get deeper into it.

“You know you can talk to me about it if you need to. I’ll try to understand whatever it is.” Hongjoong said softly leaving the tiny star on the desk, his emotions now noticeable again. The soft orange hue of his compassion warming Yunho up and breaking through his walls, just a little bit.

They had been rooming together for a while now, he might as well open up. He only hoped the other didn’t think he was praying onto his feelings, he was sure this should be a major privacy invasion. Not that he could do much about that.

“Have you ever heard of empaths?” He started off dreading it already.

“Like people that can understand other people’s feelings well?” The older turned back to him while taking the outer layer of his suit to put it away.

“Not quite, it’s not just understanding. I- I can feel it myself, the emotions of other people. In a very different way than normal people would feel them.” Yunho was hesitant to continue explaining, but Hongjoong waited patiently for it.

“With every sense I can feel it, I see auras and I feel it in the temperature, even in the smell in the air and in the taste on my tongue and sometimes I can even hear a ringing in my ear when it’s too strong. It’s tiring and invasive and I can’t really turn it off. That’s why it gives me a break if you use it.”

He ended spilling his secrets way too easily, glad to get it off his chest, barely stopping himself before saying how Hongjoong’s emotional was specially exhausting.

Hongjoong stretched a hand to touch his shoulder, looking at him with a soft expression in his face as he said his own thoughts.

“I see, that explains a few things. Yunho, I know it must be hard for you to open up about it, but I just want to let you know you can trust me. I won’t judge, I just want to help. So next time I hope you feel comfortable to tell me anything you’re struggling with earlier.”

Yunho hummed in response, a pout on his lips to hold back the teary sensation overcoming his face. The other seeming satisfied with his own speech and went away to change the rest of his clothes.

Hongjoong sometimes felt like a father figure to Yunho, already knowing his troubles before he even said anything, but waiting patiently for him to come to him for advice instead of intervening by himself.

And Yunho was glad for it, to have someone solid in his life that he could always rely on and fall back onto when he needed help or it all became too much, that didn’t push him too hard or demanded more than he could give.

He just wasn’t used to being vulnerable like that with someone else and it would take more than just a few months to reach a point where he would be comfortable venting out his inner struggles, specially after internalising it for so long.

✧

The first time Hongjoong actually went out to fight the villain came sooner than he expected and Yunho was a ball of nerves, yet he didn’t back down on his decision to not get caught up in it.

It was still early into the night as they saw the news, The Cardinal shouting into a megaphone from a varanda of a low building, stopping a whole avenue with just his voice.

His attacks seemed to follow a pattern now of growing in scale, installing fear in the citizens heart, continuing to record it through the wide web. It supplied them with a previous test of their equipment when he started a ig live a few days back, so now they were all set knowing the earphones worked.

He was getting greedy and his roommate that had been itching to just go there and punch him in the face got ready in record time, jumping through the window into the fire escape to not attract any attention to his suspicious outfit.

Since Yunho forged those little gadgets to help him out and he finished his own uniform, Hongjoong had been out “patrolling” as a “superhero” a few time. Yunho found it cringy to just think about it, but the other had a point that he needed to practice, both using the gadgets and porting himself like a vigilante, as well as fighting and being inconspicuous.

He managed to even catch a few petty thieves and drunk harassers on the street to his best friend surprise. It wasn’t that Yunho doubted Hongjoong, but he didn’t expect the other to own up to this persona so well.

In theory his part was to just be mindful of his phone in case Hongjoong fucked up too bad, otherwise he was supposed to be free of responsibility. That didn’t make him any less nervous and he knew he wouldn’t be able to calm down on his own, neither focus on anything else so he just made sure his phone was ringing as loud as it possibly could and took a couple of pills to sooth his anxiety and maybe rest his eyes a little bit.

He just couldn’t concentrate enough to do anything else after all. Not his smartest idea, he gets that, but they talked beforehand about not overdoing it too much on the first time and being cautious, so he just choose to trust that Hongjoong would have an ounce of common sense and not need him to intervene so early on.

Not even fifteen minutes later tho his phone rang, startling him and he groaned as he held it up, already mourning the fact that he would have to leave his comfy covers and go out in the cold weather.

The message on the screen wasn’t what he was first expecting though.

09:37 pm

unknown

Yunho I’m serious don’t get involved in this or you’ll regret it.

09:37 pm

you

im not involved

im literally in bed rn playing hearthstone on my phone

i could not be less involved even if i tried

09:38 pm

unknown

I’m not an idiot there’s no way this is not your friend right there

09:38 pm

you

it’s not him

i can testify we both here tucked in bed on our phones like good boys seriously

“Oh, really?” a deep voice sounded from his window and the frightened high pitched screech that came out of Yunho didn’t sound neither human nor manly as he almost feel out of bed jumping from surprise, his heart beating so fast he was sure it’d stop at any moments.

“You can’t lie to me, Yunho.” The invisible boy commented as he walked to the end of Yunho’s bed to face him.

“I wasn’t lying, I’m really not involved.“ Yunho said with a pout, bummed at both being caught in his lie and getting scared like that. He should be more seriously frightened, but for some reason he didn’t feel much more than just a few butterfly in his stomach, maybe the meds.

“What about your friend?” The other asked with an eyebrow raised, looking down on him.

“Ask him yourself, how am I supposed to know?” he looked away still pouting. The danger of the situation still not sinking in, although there was a feeling of vulnerability in him sitting up in his bed covered with his comforter up to his waist now.

The man in front of him let out a sight. He hesitated a second before making a move to seat there at the end of the bed. Yunho quickly moved his feet making space for him and suddenly the other didn’t look so intimidating now at his eye level, moonlight hitting his face in just the right angle to make Yunho feel some type of way even with the dark mask over his mouth. His eyes held a soft but distressed emotion that he couldn’t pinpoint.

“Look, your power… It may help you not be controlled or to see me, but that’s not enough. If you get in his way you will lose. I…” he started in a coaxing tone that Yunho wouldn’t expect someone that was supposed to be his enemy to talk in, but soon hesitated and looked away. “We don’t want any conflict.” he finished quietly.

“I’m sorry” the taller boy answered slowly, surprising even himself. Maybe it was the fact that he was embarrassingly sleepy for that early in the night, his brain hazily trying to catch up with the situation still, or maybe it was the gentle attitude and how pained the other looked at the prospect of Yunho pushing forward that made the words spill mindlessly from his lips.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the answer the other was expecting he noted as he saw him sigh again and get up.

“Wait” he called out as an impulse. The man looked back at him while he could only dumbly stare trying to form a coherent thought. “Have we met before?”

The stranger looked away for a moment then back at him mumbling a no before going through the window off into the night. Yunho was left to silently collect his thought and chastise himself for the dumb question.

For a second, he felt like he could recognise the boy from his memories. The invisible presence in his high school that sparked into his view once in a blue moon, but at this point he couldn’t say for sure if the boy in his memory and the man that had just left were really similar or if it was just him projecting one onto the other in an attempt to make sense of either of them.

It later felt like a wasted opportunity to let him walk away like that without asking anything useful. His brain was now filled with questions, most of them more about the man himself than the conflicting situation they currently found themselves in. His reluctance to fight in addition to the care his few words held intrigued him, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t even a bit attracted to the intruder in his sleepy stupor.

He would like to at least believe it to be a simple momentous acknowledgment of the other’s physical attributes rather than him being so naive that he’d catch a serious infatuation for any handsome caring stranger.

Sometimes you look at the tv and find the bad guy hot and that was just that, he told himself pushing the thought away.

Looking back at his phone a few texts from Hongjoong popped up at the screen informing of his success and that he was coming home soon. The newbie hero’s texts were filled with hurried details about how he managed to scare the villain away, bravados of how he’d catch him next time and praise for Yunho’s first set of gadgets.

Yunho only quickly scanned through them adding a curt answer at the end before laying back again to try and clear his thought filled head before the other arrived. He decided to keep his own villain encounter to himself.

#ateez #ateez fanfiction #ateez fanfic #ateez au #ateez superhero au #superhero au #kpop superhero au #my writing #SleepyFairyAO3 #youseissi #long #long post

5 notes · View notes