So, I've created a community where I will be posting my fanfiction from now on, called yumyeong_150

If you would like to continue reading my fanfiction, getting updates on stories, etc, I would suggest you follow the community, because I'm thinking of no longer posting on miracle. If you'd like to remain on my friend's list just for the sake of reading whatever non-fanfiction-esque things I sometimes write than feel free to continue to do so.

  

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By the time Henry reached his house he was out of breath and freezing. The house was still dark, at least what he could see from the road. It was early—he didn’t have a watch, but it hadn’t been too long since the sun had begun to rise—so his family was probably still sleeping.

Henry collapsed against the gate next to the intercom, gasping. Somehow he’d managed to run down a car and guilt the driver into driving him to the outskirts of his neighborhood. He hadn’t had enough money for a taxi, and the man that had picked him up seemed to be under the impression that Henry was mentally unstable. Henry wouldn’t argue with that. He was a paranoid mess and had spent the car ride looking out the window expecting to see Siwon catching up to them, or Sungmin blasting the car with a sound wave, or Yesung taking out the driver with a staple or something.

He heard barking from the house and sat up a littler straighter. His dog had realized someone was outside. He swallowed and pressed the doorbell as he stood. It rang, and Henry lost count at seven because he was beginning to fear that he had the wrong house and someone was going to call the cops. A light clicked on in the living room and he jumped back when the intercom beeped and his mother’s voice crackled through the chilled morning air.

“Hello?”

“Mom.” Henry sputtered in English. Relief and panic were rising in his throat. “Mom, it’s Henry.”

There was a small pause. “H…Henry? HENRY!” The gate swung open and Henry had barely stepped into the yard before the front door flew open and his mother ran down the stairs toward him. She enveloped him in a suffocating hug. “Henry! Henry!” Henry felt like crying too, and latched onto his mother tightly.

He was home. Everything was going to be ok now. His mother pulled back and held his face between her hands. “Henry. Oh Henry what happened? Where were you?” She looked thinner, and she had more wrinkles. Had she been worrying that much about him?

“…can we go inside?” Inside was safer. And his father was inside. He needed to tell him about everyone at Yumyeong apartments. He felt a pang of guilt at the thought. They had saved him and taken him in. They had never hurt him—despite Heechul’s threat—and had tried their hardest to make him feel welcome. No. They were freaks. They were dangerous terrorists that wanted to destroy the government and had the powers to do so. He had to warn his father.

His mother studied his face before giving a weak smile and a nod. “Yes of course. You’ve been through a lot. Did…did they hurt you? There was no ransom and we didn’t—come inside.” She cut herself off and led him inside by the hand.

It was dark, and no one else seemed to be awake yet. When his mother closed the front door behind them he let go of a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He was really home. He collapsed onto the couch because his legs suddenly felt like jelly. He hadn’t thought about how much danger he’d been in until now. He could have died…his mother clutched his hand tightly as she sat down beside him, afraid that he’d disappear if she let go.

“I should…your father and sister…” His mother began, but didn’t let go. She smiled through her tears. “Your brother was flying over from home when he got the chance but he was busy with work—I’ll call him.” She stood and then sat back down again, still holding his hand. “Oh Henry…” She began sobbing again.

Henry held her tightly, wanting to cry himself. He hadn’t meant to make her worry so much.

“Henry!” Someone collided with him. His sister. She, his mother, and Henry ended up a sobbing mass of bodies on the couch. His sister was sniffling, apologizing, and in between her “I totally didn’t mean it when I said you were a stupid brother!” and his mother’s “Oh Henry, thank god, thank god” he managed to look up to see his father standing in the parlor doorway.

“…dad…” He swallowed, throat tight. His dad would know what to do. His mother managed to detach herself from him, pulling his sister along. She was now grumbling about how her makeup had run and that she needed to text Dongho so he could tell Yoseob.

“Not now.” Her mother quieted her. “Tomorrow, alright?”

“But mom, Yoseob has been freaking out. Dongho says he’s been depressed since Henry disappeared!”

“Later.” His mother said firmly, as Henry stood. Henry took a few steps forward and met his dad halfway across the living room floor.

“…Henry.” His father hugged him, but there was something rigid about his embrace. “Let’s go talk in my office.”

Henry nodded, grateful to be able to tell someone about what had happened.

“I’ll tell the police that we found him.” His mother headed toward the kitchen, but was stopped by his father.

“Not yet. Let’s wait until later, dear.” His father smiled. “Let me hear Henry’s story first. You don’t want the police coming over for statements this early in the morning, do you?”

His mother looked like she wanted to protest, but nodded. “Alright. I’ll…I’ll go make some coffee. Are you hungry?”

Henry nodded. “Yeah.” His mother bustled toward the kitchen, wiping her face with the back of her hand. His sister looked at Henry and their mother before sighing, “I’ll be upstairs.”

The last thing Henry heard before his father steered him down the hallway was his mother’s warning of, “Don’t text or call anyone about this, Whitney!”

His father’s office looked the same as before. Neat and pristine and stereotypical with a desk and a bookshelf and an oversized leather chair. The door had barely shut before Henry let out a deep breath and began talking, “It was crazy dad. There are people out there with freakish superpowers!”

His father paused, raising an eyebrow. “…is that so?”

“I know it sounds stupid. I know you probably don’t believe me but I swear it. They’re some kind of mutant terrorists! They want to attack the government.”

His father smiled softly. “Henry, why don’t you come with me?”

Henry blinked. What did he mean? They were already in his office! And why wasn’t his father asking him why he was acting like a raving lunatic? “…what?”

His father walked over to the bookcase and pulled out a book before reaching into the space where it had been. There was a soft groaning sound before the bookcase began moving to the side. Henry almost jumped backward at the sound, still paranoid and jittery and more than a little confused.

The bookshelf stopped moving, revealing a steel door and a keypad.

Henry stared, bewildered, as his father placed his hand on the keypad and it opened with a soft beep. His father looked back at him, “Come on Henry.”

Something told him to say no, but he found himself heading toward the door. This was his dad. There was nothing to be afraid of. Once he stepped across the threshold the door slid shut behind him and he could hear the bookcase shifting back into place.

He was in a stairwell, well lit and narrow. Enough space to walk single file, but his view was obstructed by his father’s frame. He followed him silently. His footsteps seemed to be eaten up by the cement stairs, and his breathing echoed. The air smelled odd. Too clean; filtered. His father paused and Henry almost bumped into him as he placed his hand on another keypad and the door in front of him opened.

The feeling of dread and a desire to flee crept back up his spine but he followed anyway. He was with his father. He was safe. Once he passed the doorway he found himself in a large room. The door closed behind him with a quick, foreboding click and he jumped, startled. His father sent him another calm, reassuring smile that did nothing to quell the paranoia that had lodged itself in his brain.

The room was relatively empty. It consisted of white-washed, concrete walls and low hanging lights. Several doors occupied one wall, all with keypads. There was a desk to the far left, and the person sitting at it looked up from his computer as they entered. “Dr. Lau! You’ve brought your son?”

“Call the security team captains into the conference room for me.” His father ordered.

The man nodded, and Henry found himself being led toward the center door on the far wall. What was this place? Why was it under their house? He tried to make sense of it as they headed down a slightly wider hallway and turned into a room. It looked like any other company conference room, with a large table surrounded by chairs. “Sit down Henry.”

“But dad I—”

“We’ll talk about it when the others get here. Sit down.” He had already sat down, and motioned to the seat beside him. Henry lowered himself into it hesitantly. He hadn’t felt this apprehensive even at Yumyeong. “Does mom know about the secret base under her kitchen?”

His father laughed, and for a moment Henry felt safe again. Then the door opened and three people walked into the room.

---

The house was quiet. Unnaturally so, even before Sungmin silenced the surrounding area. The car ride had been made in relative silence, broken only by Siwon directing Shindong along the streets. The tension made it impossible for a conversation, and the air in the back seat of the van was positively murderous. That was probably because situated in the back seat was Kibum and Sungmin.

Heechul stepped out of the van and stretched as he stared up at the gate and the mansion behind it. So close…soon they would get the answers they needed and the plan would be complete. Yesung followed behind with Kibum and Sungmin. Shindong came from the driver’s side as Siwon tucked his cell phone into his back pocket.

“So do we knock, or just let ourselves in?” Heechul smirked, before turning to Siwon. “You and Kibum will secure the house and Henry’s family.”

“I never said I was working for you.” Kibum shot back.

Heechul snorted. “I let you tag along. Try and keep up with Siwon, will you?”

Kibum bit back an angry retort and grabbed onto the gate, climbing over it. He reached the top and leapt down to find Siwon already on the other side. The older man sent Kibum a friendly smile that Kibum ignored as they headed up the driveway. The house was familiar to him, the same rich suburb layout that he had been so used to as a child. Kibum shook off the nostalgia as they stepped up to the door. Kibum rang the doorbell, and he heard the ring echo inside the house, the sound confined to the area Sungmin had closed off from the rest of the world.

“…the doorbell? Did I leave the front gate open?” A female’s voice, and the door opened to show a Middle-aged Chinese woman. Her eyes widened, “Who are—”

Siwon moved quickly, and by the time Kibum stepped through the doorway Siwon was placing the unconscious woman gently on the couch in the adjoining parlor. “I’ll go deal with the sister. Tell the others to come up.”

Kibum nodded curtly and opened the gate with the console on the wall beside the door. A few moments later the others entered. Heechul looked down at his phone screen. “We need to head down the hallway. That’s where the signal was lost.”

“You mean there’s no longer a signal? Did someone notice Donghae?”

“Unlikely.” Heechul was walking down the hall as Siwon came down the stairs. “They probably went underground.” He paused in front of a door and looked back at Shindong and Kibum. “You’re armed, right?”

Both nodded.

Heechul let out a long sigh. “Then let’s get this over with.” He opened the door and they all walked inside. They didn’t get very far before pausing, because Donghae was sitting in an office chair, grinning. “I wondered how long it would take you—Kibummie?”
Kibum said nothing.

Yesung stepped in before the air could get awkward. “Where’s Henry?”

“Behind the bookcase.” Donghae pointed. “I was going to follow him but I wanted for backup like you told me to hyung.”

“Good boy.” Heechul patted his head. “Do you know the code?”

“It takes a handprint authentication.”

Heechul pulled off his glove. “Well then, let’s get started.”

---

It was one woman and two men.

The woman was tall, dressed in black leather and heels. Her hair was short and sleek, the choppy bangs covering one smoky eye. Her stare was head on, and her full lips tilted in a soft smile that was neither warm nor welcoming.

One of the men was a little chubby—broad shouldered and older. Probably in his late thirties, early forties. He was wearing an old suit, with patches on the elbows.

The third was older as well, gaunt and weedy. The hair on his upper lip was drenched in sweat. He dabbed a handkerchief to his forehead.

They greeted his father and eyed Henry curiously as they settled into their own seats.

After a moment the woman spoke, “Why is your son here, Dr. Lau?” She seemed to be the leader, the strongest personality of the trio.  

“You all know that he recently went missing. Henry came back this morning to tell me some very interesting things. Henry, tell them what you were going to tell me about the night you were kidnapped.”

I wasn’t kidnapped, he wanted to say, but he wasn’t even entirely sure that was true. He didn’t like the way the three watched him though, especially the woman. There was something off in their eyes. They had Kim Heechul’s eyes.

“Well I was walking home…” He began hesitantly. “From violin practice. And I saw a cat and there was a weird sound so I followed it. There was—there was a creature, and it was holding a person.” And this was where he suspected they’d think he’d lost it.

“What kind of creature?” The husky man asked. He didn’t look doubtful, simply curious.

Henry was taken aback. “A…like a gorilla?” He didn’t know how else to describe it. Maybe they were asking because they thought he’d seen a large dog or something? Or maybe some animals had escaped from a zoo somewhere. “It killed the person.”

“Sangchu?” The other man, the sweaty one, turned to the woman and began talking like Henry wasn’t even there. “He went missing after a mission around the same time as Dr. Lau’s son.” He leaned back in his chair and studied Henry for a moment. “What happened after that?”

Sangchu? What was that? Why didn’t they think Henry was crazy? He swallowed. Something in the back of his mind screamed at him not to say anymore. “I was saved. By two people.”

“Two…people fought off Sangchu?” The chubby man snorted. “What kind of people were they?”

“One of them shot him. Shot the monster.” Henry clarified. “I couldn’t see very well in the dark. I don’t know what he used.” A slight lie. For some reason he didn’t think he should tell them the whole truth. “Another man grabbed me and pulled me through a wall.”

There was a moment of silence. If they hadn’t thought he was crazy before they certainly did now. Instead of disbelief, however, the woman’s eyes narrowed, “Are you certain he pulled you through a wall?”

“Yes.”

“He didn’t destroy the wall first? Was the wall destroyed afterwards?” She continued, leaning forward slightly. Her chest looked ready to pop out of her tight leather jacket. He only then noticed that she wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath. He tried not to stare.

Henry blinked, confused. What? What kind of questions were those? Why did they care about that kind of detail when they obviously didn’t believe him? “No. He just…pulled me through a wall.”

“Impossible.” Thin and Sweaty countered gruffly. “No one has that gift. It isn’t registered in the database.”

Database? What where they talking about? Why didn’t they think this was crazy? It didn’t make sense.

“Not as a primary gift.” The woman eyed Henry shrewdly. “During the first two years of the GAM project the lab tried to engineer new gifts and give them to those that were unfit. One person was given the ability to phase through solid matter but his body couldn’t handle the strain. He was later disposed of.”

Those…deemed unfit? That couldn’t be right. Disposed of? …it was just like Leeteuk had said. No, that couldn’t be right. He was reading too much into this. He was just trying to connect what he knew from Leeteuk and the others. It was obviously a mix up.

“…but he should be dead.” The stouter one supplied. “So how could he have pulled the boy through a wall?”

Thin and Sweaty dabbed his forehead with his handkerchief, his gaze fixated on Henry. Henry tried to pretend like he didn’t notice, but his stomach churned unpleasantly. They were all looking at him now, and his father was watching with calm acceptance.

This wasn’t making any sense. Why didn’t they think he was crazy? What database? Was it all true? Had everything Leeteuk and the others told him been true? He eyed the three “security captains” and felt like bolting.

Despite the fact that Heechul had threatened to kill him once, he felt more murderous intent from the three in front of him now. He didn’t understand why his father was with these people. He stood slowly. “They…they said the government was doing this to people. That you killed people.” Henry took a step back. “It’s true.” He began looking around for an escape route. Don’t worry. Your father will make sure you’re ok. You’ll be fine. You’re safe. Your dad’s here. But his father wasn’t doing anything.

His father sighed, as if explaining something to a small child. His tone was chiding. “Henry, we’re helping people. With those kinds of gifts we can end wars. We can make Korea and the rest of the world safe.”

“…but the powers you don’t want.” Henry swallowed. “What do you do with them?” Helping people? He’d seen firsthand how fucked up the “gifted” that had been trained had become.

His father’s eyes narrowed. “Those people. How do you know about that, Henry?”

How did he know? He suddenly felt afraid to tell his father. He hadn’t wanted to protect the others before, but now he wondered…who exactly was the bad guy in all of this?

“Henry, tell me how you know about them.” His father ordered sternly. “Did you meet them? Are they the people that took you?”

Henry didn’t answer. He took another step back. He could feel the wall behind him. The only way to the door was passed the chubby man and Thin and Sweaty. The woman was nearer to his father, but he felt that she could probably reach him easily.

“There were rumors that a squad went rogue, but we didn’t know they’d begun smuggling out the failures. It would explain the powers the boy witnessed.” Sweaty swallowed. A drop of sweat was collecting on his upper lip.

They didn’t know. They hadn’t known that the others had survived. They only knew about the members that escaped the training facility. He’d told them. They knew now. If they found out where they lived…it would all be his fault.  What had he done?

“Tell me where they are, Henry.” His father had stood by this point. The scraping on the chair against the floor made him jump.

“What will you do to them?” He asked shakily.

The woman gave a small laugh. “Traitors will be killed, of course.”

He never should have left 1502. He should have stayed. Why had he come back? Why was his father acting like this? Who were these people? He didn’t feel safe. He needed to go home.

That was when an alarm began blaring. The lights dimmed, and a red bulb in the corner began pulsing in tandem with the alarm.

Sweaty stuffed his handkerchief in his breast pocket. “What the…someone has entered the facility!”

Henry’s father pressed a button on the console next to the table and the screen behind them flickered to life to show the security feed. The front room that Henry and his father had walked through was now full of security guards, their guns pointed toward the stairwell.

There was a dusty veil to the feed, and Henry wasn’t sure if it was the grainy footage or if there really was smoke. Someone began shooting as a dark shadow darted out of the stairwell. Henry saw a flash of orange and black and then red as the large Siberian tiger ripped out a man’s jugular and then let out an earth shattering roar. The noise was so loud that the audio feed spiked out for a moment before returning in a cacophony of gunshots and screams.

“We’ll take care of this. Looks like we won’t have to go looking for them after all.” The woman’s smile grew, and there was something manic about it.

Chubby and Sweaty both nodded, their expressions grim. Neither seemed to enjoy the thought of bloodshed as much as the female. His father grabbed his arm, pulling him toward a second door that Henry hadn’t noticed earlier. “Come on.”

Henry couldn’t fight back, but his gaze remained trained on the screen until it was cut off from view.

They’d come to rescue him.

---

Donghae had gone first, with Siwon behind him. A second security guard lifted a gun to shoot the large Siberian Tiger when he found a knife slicing across his throat. There was silence, before a spray of red and the hissing of blood issuing from his neck filled the air, accompanied by the security force’s frenzied gunshots and occasional yells for backup.

Siwon wiped a few droplets of blood from his cheek, and the sticky liquid smeared. A gloved hand reached out and brushed it off and Heechul gave him a level look, “You’re like a child, geeze.”

Sungmin stayed glued to Heechul’s side, still wary of Heechul’s wound. He’d healed considerably over the last month or so, but he wasn’t ready to get into a full battle with a Gifted. “Hyung, let us deal with it.”

Heechul shrugged, “Yesung, Shindong, Kibum, finish off the regular security.”

Yesung nodded, and Heechul suspected through the smoky haze that Shindong had as well. Kibum merely pulled his twin Berettas out of his shoulder holster and began firing deftly.

Donghae tore into a man’s calf. The muscles sliced cleanly under sharp canines. He could taste blood. Lots of blood. It was warm and wonderful. He wanted more—“Donghae hyung, calm down.” A hand gripped the skin at the back of his neck and jerked him backward. He let out a growl and swiped with his claw.

Siwon quickly dodged, and he saw Donghae lower his paw and flatten his ears as recognition dawned. Siwon looked around the large room, stepping gingerly over an eviscerated body. “Well…everyone in the main annex is taken care of.”

Sungmin winced. Even through his headphones he could hear the blaring of the alarm. He didn’t deafen the sound because he knew that they needed his ears right now. This place wouldn’t just have regular civilian guards. There had to be Gifted here.

A door down the hallway creaked open, and Sungmin’s head snapped in the direction. “Someone’s coming.” He resisted the urge to step in front of Heechul. His hyung’s pride wouldn’t take being protected very well.

“Don’t shoot until I say.” Heechul ordered calmly. He squinted in the smoky haze.

Kibum let the empty cartridges fall to the ground as he refilled a clip. Shindong kept his gun trained on the hallway. Yesung ran in his thumb along a quarter in his pocket.

The footsteps grew nearer, enough that everyone could hear it over the alarm. Three sets of feet, one heeled. Through the dust, three figures came into view and stopped at the other end of the room.

“So it’s true.” The woman gave a small smirk. “Kim Heechul.”

“I didn’t expect to see you working with men.” Heechul retorted, looking at her two partners. A chubby, broad-shouldered man and a thin man with greasy facial hair who was dabbing a handkerchief on his forehead. Heechul didn’t recognize either of them.

She tilted her head to the side, “Small sacrifices have to be made. You don’t look so well.”

“Ga-in noona.” Sungmin stepped forward, angling himself slightly in front of Heechul like a shield. “We didn’t come here to talk.”

Ga-In eyed Sungmin with amusement mixed with caution, before her gaze darted from the torn apart remains of the security guards and Donghae panting above them. “I can see that.”

“Ga-in sunbaenim, who is this?” The chubby man cracked his knuckles.  

“The infamous Squad 15.” Ga-In’s gaze went to Shindong and Kibum, “And a few friends, it seems. I didn’t know you were running a charity house. The image just doesn’t fit. But you do look a little pale. Old age creeping up on you?”

Heechul bit the inside of his cheek. Ga-In’s power was in her voice. He could feel a soft tugging, a desire to fall asleep. It was if she were whispering the order into his ear. But it wasn’t powerful enough to work, because Sungmin was focusing his attention on making sure the vibrations in her voice were muted enough that they weren’t effective.

Still, without cancelling her voice completely, there was no way to keep the power from showing itself. It was probably hardest on Sungmin, whose hearing was sensitive anyway. And Kibum and Shindong had never been up against these kinds of powers before…he could see Shindong blinking off a wave of fatigue.

“Yesung, Donghae, take Shindong and Kibum down the side hallway. Try and find Henry and his father.” Heechul ordered, eyeing the other two Gifted with Ga-In. He didn’t know what their powers were yet…it would be best to get Kibum and Shindong out of the area, and to send Yesung and Donghae to make sure they were protected incase the Gifted tried to follow.

Yesung nodded. “Let’s go.”

Donghae looked ready to protest, but Heechul hyung would be with Sungmin and Siwon so he’d be ok. Right. Time to go. He let out another roar and headed through the dusty haze, knowing that Kibum and Yesung would follow.

“Jae-Kwang, go after them!” Ga-In snapped, and the stocky man nodded curtly.

“You’re outnumbered.” Heechul tugged on a glove in warning. Ga-In’s gaze followed the movement.

“A spineless Jesus freak, an old geezer, and a psychotic boy with a hearing problem…” Ga-In gave a small laugh. “I think I’ll be fine.” She looked to her partner, “Dragon, begin.”

The sweaty man let out a shuttering sigh as he placed his handkerchief in his back pocket. Then he sucked in a deep breath. His cheeks seemed to swell, before he opened his mouth and a stream of fire spewed out.

“Fuck!” Heechul ground out. Sungmin grabbed the sound vibrations from Heechul’s curse and distorted the air. The flames shot past his left shoulder. He could feel the heat blister his skin. In that moment he’d been distracted enough to let down their defenses against Ga-In’s voice.

“Don’t move.” She ordered, and Sungmin was horrified to discover that he was frozen in place. Dammit…how had he let himself get distracted? The alarm was still blaring in his head, the sound so loud he felt his ears would start bleeding. He closed his eyes briefly to wait out a wave of pain.

Sungmin looked out of the corner of his eye to see Siwon leaning against the wall, one arm outstretched and gripping Heechul’s elbow. He’d pulled him a few feet away from the flames. Heechul was ok. He would have been out of the flame’s path anyway. Sungmin didn’t need to distort the flames. He could have kept them out of this mess. Damn, damn, damn!

Heechul was staring at Ga-In, unfazed. Didn’t he realize that Sungmin had failed? They were trapped by Ga-In’s voice. Dragon would be able to take them out one by one without a problem and it was all his fault!

“This is easier than I thought.” Ga-In sighed. “When everyone talked about you at the facility you sounded like such a terrifying person. But now you’re just washed up, aren’t you?” She looked slightly disappointed. “I thought I’d feel more proud of finally taking out the great Kim Heechul…I suppose that’s what happens after you’ve been injured. I heard Xmas did a job on your leg.”

Heechul remained silent.

“Hyung.” Siwon gritted his teeth and looked like he was straining against Ga-In’s orders.

“Sungmin, Siwon, relax.” Heechul finally spoke. “We’re fine.”

They weren’t fine. They weren’t fine at all.

“Do you think you can wait it out? Talk to me until it fades away?” Ga-In clicked her tongue. “You’ve been away from the training facility for too long. You know that my gift continues until either you or I die.”

Sungmin swallowed and closed his eyes. He focused on the sound vibrations thrumming through his body. There. Ga-In’s voice…he began to distort it slowly. It was a difficult task, because the sound itself was already gone. It was only the remnants of her command that remained, but he could “hear” her voice in his mind telling him to remain frozen in place.

He saw Heechul’s fingers curl and he knew that it was working. He just hoped he could work fast enough before—

“I wonder…how many people you’ve gotten out of the facility. We know about Park Jungsu. There must be others. He doesn’t seem like your type, after all.” Ga-In crossed her arms over her chest. “Speaking of “your” type…I wonder how Typhoon will feel when he finds out I killed you.”

“Technically you won’t be killing me.” Heechul replied. “Even you can’t order me to die. You could only order me to kill myself, or, I suppose our grotesquely sweaty friend Dragon over there could do the honor.”

Ga-In’s smile twisted into a frown, and Dragon glared. “Why don’t I order you to do something else instead?” And her frown morphed into a sickeningly menacing grin. “Kim Heechul. Kill Choi Siwon.”

Heechul’s eyes widened in shock, before his body went rigid and his fist opened.

“Hyung…” Siwon swallowed.

Sungmin stared. No. He’d gotten Heechul out of Ga-In’s hold, hadn’t he? Why wasn’t it working? Why was Heechul still doing what she said?

Heechul reached forward. “…Siwon…I’m sorry.” He managed to grind out as he grabbed the knife out of Siwon’s hand. “I’ll make it fast.”

“…hyung…” Siwon closed his eyes.

“No!” Sungmin shouted. “hyung! Fight it!” He wouldn’t be fast enough to get to them in time, and he couldn’t risk hurting Heechul by blasting him away with a sound wave.

Heechul lifted the knife.

“HYUNG!”

Heechul turned the knife and launched it. It lodged itself in Dragon’s throat, and the other man let out a gurgle of pain as he tried to claw it out. His throat contracted, and something began to spew out with the blood, something along the lines of oil, and then it seemed to catch alight as he panicked and tried to breathe fire. His eyes bulged before his entire body combusted.

Ga-In let out a cursed shriek, taking a step back, but Heechul had already reached her and shoved her to the ground, his knee grinding into her stomach. “Did you think your gift would work on us? You really don’t give Sungmin enough credit.”

Sungmin stood, blinking in surprise. So it had worked after all? Heechul had just pretended otherwise…he looked to Siwon. The other man was calmly pushing himself off of the wall. He’d known all along…no wonder he hadn’t tried to get away even though he should have been freed from Ga-In’s gift as well.

Ga-In’s eyes narrowed as she coughed. “Impossible! It never worked before! You could only cancel my gift by cancelling all sound!”

Heechul added a bit more weight to his knee and Ga-In grunted in pain. “Did you think our little Sungminnie wouldn’t practice while we were away?” He pulled off his left glove. “Don’t underestimate us.”

Ga-in gave one last smirk. “I should say the same to you. He’ll be coming for you soon. He’s been waiting to see his fallen idol for quite a while now.”

Heechul paused, his expression going grim. “…is he here?”

Ga-in merely laughed and pressed the trigger for the explosive she’d been holding.

---

Henry couldn’t remember how many hallways they’d gone down by the time they stopped walking. He’d tried to get away, but his father’s grip was like steel. Yelling hadn’t helped either. They were far enough away that he could no longer hear the gunshots and the screams. He swallowed. Did those other people have Gifts like Donghae hyung and the rest of them? Would they get killed? “Dad, let go!”

His father shoved him into a chair. “Sit down and stay there, Henry.”

Henry didn’t listen. He sprung to his feet the moment he regained balance. “Why are you doing this?”

“I didn’t want to have to do this, Henry.” His father swallowed and reached into his jacket. “But you’ve left me with no other choice. They followed you here, didn’t they?”

“I didn’t know they would come—” Henry shook his head. “They aren’t the bad guys, dad! What the hell is going on?” He took a step forward but stopped quickly as he stared down the barrel of the gun his father was now pointing at him.

His father gave him a pitying look. “You aren’t simply resistant to GAM. Your body destroyed the virus. If they get a hold of you they’ll destroy everything we’ve worked for. I can’t allow it.”

“D…dad…” Henry pressed himself against the wall. “Dad, what are you doing?” His father was going to shoot him. His father was going to shoot him. His legs began to shake and he started to cry. “Please dad, don’t…d-don’t.”

“I’m sorry Henry. We can’t let them get that kind of information.” He lifted the gun, and Henry screamed as it went off. He continued to scream, bent over himself on the ground before he realized that he wasn’t bleeding or in pain.

He looked up and blinked.

His father was lying on the ground a few feet away, a pool of blood leaking out of his head. Kibum calmly placed his gun back into his shoulder holster. “Are you alright?”

Henry began sobbing as he stumbled to his feet and latched onto the older man. “He was going to kill me.”

Kibum stiffened, unused to people touching him, especially people that he wasn’t very close with. He searched for something to say. “He won’t now.” What else could you say when you’d just shot someone’s father? A father that had tried to kill his own son.

“…my dad wanted to…t-to…”

Kibum patted his back awkwardly as Henry continued to sob.

“M-my mom and sister? What happened?”

“We knocked them unconscious. We have to go now.” Kibum pried Henry off and knelt next to his father. He began to go through his pockets.

“What are you—”

“You got him!” Donghae entered the room with a grin. “The others are taking care of the rest of the Gifted. We’re going out the back door.” He wiped blood from his mouth, but it was smeared across his face. In fact, he was drenched in it.

Henry swallowed and took a step back, feeling nauseous.

Shindong appeared a second later. “Yesung hyung said to check the camera feeds and block out all communication.”

Kibum nodded as he grabbed a small black box from Henry’s father’s jacket. He placed it in his pocket. “The computer room is down the hall. Did Yesung hyung take care of the other gifted?”

Shindong nodded and rubbed his shoulder. Henry was still in too much shock to notice that Shindong’s right arm looked twisted at an odd angle and there was blood dripping from his fingertips.

A rumble shook the ground, and the lights flickered on and off before finally burning out.

“Fuck, what was that?” Shindong ground out. He pulled a flashlight out with his workable arm and turned it on. “Is everyone ok?”

 “Hyung and the others will deal with it. We have to get Henry out of here.” Yesung stood in the doorway, his expression blank.

“My…my dad…” Henry began, but Kibum grabbed his arm and steered him toward the door. “Donghae hyung, can you wipe the security feeds?”

Donghae nodded, eyeing the two warily. Shindong thought it was a rather savage look, underneath Donghae’s usual cheerful exterior. Like a lion watching another lion move in on his pride. He looked ready to fight, and his lips lifted a bit in a snarl that disappeared as quickly as it came. “Alright, I’ll wait for hyung and the others. You guys get to the back entrance where the car is waiting.”

---

The smoke slowly began to settle.

“That was…unpleasant.” Heechul ground out, holding onto Siwon’s arm. Next to him, Sungmin was clutching his head as his vision swam.

“Sorry.” Siwon apologized meekly. “Can you stand on your own?”

Heechul nodded, took one step, and fell. Siwon caught him, “Hyung, if you can’t, just say so.”

“Aish, get off. No one asked you to go around carrying people to safety.”

Sungmin blinked off another wave of dizziness. Siwon had grabbed both Sungmin and Heechul once the explosion had gone off and had gotten them out of the blast’s range. The only problem was that when Siwon ran with someone, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

“Hyung…” Sungmin swallowed, “Did your wound reopen?”

Heechul shook his head. “No. I’m fine.”

Both Siwon and Sungmin nodded. Heechul seemed to regain his footing and shook Siwon off. He clenched and unclenched his hand. “…I lost my left glove. Both of you stay back.” He looked to the pile of rubble that had been the main room.

…

…

…

“Let’s get going. I have an extra pair at the apartment.”

----

The moment the others had left, the air in the apartment had gone from tense to almost unbearable. Kyuhyun found himself, as the only “useful” left, the subject of all of the pent-up frustration and anger.

“If you had known about this, you should have said something!” Kangin snapped for about the fifteenth time.

“I already told you that I didn’t know!” Kyuhyun defended hotly. I wouldn’t have told you anyway. Hyung must have had a good reason for not telling anyone. He crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch, glaring at his feet.

“Now isn’t the time to start pointing fingers.” Leeteuk tried to placate, looking between Kangin and Kyuhyun. “Heechul promised answers when they all returned.”

“And you believe him? Jungsu!” Kangin ground out in exasperation. “Aish!”

Eunhyuk flinched at Kangin’s tone and shifted uncomfortably where he sat next to Hangeng and Ryeowook. Leeteuk let out another soft sigh and turned to Hangeng, “Heechul didn’t tell you anything?”

Hangeng shook his head. “Heechul and I don’t talk about those things.”

“You mean he won’t talk about those things to anyone else.” Kangin grunted, “Great, we send you to spy on him and you can’t even do that.”

Kyuhyun blinked. Wait…what? He looked from Leeteuk and Kangin to Hangeng. Hangeng looked uncomfortable.

Leeteuk had asked Hangeng to watch over Heechul and figure out their plans if he could, to find out his secrets. Hangeng had been spying on Heechul. The entire time? Had that…had it all been a lie? Had he not actually loved Heechul at all?

Kyuhyun was livid. “How could you do that? You were spying on him?”

“Heechul isn’t exactly an honest person, Kyuhyun. I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up over it.” Kangin snapped back. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s between Heechul and Hankyung—unless you want it to have something to do with you?” A knowing smirk, judging, snide.

“Hyung!” Ryeowook had stood. “Leave Kyuhyun’s feelings out of this.”

His feelings? Were they that obvious? Had everyone known about them from the beginning? His face began to feel hot, and he swallowed back an angry retort as he looked down at his feet. Finally he stood, unable to stand the stares any longer, “I can’t take this. I can’t believe you, hyung.” He turned, and made it halfway to his bedroom when the front door opened.

They all turned to see the others stumbling through, dusty and a little bruised, but otherwise fine.

“Where’s Shindong?” Ryeowook looked the group over.

“He’s in the medical room with Kibum. He broke his arm so Kibum’s setting it.” Siwon replied, looking around tiredly.

“Henry!” Leeteuk had stood and walked over to the younger boy. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“His father tried to kill him.” Heechul replied calmly, heading for his bedroom. He brushed past Kyuhyun without another word. Kyuhyun's gaze followed him, and he opened his mouth to speak, to tell Heechul that Hangeng was a spy, but the words caught in his throat. Heechul reappeared a few moments later, slipping on a glove that Kyuhyun hadn’t realized was missing.

The group looked at Henry awkwardly, much more intent on comforting the boy than explaining why they'd had Hangeng spy on Heechul. Henry didn’t seem to notice them at all. Leeteuk led him to the couch and sat down next to him. Leeteuk took Henry’s hands in his own and paused, turning to Heechul. “You promised us an explanation.  I think it’s time you gave it.”

Heechul eyed him for a moment before he gave a dry laugh. “Yeah hyung. Sure.”

---
 

Title: What Doesn't Kill You / Side Story: Leeteuk
Genre: Superhero AU, action
Rating: PG-13

Chapter 12 < ----- > Chapter 13
---

His name was Park Jungsu. He had craters for dimples and an infectious laugh that bordered on maniacal. He was a highschooler that cared more about confessing to the girl in Class 3-B than grades or his future. Park Jungsu was everyone’s friend. Popular, always smiling, a natural born leader, funny…

He couldn’t say that his highschool years were enjoyable. He spent it worrying about his appearance, worrying about his popularity. He needed everyone to like him.

Popularity was everything. Being liked and loved and looked for. That was what Jungsu lived for. If it meant acting like the class clown it didn’t matter. All eyes were on Park Jungsu. Being the center of attention was both gratifying and terrifying. One wrong move and he’d be disliked, ignored from that point onward. He had to choose his words carefully, but make it seem like it was coming naturally. It couldn’t seem staged.

He was seventeen, popular, and lonely.

In a world where he was surrounded by people who knew his name, he’d never felt so alone.

“Park Jungsu!”

He blinked, looked up from his notebook, and winced. Teacher Kim glared down at him from over her broad-rimmed glasses, piece of chalk held tightly between her fingers. He was certain the stick was going to snap. He gave a slow smile, “…yes?”

“I asked if you would be so kind as to take these papers to the main office.” She pointed at the papers she’d placed on his desk. “Or are you too busy doodling boobs on your notebook to do this simple task?”

Jungsu choked back a partial scream, partial laugh as everyone turned to look at him. He gave another smile, this one morphing into a mischievous grin. “Sorry teacher. It’s just, I have an anatomy test in my next period, so I was getting some extra studying in, I’ll do it right away, don’t hit me!” He scrambled out of his chair as she raised the hand with the chalk and hurried down the hallway with the papers held tightly to his chest.

“God…that woman is a harpy…”

The door behind him opened and a chalkboard eraser smacked into the back of his head.

He gave a long suffering sigh. Really, trying to bring smiles to everyone’s faces was never appreciated. His wit was going to waste away here. He headed down the hallway and blinked away a wave of dizziness. He had been feeling a little under the weather all morning, but he figured it was because he’d been up late the night before and he hadn’t eaten breakfast. Maybe he’d grab something from the vending machine on his way back…

“Oh, Park Jungsu! On errands again?”

“Ah, yeah vice-principal…” Jungsu nodded as the man greeted him. The main office was bustling with activity. The school secretary looked up at him briefly before going back to scribbling notes.

“These are from Teacher Kim…” Jungsu held out the papers and his arms felt weak. He couldn’t hold them up for long and found himself placing them on the edge of the desk so he didn’t drop them. The secretary sent him another look before going back to her work.

“You look a little pale, Jungsu. And you’re sweating. Perhaps you should go to the nurse’s office?” The vice-principal watched him worriedly.

Jungsu laughed. “I’m fine. Teacher Kim is waiting for me. I’ll be leaving then.” He bowed his head and turned to leave and had to grab onto the door handle to keep himself from falling.

“I really think you should go to the nurse’s office…” Vice Principal Lee continued, but Jungsu didn’t hear him. His eyes rolled back in his head and he pitched to the side.

---

He was awake, but his head throbbed and he didn’t have the energy to open his eyes. He could hear shuffling, a door opening and closing. A chair being dragged across a room. The screeching made him wince and it paused, as if the person had seen the action.

“Ya, pick up the chair, idiot.”

Jungsu finally managed to pry his eyes open. He blinked wearily up at a bright light before he turned his head away and toward the voices.

“I told you that you’d wake him up.”

“No you didn’t. All you did was hit me and order me to get you a chair.”

“He’s right hyung, you didn’t tell him.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side, you little idiot.”

Jungsu blinked again. The corners of his eyes stung, and every time he blinked his eyelids seemed to stick, as if he’d fallen asleep with contacts in. His head still throbbed, and every small movement seemed to make the pain grow.

A hand waved in front of his face. A flashing of light and then shadow. The movement made him nauseous. He gave a small groan.

“Hey, hey, wake up.”

He forced himself to sit, and regretted the action immediately. His vision blacked out as his head swam and he pitched forward, vomiting onto his lap. He stared down at the puddle of bile in his lap and swallowed. His mouth tasted sour.

“That was disgusting.”

He turned tiredly toward the person who had spoken and found himself staring.

The boy looked to be around the same age as he was, but Jungsu wondered if he really was a boy at all. He dressed like one, but his face was terribly feminine: full lips and large eyes and high cheekbones. His hair was a fluorescent red and pulled back in a short ponytail. He eyed Jungsu with amusement tinged with derision.

There were two others, who stood behind the chair the redhead sat in. One was around their age, his expression calm. Pleasant. The third was a young boy, probably twelve, with wild, unkept hair and a bright infectious smile. He waved shyly from behind the chair.

Where was he? Jungsu was more than a little confused. He’d been lying down in the nurse’s office and had fallen asleep. He vaguely remembered waking up in his house, staring up at his ceiling. He’d been in pain. His entire body had felt like it was on fire. But why was he here, in this whitewashed medical room?

“Are you going to stare at your own vomit all day or are you going to answer my question?”

Jungsu blinked. He hadn’t even realized he’d gone back to looking down at his lap until the feminine boy had spoken and he’d had to turn to look at him. He swallowed before opening his mouth to reply, “I…” He coughed, and swallowed a few more times to wet his throat. He could still taste the bile. “What did you ask me?”

The redhead rolled his eyes and gave a dramatic sigh. “What’s your name?”

His name. That was easy enough. “Jungsu.” He answered. “My name is Park Jungsu.”

“Your nose is huge.” The feminine teen leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Your dimples too.”

“Can I touch them?” The younger boy asked curiously.

“Of course not. You might catch his big nose genes.”

“I don’t think it works that way.” The other one replied. “Genetics aren’t contagious. How did you pass highschool biology?”

“I didn’t go to highschool, remember?” The pretty teen snapped, annoyed. “And it could be his gift, you know.”

“A big nose?”

“Contagious genes?”

“Um…” Jungsu swallowed. The three turned to him, as if only then remembering that he was there at all. “Who are all of you?”

The twelve-year-old leapt at the chance—quite literally. He landed on the edge of the bed. “I’m Donghae! I can turn into a spider monkey, wanna see?”

Jungsu was sure he hadn’t heard that correctly. “What?”

The redhead eyed him warily. “They haven’t explained anything to you yet, have they?”

“Explained what?” Jungsu was more than a little frustrated—and nauseous—at this point. Also, the bile was soaking through the thin white blanket and getting on his pants. Wait…he wasn’t wearing any pants, only a hospital gown. “What happened to me? Why am I at a hospital?”

“This isn’t a hospital.” The redhead answered casually. “This is The GAM Project’s Training Facility #3. Congratulations, you survived.”

---

It took three or so weeks for Jungsu to fully accept that he was no longer “normal” and that he would be living at the training facility for the rest of his life. The first few days had been filled with yelling, disbelief, restraints, panic. He wanted to see his family. He wanted to go back to living a normal life. The last thing he needed was to be a freak. Who would like someone like that?

Freaks were never popular.

The only redeeming feature of the whole thing was that here, being a freak was normal. Everyone had some kind of “gift” as they called it. His hadn’t appeared, and being in that liminal stage meant he was an outcast: weird and awkward and everything he’d always tried not to be. It was frustrating and terrifying.

It didn’t help that he had been put in a special dorm away from everyone else. His only roommate was an older man—in this thirties—whom he’d been introduced to but had forgotten the name of. The two of them had woken up around same time and had been sent here together. The other man’s power hadn’t appeared yet either.

Donghae visited a lot, and often dragged Jungsu out of his dorm room to eat with him and the others in the cafeteria. Donghae was difficult to resist, so it didn’t take much convincing to get him to come along. It was here that he learned who the feminine redhead was.

Kim Heechul, a seventeen-year-old pretty boy with the mind of a militant dictator, the temperament of a woman during menopause, and the ability to disintegrate anything he touched with his bare hands. Not surprisingly, the two of them didn’t get along in the beginning. At all.

Then there was Jay, whose nickname Typhoon was used in place of his real name by most everyone. Even Heechul seemed to call him Typhoon more than his given name, and that was saying something. After all, the two of them were inseparable. Donghae had said the two came to the facility together, part of the first group here.

Typhoon was…different.  He was quiet and easygoing most of the time, but enjoyed teasing Heechul. And Heechul let him without any consequences whatsoever. The only two people that Heechul seemed to like were Donghae and Typhoon. He held a general apathy for the rest of the world and a special derision for those that got in his way.

He didn’t seem to handle authority well, and often snapped at the scientists. Jungsu found it rude, but he never said anything for the same reason that the scientists never said anything—though they would always scribble furiously in their notebooks when it happened. They were all afraid of Heechul’s power.

Heechul didn’t seem to like Jungsu, although he didn’t seem to hate him either. He liked to make fun of him, though, and Jungsu was always unable to snap back. When he’d asked once if they were kind of like super heros, Heechul had thrown his head back and cackled.
“What? Are you some kind of idiot? Super heroes don’t exist. This isn’t a manwha or a children’s cartoon. It’s human greed at its finest.”

Jungsu hadn’t understood what Heechul was getting at. The other boy was always so cynical. He talked down to everyone and disregarded them all. As if they were all below him. Any time anyone brought up how they were “helping the government” or that they had special gifts to help better the world he would snap at them and smile that snide smile of his.

Jungsu didn’t understand why Typhoon or Donghae liked him. Kim Heechul was obviously one of those bad apples that had been born bad and would stay bad. He didn’t even call Jungsu hyung despite how he always went on about “respecting your elders”.  

Kim Heechul was someone he just couldn’t understand and whom he didn’t have the desire or patience to try to.

---

Halfway through week four, his power appeared. It was difficult for him to describe how he knew it had happened in the first place. It wasn’t something flashy, it wasn’t even something physical. No one else could see it, so it was impossible to prove that it had even happened at all.

It was poker night.

Somehow Donghae had dragged Jungsu to Heechul and his dorm and he found himself sitting on the edge of Donghae’s bed with the younger boy as they watched. Typhoon was there with the rest of his squad—none of them seemed fond of Heechul either, but only Xmas seemed to actually dislike him—and some other people that Heechul had deemed worthy enough to gamble with him.

Jungsu had gotten bored rather quickly. He didn’t really understand the rules of the game, so since it didn’t make sense to him, he wasn’t interested. Donghae had occupied himself with a video game and Jungsu wondered why he’d even invited Jungsu in the first place if he was going to ignore him and just play Donkey Kong.

He didn’t know how to describe it, but suddenly the air in the room seemed to have shifted. He felt lightheaded, blinking as he tried to brush off the feeling. He found himself centered on Xmas. The other man was looking at Heechul over the edge of his cards—at where Heechul was pushing Typhoon away as the other man tried to get a peek at his hand—and the air felt murderous.

He knew without a doubt that Xmas wanted to kill Heechul. He didn’t know why or how he knew. It was just a feeling that Xmas wasn’t a good person. Xmas had glanced over at Leeteuk, as if he’d known what he was thinking, and Jungsu had to excuse himself for the rest of the night.

---

He didn’t realize that his power was the ability to see and judge a person’s true intentions until a few days later. He seemed able to look at someone had decide immediately whether or not he could trust them.

No one’s “aura” as he’d deemed it had been quite as bad as Xmas’.

When he’d explained everything to the scientists they’d seemed surprised, or rather…disappointed in the fact that it was—

“Kind of useless, don’t you think?” Heechul supplied, not looking up from his magazine. “How is that going to help anyone?”

“It’s cool!” Donghae defended, eyes sparkling. “So you can tell when people are lying?”

“Er…no.” Jungsu shook his head. “It isn’t as simple as that. I can just tell if someone is…well, a bad person?”

“So you have like…super justice senses!” Donghae shouted, “Like a real super hero!”

Heechul snorted, turning a page of his magazine. It ripped with the force and he paused, before closing it completely and turning to Jungsu. “I don’t understand how you can be useful to anyone, but I guess someone has to have a shit power, right? It isn’t like everyone can have something good.”

Jungsu bit the inside of his cheek to keep from saying something he’d regret. There were lots of things he wanted to say to Kim Heechul, but he kept them to himself partially out of self preservation, and also because for some reason, he felt that he could trust him.

And that just didn’t make sense.

Also, the scientists at the facility seemed to agree with Heechul’s sentiment about Jungsu’s uselessness. Halfway through week seven he was taken to speak with the director and told about a project they wanted him to be a part of.

The chance to gain a power engineered just for himself. A useful power that would make him able to train and go on missions with the others.

You’ll be like everyone else. You’ll be able to fit in again.

His roommate—he still didn’t remember his name—was being given the same chance. The chance to get a new power. Jungsu didn’t even remember what his power was, although that wasn’t surprising, he didn’t even remember his name after all.
Jungsu took the offer.

He’d gotten an interesting mix of reactions from the others when he’d told them.

Heechul stared at him blankly, but there was something suspicious in his gaze, doubtful. “They’re going to give you a new gift?”

Jungsu nodded. “They said that they’re going to try and give me a second power.”

“Wow…you get to have two powers. That’s so cool.” Donghae whispered in awe. He then grinned brightly. “That’s it! Your new name! Leeteuk! Because you’re special!”

“Leeteuk? That’s stupid.” Heechul snorted, running a brush through his hair. The brush was replaced with Typhoon’s fingers as the other boy leaned against the table behind his chair, “Hey, if they can give Jungsu a new power than maybe they’ll find a way to control yours. Then maybe you’d be able to eat things without destroying them.”

They two exchanged glances, and for some reason, Jungsu thought they didn’t really care about Heechul being able to eat things so much as something else, something he didn’t understand.

He didn’t have time to wonder about these stolen glances—looks that had been there all along, he’d just never noticed them before—because the next morning, he began the procedure for his second gift.

And by three hours in, he wasn’t feeling “special” so much as he felt like dying. He didn’t think that would be a good nickname, though.

---

It hurt.

Jungsu wasn’t even sure what they’d done to him, since he’d been asleep for most of it. They’d stuck him in what looked like an MRI machine and told him to relax. He’d relaxed, and it was dark, so he’d fallen asleep an hour or so into the procedure.

He woke up screaming.

His entire body felt like it was on fire. He was choking, gasping for breath, but it felt like there was no oxygen left. He tried to move, but he was strapped down to the table. His back arched, and he opened his mouth to yell.

The sound echoed in the enclosed space, eaten up by the soft humming of the walls. He didn’t know what was going on, but it hurt. It hurt so badly. Tears were falling down his cheeks, and they burned. It felt like every cell in his body was being twisted into knots.

“P-please make it stop. Please…p-plea…” It was the only words he got out, because the pain was too unbearable to continue. He wanted to go back to sleep. Anything to make the pain stop.

A few minutes later he fell unconscious.

---

“…eteuk…yung…?”

Jungsu groaned, turning over onto his side. It hurt. He switched to his back. It still hurt. Moving hurt. Breathing hurt. His skin felt hypersensitive. The sheets were like sandpaper. He managed to pry his eyes open to find Donghae standing over him, the little boy’s face only a few centimeters away from his own.

“Hyung!” Donghae smiled worriedly, “Are you ok? You’ve been asleep for a few days.”

Jungsu nodded weakly, and his head began to throb. He gave another groan.

“You’ve been moved into our dorm for now.” Donghae continued rambling, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Since it’s only Heechul hyung and I, there were empty beds.”

Heechul? He’d be sharing a room with him? Ah, that didn’t matter. He was in too much pain to care. “…water…” He managed to get out.

Donghae blinked, “Oh! Ok! Sure! I’ll be right back!” He leapt off of the bead and Jungsu listened to his quickly fading footsteps. He closed his eyes, hoping to drift back into unconsciousness. Maybe the next time he woke up, he wouldn’t hurt so much.

“Does it hurt as bad as the first time?”

Jungsu jumped slightly. He’d just managed to get into a sitting position when he’d heard the voice and turned to see Heechul sitting at a table a few feet away, flipping casually through a book. The younger boy turned to him with a serious expression. “Well?”

“Hurt worse than the first time for what?” Jungsu shifted on the bed. The headache was slowly fading.

“When you contracted GAM the first time. The pain comes from the rearranging of your genes. I just wondered if it hurt the same.” Heechul answered softly, and looked away. He seemed slightly sheepish, maybe even worried, but Jungsu figured that it was his own pain that was making it seem that way.

“I don’t remember the first time. I was rushed to the training facility right after they found out I contracted the virus. I only remember waking up a few times, and I was never in much pain. I couldn’t really feel anything.” Jungsu winced, and let out a hiss as pain lanced up his stomach. He curled in on himself.

“You alright?” Heechul didn’t sound convincingly worried. In fact, the question sounded rather apathetic. Jungsu didn’t think that even if he were in pain that Heechul would do anything about it.

“I’m ok.” He managed from behind gritted teeth. “It’ll pass soon.” Which was true. The wave of pain subsided as quickly as it had come.

Heechul’s moment of seeming concern ended as quickly as that as he snapped his book shut and stood. “Since you’ll be living here for the next few weeks I need to explain the rules. Your stuff stays on your bed and in your dresser. Don’t touch my things. Don’t take showers in the bathroom, you’re lucky enough I’m letting you use it at all. When I go to bed, that means you do too or you leave. Got it?”

Jungsu was irritated enough that he had to live with the disrespectful younger boy, but he simply nodded. He was in too much pain to argue, even if he wanted to. Not that he did. There was no point in fighting with someone like Heechul.

Heechul had headed to the door and paused. “One last thing. When there’s a red string on the door, don’t come in. Or else.” He left abruptly without any further explanation, leaving Jungsu alone to brace himself for another wave of pain.

---

Jungsu was pretty much bedridden for the rest of the week as his body slowly adjusted to whatever change the scientists had put it through. During this time he’d learned a lot about the workings of Heechul and Donghae’s dorm that he hadn’t seen as a “visitor”. Being a resident made him privy to the knowledge that Kim Heechul did have feelings.

Those feelings centered around his extreme favoritism of Lee Donghae.

When Heechul had explained the rules to him earlier that week, he’d figured that Heechul’s “bed time” would be later in the evening. He discovered that Heechul ordered Donghae to bed like a mother hen and announced at that time that he was going to sleep too, which meant Jungsu had to follow suit.

Kim Heechul’s bedtime centered around Donghae’s. It was oddly cute to see the brash, stuck up man become a motherly figure. He supposed that he’d noticed the way Heechul gave Donghae his extra vegetables, and how he made him eat healthy at meals, but he hadn’t really thought about it till now.

There were times when Heechul would come back from a mission late at night and try and tiptoe into the room while the other two slept. Jungsu was a light sleeper, so the moment the doorknob turned he was awake. He could always smell the metallic tang of blood, and a smoky scent, like ash. Heechul would wash off in the shower, so it was always gone by morning, before Donghae awoke, but it made Jungsu wonder what exactly “missions” entailed.

Donghae didn’t know. To him missions meant saving the good people, defeating villains. To him Heechul was a super hero. When Jungsu asked Typhoon, the other man just smiled and deflected the question. Jungsu didn’t feel comfortable or close enough with anyone else to ask them. He certainly wasn’t going to ask Heechul.

The odd thing was that he was certain Heechul would answer truthfully. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t want to ask. Deep down he didn’t want to know.

By the end of the week Jungsu’s secondary power appeared. It was the oddest experience of his life, and one of the most terrifying. He’d been told what it was—the ability to phase through solid matter—but the scientists had warned that it would take time to develop, just as his first power had.

He was hungry. It was three in the morning and he was starving. He hadn’t eaten much for dinner because he’d felt nauseous—it was a normal occurrence ever since he’d gone through the treatment—but now he really wanted to eat something. Anything.

His stomach let out a soft growl that seemed to echo, and Jungsu winced. If his stomach woke up Heechul...that would not be good. Or, god forbid, he wake up Donghae. In a matter of a few seconds, his stomach became the least of his worries.

For a moment his body felt extremely light, transparent. Jungsu didn’t know how to describe the feeling of transparency, but it was the only way he could describe it. And then his body felt heavy. Terribly heavy, and he was falling. As he fell his skin seemed to become liquid. He could still feel the pressure of being pushed through something, but his body went through it effortlessly.

It was uncomfortable, and terrifying, because one moment he was lying in bed and suddenly he was falling from the ceiling onto the floor. He let out a scream that ended in a pained cry as his shoulder smacked into the tiled floor, solid once more.

He lay there, writhing on the ground in pain, whimpering as he pressed his lips against the cold tile. What had just happened? Adrenaline was coursing through his system and his heart was slamming against his chest. Oh god, oh god, he’d just gone through his bed and the ceiling. Oh god…

And then the door was opening, something was kneeling beside him. “Idiot, are you ok? Ya, Donghae, go get one of the medical staff!”
Heechul. It was Heechul. Jungsu heard Donghae run off to get help. Heechul began to stand and Jungsu grabbed out unconsciously, grasping at his sleeve. “…don’t…don’t leave.” He managed to gasp out. He felt Heechul pause, before settling back down beside him.

“Your damn stomach woke me up.” Heechul finally commented, as a way of explanation, and Jungsu shut his eyes as he tried not to think about how much his shoulder hurt.

---

It didn’t take long for Jungsu to learn how to activate his gift on his own. It still felt awkward moving through things he knew he shouldn’t have been able to move through. Solids were meant to stay solid.

His body always seemed to resist the action, but he was sure that was his subconscious. His brain was just trying to tell the rest of him that it wasn’t humanly possible to pass through solid objects.

With the acquisition of his new gift he was given permanent residence in Heechul and Donghae’s dorm. Donghae seemed overjoyed. Heechul hadn’t complained, and Jungsu took that as acceptance, even if the other man’s attitude hadn’t changed in any way toward him.
He also began formal training with his gift. The scientists seemed overjoyed with his progress, and soon Jungsu forgot the feeling of wrongness that came with this secondary gift.

He was in the swimming pool when it happened.

Donghae had dragged him there so he could practice shape-shifting and Jungsu enjoyed swimming so he hadn’t complained. He’d been halfway through his laps around the pool when he suddenly fell. He floundered for a moment, but he couldn’t feel the way and he realized that he was phasing.

Further, further, what if he went solid and there was water in his lungs? What was going on? He was too terrified to go solid and he didn’t know how to get out of the pool. And as soon as it began he was himself again, choking up a mouthful of water as he scrambled for the surface.

He coughed, throwing up a mouthful of water as he climbed out of the pool and collapsed onto the tiled floor, panting.

“Hyung? Leeteuk hyung, you ok?”

Jungsu swallowed back a “no” and nodded. “I’m ok…I’m going to go get something to drink…” He managed to get to his feet. In reality he planned to go sit somewhere to calm down. He made his way out of the pool room and toward the locker room.

He grabbed his duffel bag and stared in horror. His hand went through it. “Go solid!” He hissed at himself, more than a little afraid now. What was going on? He took a step back and tripped. He tried to brace himself on the lockers but found himself going through them, coming out on the other side of the wall into the busy hallway.

“Hey!” He bumped into someone and they shoved. He went through the next person and fell to the ground.

Oh god…what was going on?

What had just happened? Jungsu stumbled against the wall as he tripped over his own feet. He couldn’t hear over the ringing in his ears, and the fear of falling again, of going through the wall he was trying so desperately to hold onto, was suffocating.

He needed help. He needed to talk to someone.

Heechul would know what to do. Heechul would know. He always did. Even if Jungsu didn’t like him, Heechul would know what was wrong.
It seemed to take forever to get to their dorm. He passed by people, people he recognized and people he didn’t that all blurred together into unrecognizable masses. Some of them asked if he was alright. Why was he so pale? Did he need to go to the medical center? No. He just needed to find Heechul.

His fingers trembled on the door handle, and he didn’t even register the red string tied around it as he opened the door.

He stepped halfway through and stopped, frozen.

Bodies. Skin against skin. The room smelled like sweat and musk and something Jungsu couldn’t identify. Panting, whispered endearments and curses.

Heechul was pressed against the headboard, head thrown back, crimson hair splayed out on white shoulders like flames. Typhoon’s lips roved over any available patch of skin, lapping up sweat and leaving dark spots, claimed territory. His nails carved angry, possessive red tracks on pale flesh.

Jungsu let out a choked gasp, and his eyes widened as he realized he’d made a sound loud enough for them to hear. He slipped outside and slammed the door shut, but he knew he’d been caught. He didn’t try and run, as he stared down at his feet and wished, for the first time, that his power would activate and he’d fall through the floor to his death.

What had he just seen? What was going on? Why were Heechul and…and Typhoon doing that? He was a teenage boy. He knew about sex from movies and the internet and porn magazines. He knew that boys had sex with boys too. But that…it had seemed so adult and passionate and wild. God, Heechul was the same age as he and Typhoon was younger than they were!

He ran a hand through his hair, and the fear, that unbridled fear that had leapt into his throat when he’d gone through the pool, was pushed aside at the knowledge of what he’d just seen.

The door opened, and Typhoon stepped out. He sent Jungsu a veiled, dark gaze before brushing past him and walking down the hallway. The door was left open, and Jungsu knew what that meant. Heechul was waiting to talk to him inside.

He swallowed and slowly stepped in.

“Shut the door behind you.”

He winced at the cold tone and did as he was told. He looked up from the floor to see Heechul pulling a shirt over his head. His pants were still unbuckled, and from what Jungsu could see, he hadn’t put his boxers back on.

Jungsu tore his gaze away, forcing himself to look at Heechul’s face. He wished he hadn’t. The hatred there was evident, smoldering behind black depths and long lashes. “I told you to never open the door when there’s a red string on the handle, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t—”

“Don’t tell anyone.” Heechul hissed. “Don’t tell anyone or I’ll kill you.”

Jungsu believed he’d do it, too. He nodded stupidly, and he felt like crying. He didn’t know if it was because Heechul hated him again after they’d finally begun to get along or if it was because he was still terrified of his earlier accident.

“Get out.” Heechul’s voice shook.

“Heechul—”

“GET OUT!”

---

Donghae found out, or maybe he just knew because of the look on Jungsu’s face as he walked into the cafeteria. Donghae took one look at him and pulled him toward a far corner, far enough away that no one would hear what they were saying, but close enough not to attract attention.

“What happened?”

“I saw…I…I didn’t mean to…” Why was he rambling to a twelve-year-old? It didn’t make sense at all. Neither did the scene in the bedroom earlier, or his accident before that. Jungsu took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. “The red string was on the door and I opened it.”

Donghae stared at him from over his banana milk. “…you went in?” He whispered softly.

Jungsu nodded.

Donghae swallowed, before he glanced around worriedly, as if afraid someone had heard and would know what they were talking about. “You can’t tell anyone. You can’t ever tell anyone what you saw, ok?”

Jungsu wasn’t homophobic. He wasn’t gay, but what other people did wasn’t his business. He’d always stated he accepted and loved everyone. It was easier to maintain popularity that way. He knew that some people hated gays, but he figured that in a training facility full of boys it was bound to happen at some point, right? “I don’t understand why it’s that big of a deal.” He finally murmured.

Donghae shook his head, panic evident in his eyes. “They’ll get in trouble. Last time someone was caught they were sent away.”

Jungsu raised an eyebrow. “What happened to them?”

Donghae stared down at his milk carton. “They never came back.”

Jungsu found his gaze trained on his interlaced fingers and noticed they were trembling slightly. He suddenly realized what the emotion in Heechul’s voice had been.

Fear.

---

Heechul didn’t talk to him, not that Jungsu expected any different. In fact, he just seemed to pretend that Jungsu didn’t exist, which was fine with the older boy. He didn’t want Heechul remembering that Jungsu had seen him having sex with Typhoon and decide to kill him because of it.

Weeks passed, and Jungsu’s fears of Heechul’s wrath and his accident with his gift faded with time. He figured that he’d lost control of his power because of stress.

Typhoon always seemed to be watching him. As if waiting for an accusation. Jungsu refused to meet his eyes when they all ate together, and meals were always awkward. He was the first to leave the table, unless Heechul decided he didn’t feel like eating in his presence, which happened from time to time.

Jungsu grabbed his tray and headed toward the table with Donghae. The younger boy was chatting away animatedly about how he was going to move up in training. When Heechul looked up and spotted Jungsu he stood with his own tray. “Typhoon, let’s eat in my dorm.”

“You should stop acting so suspiciously. People are going to start suspecting things if you two keep it up.”

The entire table turned to Xmas. The other man simply eyed Heechul with barely veiled disgust. Heechul stared right back, “What are we doing that’s suspicious?”

“You’re always alone with each other. Just the two of you. There have been rumors going around about an investigation.”

“Xmas, shut up. What are you doing?” Attack hissed, reaching for the other man, but Heechul merely placed his tray back down with a smirk.

“What are you getting at, Jungmo?”

Xmas stood as well. “Don’t call me that name. I never gave you permission. We’re not close enough. Not close like you and hyung.”

People were beginning to stare. The cafeteria conversation had all but ceased. Jungsu looked around worriedly.

“If you don’t shut up, that hyung you care for so much will get in trouble too.” Heechul warned icily.

“…Heechul…” Typhoon placed an arm on his shoulder but Heechul shook it off.

Xmas clenched his fists. “Not if I told them that a redheaded slut decided to—” Heechul lunged by this point, slamming Xmas onto the table. Trays crashed to the ground, sending food everywhere.

“Heechul!”

“Jungmo!”

Heechul’s hands were around Xmas’s throat, but all Jungsu could see was blood dripping from them, dripping off of the ice tearing through the back of his hands.

Typhoon grabbed Heechul and pried him off, taking one look at Heechul’s hands before he turned to Xmas. “What did you do to him?”

“He tried to kill me!” Xmas shouted back, coughing.

“If I wanted to kill you I wouldn’t be wearing my gloves, you little bitch.” Heechul spat back, but his teeth were chattering. His lips were tinged blue.

“Donghae, take Heechul to the medical center.” Typhoon ordered, looking around at the crowd. “I’ll handle this.”

“I’m fine.” Heechul spat out, but he obviously wasn’t. His body began to shake with little tremors.

Jungsu reacted first, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the table. “Come on.”

“Idiot, don’t touch me!”

“They’re watching.” Don’t worry. I won’t tell. You won’t get in trouble. I won’t let it happen. It’s what he wanted to say, and perhaps Heechul saw it in his eyes, because confusion showed on his face, disbelief before he swallowed and gave a shallow nod.

“…alright…”

Jungsu didn’t know why he wanted to protect Heechul. Maybe it was because Heechul had always seemed so strong and sure of himself. There had never been a moment when Heechul doubted himself or looked afraid until now.

Heechul was afraid. Afraid for himself or for Typhoon, Jungsu didn’t know, but either way it made Heechul seem oddly pitiful.

Donghae had followed them, his small footsteps trailing behind them down the hallway. “Hyung?”

“Yeah?” Heechul managed.

“Xmas won’t say anything, will he? I don’t want you to go away.” Donghae began crying.

“I’m fine. He won’t say anything. Leeteuk and Typhoon are going to fix it so don’t worry.” Heechul soothed as they walked into the medical center.

It wasn’t until after Jungsu left the medical center that he realized Heechul had called him by his nickname.

---

Because of Xmas’s attack, Heechul not only had to get stitches in his hands, but he came down with hypothermia that developed into pneumonia.

Jungsu had seen Typhoon’s reaction, and he was terrified about what the younger man had said to Xmas afterwards back in their dormitory. Donghae spent most of his time in the medical center with Heechul, often sleeping on the bed with him as a kitten.

It was after that, that the investigation began. People came and talked to them, or at least to Jungsu. He figured that they talked to the others as well. They asked him invasive, personal questions. Did he know if there were any “unlawful relationships” going on? How close were Heechul and Typhoon? Did they spend lengthy amounts of time alone together?

Jungsu found himself replying. No. No they were only teammates. They didn’t spent too much time alone, because he and Donghae were usually always with them. Heechul couldn’t touch people without killing them, how would they be able to do anything else?

The last fact seemed to shut them up, and Jungsu was oddly proud of himself when they looked at each other, perplexed and stumped over this newfound revelation that had always been right under their noses.

The investigation stopped after that.

As the investigation stopped, Jungsu’s training with his secondary gift increased. It was fine at first. He’d forgotten about the earlier incidents. But only a few days after he began training in earnest, problems began to develop.

He’d be holding a tray and it would fall through his fingers. He’d sit down in a chair and fall through it. He’d wake up under his bed instead of on it. Little things, but they terrified him. He began to have nightmares, and then he’d wake up, staring up at the wooden frame and mattress of his bed and realize that both Heechul and Donghae weren’t there. He was alone.

The scientists began to notice. He was losing sleep and he was terrified to use his gift. It always got worse after he used his gift. He didn’t feel like he could control it anymore. He didn’t feel like his body was his. He touched things and then he was no longer touching them he was going through them and that terrified him.

What if one day he couldn’t go solid again?

“Park Jungsu?”

Jungsu looked up from the book he’d been reading. Donghae leaned forward to see who was at the door and eyed the scientists with curiosity. “Yes?”

“Could you come with me? We’re going to run a few tests.”

“Um. Alright.”

“Come back soon, Teukie hyung. Heechul hyung gets discharged today!” Donghae called after him.

Jungsu nodded absently, following behind the scientists obediently. He led him down a hallway that Jungsu didn’t remember. The layout became unfamiliar, as the scientists finally stopped in front of a door with a keypad and punched in a lock code before walking through and holding it open for Jungsu.

He entered, and blinked.

It was a large room, like a warehouse. The walls were concrete and there were large, industrial fans whirring overhead. The room was full of people: adults, children, male, female. Jungsu looked back at the scientists.

“Please remain here for now.” The scientist smiled before heading back the way he had come.

Jungsu glanced around the room again as he made his way through the crowd, trying to find a less populated corner. Everyone was talking loudly, worriedly.

“What happened? Do you know why we’re here?”

“I shouldn’t be here. I had GAM. I was lying in bed and I woke up and now I’m here.”

“What’s going on? Why won’t they tell us anything?”

As he looked around he briefly recognized his old roommate, the middle-aged man whose name he’d never remembered.

“Um…hello?”

Jungsu turned to his right. The boy was chubby, short, and looked to be a few years younger than he was. He also looked confused and embarrassed. Jungsu tried to smile reassuringly at him. It seemed like most of these people had only just woken up after surviving GAM. They didn’t know what was going on. Perhaps Jungsu had been sent here because he’d help with the explanation when the scientists came back?

“Hi. I’m Jungsu. You can call me Leeteuk.”

“I’m Shin Donghee.” The boy replied. “Um…Leeteuk hyung…do you know where the bathroom is?”

Leeteuk frowned. “I don’t know if there’s a bathroom in here. This is the first time that I’ve been in this room, but I live here at this facility. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be ok. Do you remember what happened before you came here?”

“I was at home. Eating dinner with mom and dad.” The boy shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t feel good. I got sick. I don’t remember much after that. Then I woke up in a room and was brought here.”

Jungsu nodded. “I see. Well, I think that someone is going to come in soon and explain everything, so don’t worry, alright? When they do, we’ll ask about the bathroom.”

Donghee smiled shyly. “…thanks.”

“Hyung…hyung!” Heechul pushed through the crowd of people. “Hyung!”

Jungsu blinked in confusion. What was Heechul doing here? Hadn’t he just been discharged from the medical center? He still looked pale, and there was something off about him. Like he was worried about something. The look didn’t fit his face. “What is it?”

“We have to go.” Heechul replied, looking around the room in what could only be described as panic.

“They told us to wait here.” Jungsu motioned around the room. “I think they’re going to give some kind of explanation because so many people contracted GAM in such a short amount of time—hey! What are you doing?”

Heechul grabbed his wrist and pulled him toward the door. “We have to go now.”

Leeteuk looked over at Donghee and grabbed the chubby boy’s hand. “Come on, you can come with us. We’ll find the bathroom.”

The boy nodded.

Heechul rolled his eyes but didn’t protest. “Whatever. Come on!” Heechul headed toward the door and grabbed the handle. A pause. He tried again, a little more frantically this time. “It’s locked.”

“Well they said they’d be back soon.” Jungsu shrugged.

“No one is coming, hyung.” Heechul snapped. “They aren’t coming to explain anything.” He froze, and looked up at the ceiling. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That hissing sound…” Heechul’s eyes widened. “Shit.”

“What hissing—” Jungsu stopped, because the hissing was louder now. He could definitely hear it. He looked around at the ceiling. The fans had stopped. The room was beginning to smell funny. “…Heechul…?”

“We have to get out! Fuck!” Heechul tried the door again. People were beginning to panic. Leeteuk could hear screams, shouting.

“I’m going to have to take out the door—” Heechul had begun to pull his glove off when they were getting shoved against the door as people tried to get past them to escape.

“Heechul!” Jungsu was certain they were going to get trampled. Donghee was holding onto his hand tightly, plump little fingers grasping in fear. “What’s going on?”

Jungsu swallowed, grabbing for Heechul. He finally caught his arm. “Come on!” And then he phased, taking Heechul and Donghee with him through the door. The three collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. The air felt so much different here.

Heechul was already getting to his feet. “We have to hurry.” He gasped out.

Jungsu looked back at the door. “We can’t just leave everyone else there. We have to go back and save them!”

Heechul shook his head. “No time.”

“I’m not going to stand here and do nothing when I know I can help them!” Jungsu stepped toward the door, but was stopped as Heechul grabbed his arm and threw him up against the wall.

Heechul glared, looking angry and panicked and relieved at the same time. “Don’t you understand? They’re trying to kill you. If you go back now, you’ll die too! Do you have any sense of self preservation!?”

“But those people…”

“Are dead. You can’t help them.” Heechul replied stiffly. “Now let’s go.”

Jungsu allowed himself to be led down the hallway. It was empty. No one had expected anyone to escape. Heechul kept glancing around though, as if trying to find security cameras that probably weren’t there.

They made it out of the unknown area and up a flight of stairs. They were suddenly back in known territory. Jungsu knew these halls.
“Pretend like nothing is wrong.” Heechul whispered softly as they walked past a group of trainees. Jungsu nodded, and smiled reassuringly at Donghee. The boy looked like he was going to cry. Only shock seemed to have kept him quiet so far.

“There’s a blind spot in the security not too far from here.” Heechul explained, turning another corner. “Once we get there…” He trailed off, and Jungsu looked past him to see Typhoon.

Heechul swallowed, before whispering, “I was with you the entire time. You didn’t see these two.”

Typhoon eyed Jungsu and Donghee both, and for a moment, Jungsu was worried that he was going to tell on them. There was something off about him. Jungsu had always felt that his intentions were good up to this point, but now he began to wonder.  But Typhoon gave a small laugh before walking past. “Whatever, princess. Don’t go showing everyone our secret makeout spots.”

Heechul pulled Jungsu toward a small alcove, Donghee stumbling behind. He pulled something out of his pocket and shoved it into Jungsu’s hands. Jungsu looked down. It was a wallet stuffed full of bills. “…Heechul…?”

Heechul wasn’t looking at him. He was staring out at the hallway, as if waiting for someone to walk past. “Go, find someplace to live. Get out of here.”

“But you…”

“Idiot, just go.”

Jungsu shook his head. “What about the others?”

“I can’t save everyone.” Heechul answered back stiffly. “I’m not god. I don’t even know why I saved you.” He knew why. He had heard Leeteuk’s god-awful laughter when passing down the halls of the Training Center one day and he couldn’t get the sound out of his head. Happy and obnoxious and addictive. And because Jungsu had helped him, had kept his secret.

And because the training center had lied to him.

“Why?”

Heechul let out a frustrated growl. “Because they’ll kill you if you stay, idiot. Have you been listening to anything I’ve told you?”

“No. Why did you save me?”

Heechul rolled his eyes. “You’re my hyung, aren’t you?”

It was only then that Leeteuk realized that Heechul had been calling him hyung since he’d gotten them out of the gas chamber. Heechul never called anyone hyung. That was all the answer he got and all that he needed. Leeteuk felt acknowledged for the first time in his life. “Come on Donghee. Let’s go.”

Five weeks at 1502 Yumyeong apartments almost made Henry feel at home. Almost. Everyone was friendlier to him as they’d gotten used to his presence. He still wasn’t left alone, but at least he had more freedom and he didn’t think anyone was plotting to kill him.

Even Heechul had stopped sending him cold glares. He’d actually told the others to stop teasing him when they found out Henry ate strawberries with his ramen. Heechul and Donghae had proceeded to try this new delicacy. Donghae had liked it. Heechul had not.

Donghae had later explained that Heechul didn’t have much in the way of taste anymore because of his power, so Henry felt less worried about being smothered in his sleep.

The only person who still seemed to dislike him was Kibum. Despite that, however, Henry was rather certain that he was a nice person. When Henry didn’t know a word in Korean (which was often) Kibum would explain it to him in English, even if he didn’t seem to enjoy it. To Henry, it looked like Kibum saw lots of things as a waste of time, and being Henry’s translator was one of them. It didn’t stop him from offering a helping hand, however, and Henry was grateful for it.

It didn’t help that because Henry couldn’t train or didn’t have a power he was relatively useless and that was something that Kibum looked down on. So Leeteuk had suggested that Henry help Ryeowook and Kibum in the medical room. They didn’t trust him enough with the computers.

Henry didn’t like blood.

He didn’t want to think of himself as faint-hearted, but the sight of the gaping hole in Heechul’s stomach had sent him running for the sink on more than one occasion. Heechul seemed to find that amusing.

Heechul’s wound had healed considerably over the five weeks since Henry had arrived, thanks to some kind of injection that Kibum had created that sped up the skin regeneration process. Or something like that. Henry really didn’t know the details, and he didn’t think that Kibum would enjoy explaining them to him.

Henry had been pulled away from video games with Donghae to head back to the medical room with Ryeowook. Kibum was already inside, checking Heechul’s heartbeat. The older man was sitting atop the table, bare-chested save for the bandage on his stomach.

Kibum pulled the stethoscope out of his ears and let it hang loosely around his neck as he walked over to the counter. He passed by Henry and Ryeowook without acknowledging them at all. Henry frowned, but Ryeowook didn’t seem fazed.

Ryeowook took over where Kibum left off, “How are you feeling hyung?”

“I’m just glad to be off the painkillers.”

Ryeowook frowned, “You know hyung, you should still be taking them. You’re going to be in a lot of pain for a while yet—”

“I can’t think straight on drugs,” Heechul waved him off. “And if I can’t think straight how is everyone else going to function—ow!” Heechul turned to glare at Kibum who was filling a syringe with his blood. “A little warning would have been nice.”

Kibum didn’t answer, pulling out the needle when he was finished before he headed toward the lab table and began pulling out beakers and other things that Henry didn’t remember from his freshmen year chemistry lab.

“Henry, could you get me those cotton balls and one of those rubber ties, please?” Ryeowook asked from where he stood at Heechul’s side, eyeing the droplet of blood welling up at the bend of Heechul’s elbow.

Henry rummaged through the shelves nearest him and grabbed the needed items, walking over. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Ryeowook smiled brightly as he began to bandage up Heechul’s arm.

“Move.” Kibum brushed past Henry to get to one of the cabinets, and Henry almost fell backwards onto Heechul. Ryeowook caught him before he could possibly reinjure the injured man and then turned to Kibum, “What was that for?”

Kibum paused, “…what?”

“Why do you hate me so much?” Henry had regained his balance by this point, and glared as much as he was able to at the other man. Glaring wasn’t something that bothered Kibum, and he was too intimidating to glare at usually. But Henry was angry, and embarrassed. He hated this place, he hated that he was stuck here, and he hated that the one person he actually wanted to be friends with was an asshole.

Kibum didn’t answer for a moment, and Henry wondered if he was going to ignore him again. Finally he spoke, adjusting the knobs on his microscope as he looked through it. “I don’t dislike you.”

“Then why are you such a jerk?”

“I’m always like this.” Kibum defended, raising an eyebrow. His expression hadn’t changed much, except that rather than blank he looked apathetic from behind his glasses.

“Not with Eunhyuk and Donghae.” Henry all but pouted.

“That’s because I like them.”

Ryeowook gave a soft sigh from where he continued removing Heechul’s bandages. Heechul, who had been listening to the exchange with interest, merely smirked. “What he means is that he has sex with them. I’m sure if he popped your little Canadian cherry he’d feel more inclined to like you too.”

“Hyung!” Ryeowook squealed, flushing a bright red. Heechul continued to grin while Kibum rolled his eyes and went back to the cultures he’d been studying.

Henry didn’t want anyone sticking anything up there, even if it was Kibum. Henry liked boobs and other lady parts. He liked Hyorin’s lady parts, to be specific. He wanted Kibum’s friendship without benefits.

“I still don’t understand how you managed to save every gay man within the training facility.” Kibum murmured, not looking up from the microscope. They all knew that the comment was directed at Heechul.

The man in question grinned, “Don’t you know? That’s the only reason I saved any of you. I’m in the process of building my own harem.”

“What about Siwon, Sungmin, and Shindong hyung?” Ryeowook asked curiously, smiling softly as he pulled the bandages away and began inspecting Heechul’s stomach.

“It won’t be long. No one can be entirely straight here. Isn’t that right, Wookie? How are you and Yesung doing?”

“Hyung!” Ryeowook cried out, mortified, dropping the bandages into Heechul’s lap.

Henry didn’t know if he could stomach the sight of Heechul’s wound. After five weeks it had healed considerably, but the sight of the ragged, puffy scar was disconcerting. The new skin seemed stretched taught, too thin, almost translucent. He could at least say that upon seeing it, he was no longer angry at Kibum, just slightly nauseated.

“Those injections really helped.” Heechul looked down at his stomach in approval at the newly grown skin. “How did you come up with it?”

“I’ve been messing with some things.” Kibum answered abstractly. Heechul shrugged it off, but not before eyeing him thoughtfully. Kibum scribbled something down on a notepad. “The skin grafts would have deteriorated, so it was the only thing to keep you from bleeding out.”

“And bleeding out would have been dreadful.” Heechul commented airily, “But I’m surprise the blood samples you took are holding out as long as they do.”

“It’s an oxygen depleted environment.” Kibum shrugged. “It keeps the blood from destroying itself for a day or so.”

Heechul nodded, as Ryeowook administered the aforementioned shot. He didn’t even flinch as the needle went in.

Henry swallowed. As Ryeowook injected the concoction and he watched the medicine turn black and spread through Heechul’s veins through his skin like a spider web and then Henry was stumbling toward the sink.

He could hear Heechul’s laughter over the sound of his own puking.

----

Five weeks. It had been five weeks and the tension seemed to have died down. There had been missions—simple missions involving both the useful and the useless—and Kyuhyun found himself juxtaposed between the two. If he wasn’t being asked to help the “usefuls” he was being questioned by the “useless”. Luckily most of them were too busy trying to figure out what to do with Henry to worry about Kyuhyun’s loyalties, even if Leeteuk did always seem to be watching him now.

It didn’t help that after he’d tried to kiss Heechul, Hangeng didn’t talk to him. Even though Heechul was no longer in a wheelchair he refused to leave his side until Heechul held a “useful” meeting. It was as if he were afraid Kyuhyun would try something else with Heechul in such a weakened state.

Heechul’s “weakened state” certainly hadn’t stopped him from coming up with a spartanesque training regimen for the entire apartment. The only one who didn’t have to train was Henry, who would sit with Heechul on the sidelines and watch with rapt interest.

Everyone assumed that Heechul’s revamped training was a result of their failed mission and his near death. Kyuhyun didn’t know if that were the case or not, but he did know that training with Hangeng was the worst possible outcome he could have hoped for.

After their first sparring session together, Kyuhyun realized why Sungmin had once told him that appearances were deceiving. Hangeng in battle was not soft-spoken and gentle. Kyuhyun had bruises to prove it. And while he couldn’t say that the injuries were life threatening, the blow to his pride felt like it. The fact that Heechul saw the whole thing and never said anything made it worse.

As if he didn’t care that Kyuhyun was getting beaten.

Kyuhyun had mulled over Heechul’s words the night of their almost-kiss, and he was more confused than ever. What had Heechul meant by them? Did it mean that he couldn’t kiss him because he didn’t love him? Or had he meant that he couldn’t kiss him because he would die if he did so but still wanted him to?

Kyuhyun swallowed.

“…hey…hey!”

Kyuhyun blinked, nearly jumping out of his chair at Sungmin’s shout. The older man was sitting in his chair a few feet away, eyeing him curiously, headphones dangling around his neck. “I’ve been calling you for the past three minutes. Are you ok?”

Kyuhyun nodded with a small smile. “Yeah. I’m fine.” He glanced back at his screen and sighed. Right. He needed to focus on cracking the stupid code on that flashdrive. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by Heechul’s cryptic words.

Or maybe they weren’t cryptic and he was just twisting them to fit his own desires.

“Kyuhyun!”

He tore his gaze away from the screen. “Yeah?”

Sungmin sighed. “It’s getting late. I’m going to get some coffee and see what Ryeowook has for dinner. Do you want me to get you some?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Sungmin gave him one last glance before standing and heading for the door. He paused as it opened and stepped back to let Heechul inside. “Going somewhere?”

Kyuhyun froze at the familiar voice and had to force himself not to turn to look. He could feel his face heating up.

“Coffee.” Sungmin supplied.

Heechul moved out of the doorway to let Sungmin through. “Ryeowook made jjajangmyun.”

Kyuhyun heard the door close and assumed that Sungmin had left. Heechul’s footsteps echoed as he made his way toward Kyuhyun’s desk. Kyuhyun tried not to look nervous—or desperate—as he kept his eyes trained on the computer screen.

“Are you avoiding me?”

Kyuhyun jumped, because Heechul’s voice came from right behind him. He turned, the chair squeaking at the jerky movement. Heechul had taken a step back and watched him in a mixture of surprise and amusement.

The fact that Heechul was amused by his frustration should have annoyed him. Heechul never took anything he did seriously. But Heechul was talking to him, focused on him, and that was all that currently mattered.

He didn’t answer Heechul’s question, but the older man brushed it off.

“Kyuhyun, I need you to use your gift.”

It was the first time that Heechul had spoken to him since Kyuhyun had tried to kiss him. Kyuhyun swallowed. It was good to see Heechul up and walking on his own. He still seemed to get tired out easily, and he never stood for long, but he wasn’t wheelchair bound at least.

Kyuhyun remembered what Sungmin had told him about the flashdrive’s suspected content, and how Heechul hadn’t wanted him to look at it before. What had changed? “But Sungmin said—”

Heechul waved him off, and his amused smile was gone. “We’ve been unable to crack the code and time is running out. I need you to do this for me.”

Time was running out? Time until what? Did Heechul know something he didn’t? That wasn’t a surprise. Heechul seemed to know everything—or at least more than everyone else. He’d think about that later though. Heechul needed him.

Him. Not Hangeng. He always seemed to be useful when no one else was. He inwardly gloated over that fact as he grabbed for the flashdrive and placed it down on the table and began pulling off a glove. He’d gotten rather decent with his gift and compartmentalizing all of the information he obtained from using it. Heechul hadn’t seen how good he’d gotten after practicing. It was time to show him just how useful he was indeed.

He brushed the flashdrive with bare fingertips and felt the familiar surge of information come flooding into him. And then he blinked. Something was wrong.  “It’s…blank.”

Heechul raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“There’s nothing on it. I’m only getting information on the flashdrive itself.” Kyuhyun didn’t understand how this could happen. What was going on? Why couldn’t he see the information on the flashdrive? He wasn’t useless. He wasn’t. He could do this, what had gone wrong?

“That’s impossible.” Heechul leaned over him and stared down at it. “We already know there’s a code lock on it. It’s impossible for it to be blank.”

Kyuhyun was more than a little confused, and by the look on Heechul’s face, so was he. Could the flashdrive have been a decoy to keep them away from the real data source? It had to be that. Kyuhyun couldn’t have failed. He couldn’t be useless.

“Look again.” Heechul ordered softly.

“Hyung—”

“Look again!” Heechul snapped coldly, eyes trained on the computer screen in front of them.

Kyuhyun hurriedly did so, eyes closed as he tried to concentrate. But once again, the only information he received was about the flashdrive itself, not on whatever data it possessed, because it didn’t possess any data. It was blank.  He opened his eyes and shook his head, trying to avoid eye contact with Heechul.

He had failed him.

“Could there be some kind of gift being used on it? Something that has canceled out your gift…” Heechul’s eyes narrowed and he leaned forward to begin typing on Kyuhyun’s keyboard. “It makes sense. He’d definitely use those precautions.”

“Who?”

Heechul didn’t answer. He bit the inside of his cheek and typed a few lines. “But now that I know who set it up, I know how to get around it…at least in theory. Get Donghae for me.”

Kyuhyun nodded, hurrying out of the room.

He could still feel the heat of Heechul’s chest against his back.

---

He was going to do it tonight. He’d planned everything out. Or at least, he liked to imagine that when he’d woken up twenty minutes ago to complete silence he’d thought of all of the possible ways to escape and came up with something flawless.

Really his only plan was to try and sneak out of the room without waking up Leeteuk or Kangin, something he’d failed to do for the past five weeks.

But he needed to get home. His family would be worried sick. The police were undoubtedly combing the streets for him. He was probably on the back of every milk carton and telephone pole in Seoul.

This wasn’t where he belonged. Even if the people here were nice to him, he knew he couldn’t trust them. Over the past few weeks he’d almost forgotten that they were dangerous psychos that wanted to destroy the government. He’d gotten used to them and he’d felt at home.

But he couldn’t let that happen.

This wasn’t his home. These people weren’t his family. They were dangerous and he needed to escape before they killed him and countless other innocent civilians.

It was quiet.

Henry listened to Kangin and Leeteuk’s shallow breathing and his own heart beating against his ribcage. As he slipped out of his blanket the sound seemed to echo. He winced at how loud it was.

He’d fallen asleep in his clothes, something he was thankful for. He didn’t want to run away in Kangin’s oversized hand-me-down pajamas. The floor was oddly cold under his sock clad feet. He made it to the door, and began turning the handle when Kangin grunted.
Henry froze, whirling around to see Kangin turn over and grumble something into Leeteuk’s collarbone. Henry swallowed. The door scraped against the carpet as he pulled it open enough to slip out and he shot one last anxious look at Leeteuk’s bed. Both Kangin and Leeteuk were sound asleep.

As he slipped out of the room and down the hallway, he failed to notice that the door to Siwon and Sungmin’s room was ajar. He didn’t pay attention to anything other than the fact that he’d gotten out of the room and he was halfway to the front door.

He felt confident now. He could escape. He’d always been stopped by Kangin and Leeteuk. No one else seemed to notice when he’d tried to escape before. Now that he was out of their room he was home free!

The only person that he suspected would know he was escaping once he left Kangin and Leeteuk’s bedroom was Donghae. The other man always seemed to know when he was going somewhere, and he liked to sleep as a dog and they had amazing hearing. But Heechul had sent him on a mission earlier that evening, and he wasn’t due back home until morning.

No one was going to capture him.

He slipped on his shoes. The front door opened quietly, and the moment he closed it behind him he bolted for the stairs.

---

Heechul walked into the apartment from the computer room the next morning to chaos. Sungmin followed behind him, looking around the living room briefly, “What’s wrong?”

“Henry’s missing!” Leeteuk groaned, head in his hands. “I should have watched him better. I don’t understand how I couldn’t have heard him. I’m such a light sleeper, I always hear when he wakes up at night.”

“So he escaped.” Heechul leaned against the wall beside the coat rack with a smug smirk. “I told you he was a nuisance.”

“This isn’t the time to gloat.” Leeteuk sighed, dragging a hand through his hair as he sat up. “You’ve been in the computer room all night. You didn’t hear anything?”

Heechul smiled.

“Hyung isn’t the only person in the apartment that’s a light sleeper.” Kibum spoke seriously, gazing around the group assembled in the living room. “I would have heard someone walking past my room, and Ryeowook hyung suffers from insomnia, doesn’t he?”

“Your point being?” Sungmin asked, almost as a challenge. The air seemed to get tense.

Kibum didn’t back down. He looked Sungmin square in the eye. “The only way he could have escaped without any of us knowing was if someone muted the sound.”

Kangin turned to Sungmin with a glare. “You helped Henry escape? Why the hell would you do that?”

Heechul sighed, “Why is everyone getting so worked up? I haven’t slept yet. I’d like to get some coffee before we all start going at each other’s throats. Is that alright with the rest of you?” He made his way to the kitchen but paused as Kibum stepped in front of him.

 “Where are they?” Kibum ground out.

“Who?”

“Henry and Donghae!” It was the first time that Eunhyuk had ever heard Kibum raise his voice. Neither had the others, if their similarly shocked faces were any indication. He looked from Kibum to Heechul, terrified of what Heechul’s reaction would be. No one yelled at Heechul. No one.

Heechul didn’t seem angry, however. But his smile had disappeared as well. He certainly wasn’t amused. “Henry escaped. Donghae went to retrieve him. Simple.”

Kibum snorted. “Before he left for his mission?”

Heechul’s expression didn’t change. “It was obvious from the beginning that Henry couldn’t be trusted. I simply used that to our advantage.”

Leeteuk had stood, and his own expression was practically livid. “What are you talking about?” What are you keeping from us this time, Heechul? Why are you doing things on your own again?

“Henry’s father is a lead geneticist with the GAM project.” Siwon was the one to answer, looking uncomfortable with the silent stand-off between Leeteuk and Heechul.

Shindong gave an incredulous laugh. “And you didn’t think to tell us this sooner?”

Heechul eyed the rest of the group almost wearily, as if he had more important things to be dealing with than explaining himself to them. He refused to meet Hangeng’s eyes. “You wouldn’t have let me use him anyway.”

“What do you get out of sending him home?” Leeteuk asked in frustration. “If his father is a lead geneticist for GAM then he’s dangerous. He could kill Henry!”

“Henry betrayed us. He was never one of us. Why do you care if he dies or not?” Sungmin grumbled, arms crossed.

“I wonder just how many of us are “one of us” anyway.” Shindong muttered, glancing at the “usefuls” and giving Kyuhyun a particularly snide smile. Kyuhyun swallowed. He hadn’t known about this beforehand. After he’d gotten Donghae like Heechul had asked, Heechul had told him to go to bed.

Kyuhyun looked to Hangeng, who was eyeing Heechul with a sad resignation. Kyuhyun didn’t like the odd churning in the pit of his stomach at the sight. He focused again on Heechul.

“His father knows where the list is. He’s going to take us there.” Heechul paused as his phone beeped. “Donghae and Henry have stopped moving.” He clicked his phone shut. “Once we get the information, we’ll debrief everyone on what we’ve found up to this point.”

There he was, brushing them off again like none of them mattered. Kangin’s jaw clenched along with his fist as he made to step forward, but Leeteuk stopped him with a weary shake of his head.

Heechul had already walked to the door, and Sungmin, Yesung, and Siwon followed.

“I’m coming.” Kibum called out coldly, walking toward the group. Heechul shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

Kyuhyun opened his mouth to reply that he was coming as well. Eunhyuk grabbed his hand and pulled him back, “Don’t go, Leeteuk hyung needs to talk with you.” He whispered softly. Kyuhyun was going to refuse, but he saw that Hangeng wasn’t offering to go either. It was alright, he supposed, as long as Hangeng wasn’t going.

“Hyung is injured.” Ryeowook swallowed. “Hyung, you should stay.”

Heechul sent him a smile, “I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve got Kibum with me if anything happens, right? This won’t take long.”

“Shindong, go with them.” Leeteuk ordered softly, and the huskier man nodded. Heechul sent Leeteuk one last, amused glance before the door closed.

Leeteuk let out a tired sigh and slumped back down onto the couch. “…I can’t do this anymore.”

---
 
[A/N: A little shorter, but the next chapter is going to be pretty long and action-packed! Plot, plot, plot!]

Throughout my childhood, I was never the subject of intense bullying. There were times when I was made fun of, but never to the point where I felt threatened. I think during my teenage years I liked to believe the world was against me and that everyone who made a comment meant it negatively, and I realize now that it was very immature. Bullies are people that lower self-esteem, who try and hurt others in order to make themselves feel better, but they're also people who keep you from doing what you love, whose disapproval and attention are undesired. I was never picked out of the crowd because people usually ignored me. I was the quiet, nerdy kid in the back that tried not to draw attention to herself for the very real fear that I would be bullied. Perhaps then, fear was the biggest bully in my life, because it kept me from doing things I enjoyed as a child, from standing out and expressing myself fully. Or perhaps the expectations of society, the desire to be accepted and deemed "normal" was the bully. I like to think that I've ascended that bully somewhat as an adult, but I know that I still have a long way to go before I can truly say I don't care what society thinks of me. 

Eunhyuk didn’t know quite how to describe the new dynamics of their apartment, except that it was tense and awkward, like a plate set too far on the edge of the counter that threatened to crash to the ground at any moment.

Even stranger to him was the relationship—or lack thereof—that developed between Kibum, Donghae, and Henry. Donghae seemed attached to the boy to the point that it was becoming suspicious even to Eunhyuk. But no one else noticed. Perhaps he only noticed because he was jealous and when it came to Donghae and Kibum, Eunhyuk was always paying attention.

Donghae stuck to Henry like a leech. He invited him everywhere. Time that was normally for only the three of them became time for the ‘four’. Donghae said he didn’t want to leave Henry out, not when it was so hard for the younger boy to adjust to living there.

Henry didn’t seem to mind Donghae’s attention, although Eunhyuk wondered if he even noticed it in the first place. He, after all, didn’t look at anyone but Kibum.

It was a childish kind of hero worship, of course. Henry wasn’t gay and he didn’t seem to have any romantic feelings for Kibum. That should have made Eunhyuk feel better, but it didn’t make him any less jealous of the fact that one of his lovers spent most of his time attached to Henry and the other spent most of his time trying to avoid him.

Kibum and Donghae had fought over it a week after Henry had arrived. Eunhyuk and Kibum had gotten up from the couch to head to their bedroom because Kibum wanted to read in a quiet place and Eunhyuk wanted to take a nap. Donghae had stood as well with a cheerful grin and a, “come on, Henry!” and Kibum had turned with a quick glare.

“I don’t want him in our room.”

It had ended with Henry quietly slinking back to the couch and Donghae telling Kibum to lighten up. Kibum had stomped off to the bedroom and Eunhyuk had followed, unsure which side he needed to choose.

He didn’t like Henry, though, that much was clear to him.

He’d never thought of Kibum as a jealous person before that point either. Kibum was cold on the outside and warm and oddly sensitive on the inside. But apparently there was some hot, possessive core they hadn’t known about up to that point that surfaced as Donghae spent more and more time trying to make Henry feel “welcome”.

But Eunhyuk found out quite clearly that Kibum was staking territory when he and Henry (he’d been given babysitting duty that day) walked down the hall to find Donghae shoved against Kangin and Leeteuk’s door with his hand down Kibum’s pants as the other man devoured his neck.

Henry had let out a strangled sound and Kibum had turned with a heavy-lidded gaze that was enough to make Eunhyuk embarrassingly hard.

“Oh.” Kibum had murmured in a husky timbre that made Eunhyuk’s throat go dry. “I thought you were inside.” His eyes went from Henry to the door and the implication was obvious. Henry had looked uncomfortable—and perhaps a little turned on and ashamed of the fact—and had run back out into the living room.

Eunhyuk had wanted to scold Kibum, but Kibum had grabbed him and tugged them both into Kangin and Leeteuk’s room and he couldn’t find it in himself to feel guilty over the fact that they had sex on Kangin’s bed (the bed that Henry had taken over during his stay).

Now spending time with Henry became awkward for Eunhyuk. Kibum acted like nothing was wrong, and Donghae seemed more cheerful than usual. Eunhyuk supposed it was because Kibum’s jealous sex was pretty fucking amazing.

Henry just seem genuinely horrified of men making out in front of him and more than a little confused as to why Kibum had become an exhibitionist.

But Eunhyuk had noticed that something was off with Henry. Henry seemed jumpy, always looking for an escape route. Was he trying to leave the apartment? Kibum was always watching him and Eunhyuk guessed that Leeteuk had put him on guard duty. Eunhyuk didn’t think that Kibum’s constant public display of their sexual escapades was going to make Henry more inclined to live with them, however.

But more than his paranoia over Kibum’s newfound sexual fervor or Henry’s suspicious jumpiness, Eunhyuk found himself wondering more and more about Donghae and the rest of the “usefuls”.

Sometimes he’d lie awake in bed, listening to Donghae and Kibum sleeping, and he was afraid that if he fell asleep he’d wake up to Donghae no longer being Donghae. Donghae had been acting suspicious lately with his interest in Henry and the Usefuls in general were acting oddly.

Sungmin and Kyuhyun locked themselves in the computer room every day for hours.

The fact that Kyuhyun had joined them made Eunhyuk’s paranoia grow, and he found himself asking Kibum what he thought. Because the two of them were in this together, weren’t they? They were both worried about Donghae.

“So what exactly are you worried about?” Kibum murmured, flipping a page of his biochemistry book.

Eunhyuk twiddled with his thumbs. He’d been trying not to fidget but he’d given up on that by this point. He looked up at Donghae and Henry playing video games at the other end of the living room and then back to Kibum, who watched him expectantly.

“I…” Eunhyuk paused, cleared his throat, and continued. “What happens if Donghae has to choose?”

“Choose what?” Kibum turned another page.

“Between us and them.” Eunhyuk answered, glancing up again to make sure that Donghae wasn’t listening. He seemed much too engrossed in beating Henry in Gears of War. “He’ll choose them…won’t he?”

Kibum watched him for a few moments in silence, his face unreadable before he answered truthfully, “I didn’t expect you to be the one to suggest it.”

Eunhyuk bristled, “Why not? Because I’m naïve and too trusting? Because I’m stupid?” He didn’t know why he was getting defensive.

“Because you love him.”

Eunhyuk blinked, caught off guard a bit. “…don’t you?”

“That’s why I never suggested it.” Kibum replied softly. Eunhyuk watched Kibum’s gaze follow Donghae and wondered for a moment if Kibum loved Donghae more.

Eunhyuk had never doubted or distrusted Kibum, but he’d always wondered about Donghae. Was it because of their disconnection with the useful…or had he really not loved Donghae enough?

“You don’t think they’re planning something?” Eunhyuk leaned back against the couch.

Kibum let out a soft laugh. “I’m sure they are.”

“Then…?”

Kibum closed the book and rested his gaze fully on Donghae. His expression softened. “Just because I know something is happening doesn’t change anything.” When you love someone enough, you become blind to those things. 

Eunhyuk was reminded that Donghae and Kibum had been together before he’d arrived. It had been awkward at first, fitting in a relationship that had been established years before. Even though it hadn’t been much of anything other than relieving sexual tension (Donghae and the others had still been at the facility and had only visited on occasion) there’d always been something there.

Eunhyuk used to think of Kibum as a serious person. He had his playful side, but when it came down to dangerous situations Eunhyuk had always trusted Kibum to make a clear, level-headed decision. Now he began to wonder. And he also wondered, did Donghae think the same way as them?

And even if he did, Heechul would not, and Donghae would listen to him in the end, wouldn’t he?

Sometimes Eunhyuk thought that Heechul liked him. He’d saved him (more times than he liked to admit) and he got him strawberry milk and sometimes he teased him affectionately. But was that real? Eunhyuk didn’t know who to trust anymore.

He’d thought he could trust Kibum, but Kibum didn’t even seem to trust himself.

---

A week into working with Sungmin made Kyuhyun realize that they probably weren’t friends anymore. They were more on the borderline of barely veiled enemies. Whether or not it was because Heechul had lectured Sungmin and he thought that Kyuhyun had tattled about threatening to kill him—which was totally justified, even if he hadn’t actually done it—or because Sungmin had always been harboring a secret hatred of the acne covered boy was unknown.

Decoding the information had taken a week because Sungmin refused to allow Kyuhyun to use his powers, which meant they were trying to crack the encryption manually.

Kyuhyun didn’t know if Sungmin simply didn’t trust him, or if he just hated the fact that Kyuhyun could do something so easily that would take Sungmin weeks. Either way, Sungmin’s vindictive streak was getting unbearable.

And what was worse, Heechul rarely talked to him. When he wasn’t getting his daily check-up from Kibum or trying to sleep off the painkillers he was holed up downstairs in the small room off of the shooting range with his laptop.

Hangeng had attached himself to Heechul’s hip during this "recovery stage". Kyuhyun had thought the two were close before, but now they were inseparable. Hangeng used Heechul’s injury as a chance to take care of him. He wheeled him around the apartment, he got his meals and his medication for him, and he took him into the shower to bathe. The only time they were separated was when the others had their “useful” meetings.

It made Kyuhyun angry, and that made him confused and then he made mistakes and Sungmin snapped and Kyuhyun wanted to cry because his best friend now hated him and the person he was attracted to was avoiding him.

Also, Leeteuk and the others were treating him differently now. Kangin and Shindong watched him. Eunhyuk and Ryeowook seemed worried and jittery. Leeteuk would send him a look of disappointment that made his stomach clench and Kibum…Kibum judged silently like he’d always done.

And the “usefuls”…well. Siwon and Donghae seemed indifferent. They treated him the same as they had before, which he was thankful for. Yesung didn’t seem to mind him, but he watched him as if waiting for a reaction from the others. And Sungmin, Kyuhyun knew how he felt.

He didn’t know how Heechul or Hangeng felt, of course, because the two locked themselves up away from everyone else and were either already asleep when he went to bed at night or came in late after he’d fallen asleep.

Kyuhyun leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of frustration. He turned his head and his neck popped. He winced at the sensation and opened his eyes to see that Sungmin hadn’t looked away from his own computer.

“…what are you listening to?”

Sungmin’s gaze flickered from the screen to Kyuhyun. “What?”

“Your headphones.” Kyuhyun motioned to the iPod lying on the desk.

Sungmin shrugged and went back to his work. Kyuhyun sighed. Why did Sungmin hate him so much? He’d never done anything wrong! They’d been such good friends in the beginning. Just because of Heechul…it wasn’t even like Sungmin liked Heechul that way. Or did he? Kyuhyun raked a hand through his hair.

“I’m not listening to music. It’s white noise.” Sungmin continued typing. He didn’t look to Kyuhyun again. “Have you found anything?”

Kyuhyun shook his head and then remembered that Sungmin wasn’t looking. “No.” He answered truthfully. “Not yet.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sungmin nod.

“Why don’t you want me here?” Kyuhyun clamped his mouth shut in horror. Had he said that aloud?

Sungmin seemed surprised at Kyuhyun’s comment as well. He eyed him for a moment, and his expression didn’t change as he spoke, “We can’t afford to have a snitch.”

“I would never tell.” Kyuhyun bristled in anger.

Sungmin shrugged, “You don’t understand.”

“I’d understand if you told me.” Kyuhyun defended. He wasn’t going to tell anyone anything! If Heechul trusted him then he would definitely do everything he could to keep that trust.

“No you wouldn’t.” Sungmin glared. “You and the others are always saying that if we just told you, you’d understand but it isn’t that simple. It isn’t something you can understand without living it, so stop trying to sympathize.”

Kyuhyun bit his lip and stared down at his keyboard. He certainly hadn’t intended for Sungmin to hate him even more.

A water bottle was placed loudly on the corner of his desk and he turned to see Sungmin wiping the excess water off of his hands onto his jeans. He noticed Kyuhyun’s glance and shrugged, giving an apologetic frown. “It’s not your fault. If it had been anyone else I would have acted the same way.”

“Thanks.” Kyuhyun croaked out, and the sarcastic tone didn’t go unnoticed by Sungmin.

The other man snorted and went back to his screen. “…you know, Heechul hyung is the one who doesn’t want you using your powers on it.” He held up the flash drive for emphasis.

Kyuhyun blinked. “What do you mean?”

“He thinks there’s something on here that you shouldn’t see.” Sungmin let out a grunt. “Not like…a secret. But with your power you wouldn’t be able to forget it for a while and he thinks it’s something pretty bad. I don’t know.” He pressed a few keys idly.

The next few hours were spent in relaxed silence. Sungmin seemed less hostile, and even if he’d been screaming Kyuhyun didn’t think he’d notice. He was too focused on the fact that Heechul had been worried about him.

---

Kim Hyun Shik seemed to have become comfortable living in the Grand Hyatt Seoul Hotel. He hadn’t left the building all week, and the only people going in or out were staff and tourists. It had gotten to the point that Siwon almost wished something bad would happen, just so they could do something.

Almost, of course, because Siwon would never actually wish for anything bad to happen to anyone.

Siwon watched a blonde woman walk down the street below him. Mostly he eyed her green tea frappuccino and wondered how someone could drink something that cold in this kind of weather. He realized he’d been distracted when Yesung nudged him with his foot.
“Were you listening?”

“Huh?” Siwon blinked, tearing his gaze from the woman to his hyung. “Did you say something?”

Yesung watched him silently for a moment. “Do you think it’s ok to trust Kyuhyun?”

Siwon bit the inside of his cheek before he gave a small grunt. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a bad idea for him to be working with us.”

Yesung nodded. “Sungmin and Donghae don’t like it.”

Siwon’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Donghae? I noticed that Sungmin seemed angry, but not Donghae.” He’d never been good at reading Donghae, but he’d assumed he was fine with it. He usually followed whatever Heechul asked of them without question.

Yesung took a sip of his water. “He’s been tense lately.” Yesung was always watching people, so any small difference in attitude and demeanor was noticed, even in someone as outwardly cheerful as Donghae.

“Do you think they’ll do anything?” Siwon asked worriedly. They wouldn’t hurt Kyuhyun would they?

Yesung shook his head, screwing the lid back onto his bottle. “As long as hyung says he’s with us they’ll be fine.”

“When are we going to tell Leeteuk hyung and the others?”

“When we find the list.” Yesung answered readily. “Everything will be fine then.”

Siwon nodded. Once they found the list, they’d be able to set everything right. They wouldn’t have to hide anymore. He didn’t like hiding things from Leeteuk hyung but he knew the reasons behind it. Heechul knew what he was doing. They all just needed to trust him.

Siwon had always had a strong faith.

Yesung handed over his water bottle and Siwon took it gratefully. Yesung had seen Siwon eyeing the blonde girl and her coffee and made a mental note for them to stop at Starbucks before they headed back to the apartment.

He shifted his binoculars toward the entryway with a sigh. It was going to be a long day, he could tell. “How are the security feeds?”

“Nothing yet.” Siwon swallowed a mouthful of water and tapped a few keys on the laptop. “All the CCTVs are clean. I’ll check the stairwells again—”

Yesung heard Siwon’s sharp intake of breath and put his binoculars down. “What is it?” Siwon was staring at the screen with a mixture of disbelief and horror. Yesung sat up and leaned over to see the screen.

“…how can he be here?” Yesung paled. “That isn’t possible.” Sungmin took him out, didn’t he?

“Call hyung.” Siwon whispered, before fumbling for his own phone. “We have to tell hyung now.”

Yesung continued to stare at the screen as he heard Siwon dialing Heechul’s cell. They were talking, but he couldn’t hear what Siwon was saying. He was much too focused on the man on the computer screen.

He wasn't supposed to be alive.

---

Sungmin was still in the computer room when Kyuhyun offered to get them something to eat. Sungmin had waved him off with a gruff nod that Kyuhyun took as an “ok”. Even if the air didn’t feel as tense, Kyuhyun still didn't feel comfortable being alone with Sungmin after seeing that side of him.

It surprised him, since he’d seen Heechul cut a man apart with a butterfly knife and his opinion of him had only risen. He didn’t know how to describe it, but he was relieved when he finally made it out of the computer room and into the other apartment. It seemed safer.

The apartment was oddly empty. He knew that Siwon and Yesung were out per Heechul’s instructions, and guessed that Donghae, Eunhyuk, and Kibum were in their room. Shindong was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels boredly. He looked up when Kyuhyun entered before switching his attention back to the screen.

He entered the kitchen to find Ryeowook, Leeteuk, and Kangin inside. Ryeowook was in the middle of cooking something, looming over the stove. Leeteuk and Kangin sat at the dining room table.

“Oh, Kyuhyun.” Leeteuk smiled, “Hungry?”

Kyuhyun nodded. “Ah, yeah. I was going to get something for Sungmin and I to eat.”

“I’m almost finished.” Ryeowook called from the stove. “I made extra for the two of you.” Kyuhyun didn’t know if Ryeowook was trying to make him feel better or was just pretending that everything was normal, but he was grateful for it either way.

“Thanks hyung.” Kyuhyun sat down at the table to wait. Kangin eyed him warily from over the top of his crossword puzzle.

Leeteuk placed his mug down on the table with a soft ‘clink’ and looked up with another tired smile. “While the food is cooking, I’d like to have a talk with you.”

Kyuhyun nodded warily. “…alright hyung.”

“Alone.” Leeteuk stood. “We’ll go to my room.”

Kangin shot Leeteuk a confused glance that the other man brushed off, and Ryeowook stiffened, hand tightening on the pot handle. Kyuhyun stood slowly, and for a brief moment he was worried. But that was ridiculous. This was Leeteuk hyung. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.
He followed him out of the kitchen and down the hallway.

He could hear the soft murmur of voices coming from Donghae and Eunhyuk’s room. The door opened and Kibum walked out with a towel slung over his neck. He eyed both Kyuhyun and Leeteuk stoically for a moment before walking past them to the bathroom.

“Kibum…” Eunhyuk walked out a second later, looking torn. He looked back inside the bedroom before giving a sigh. “Stop egging him on.” Then he followed Kibum, knocking into Kyuhyun on the way, “Ah, sorry Kyuhyun…” He trailed off and walked into the bathroom.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t…” Kyuhyun heard Henry begin, but Leeteuk had led him into his bedroom before he could catch the end of Henry’s apology.

It was Kyuhyun’s first time in Leeteuk and Kangin’s bedroom. It was set up the same as all the others. Neat and tidy. The bed he assumed was Leeteuk’s was already made, and Leeteuk sat down on it, motioning for Kyuhyun to do the same.

Kyuhyun did so, and waited like a child anticipating a scolding from his mother.

“How have you been lately? We don’t talk as much.” Leeteuk began softly, “Henry has been taking up most of my time.”

“Good.” Kyuhyun answered shortly. “I’m good.”

“You’ve been training with your gift?”

“Yeah.” Kyuhyun shifted uncomfortable, hands in his lap. He tugged on the edge of his right glove.

“The others have been nice to you?”

Kyuhyun didn’t answer, simply looked up at Leeteuk and waited for him to continue. Leeteuk eyed him hesitantly, before he began with a soft sigh. “Kyuhyun, have you noticed the tension between all of us?”

“It’s because of Henry.” Kyuhyun answered automatically.

“No.” Leeteuk shook his head. “This has been going on for a while. It isn’t just Henry. You’re part of the reason too.” He seemed to read the confusion and denial on Kyuhyun’s face. “Kyuhyun, they’ve never let anyone join their meetings before.”

Kyuhyun shrugged. “Heechul hyung just needed my help for something.”

“It’s not that simple.” Leeteuk replied. “Heechul is letting you join them.”

Was that a bit of jealousy Kyuhyun saw? Leeteuk had been at the training facility and yet he was still useless. Did he hate the fact that he wasn’t welcomed like Kyuhyun had been? The mixture of pleasure and guilt in Kyuhyun’s stomach made him feel queasy.

“Kyuhyun…I need you to tell me what’s going on. Heechul won’t tell me anything but I know you will.” Leeteuk reached out and placed a hand on Kyuhyun’s shoulder. “I know you want to protect everyone here.”

“So does Heechul hyung.” Kyuhyun tried to deflect the question.

“Kyuhyun…”

“You want me to spy on him?” Kyuhyun shrugged off Leeteuk’s hand. “I’m not going to be a snitch. There’s nothing to snitch about.”

Leeteuk eyed him with barely veiled frustration. “You don’t owe him anything. Why do you trust him?”

“Why don’t you?”

“That isn’t what this is about.”Leeteuk let out a frustrated sigh. “You know that isn’t what this is about.”

“It is.” Kyuhyun shook his head. “If you don’t trust hyung he won’t trust you.”

“He already doesn’t trust any of us.” Leeteuk called out exasperatedly. “He doesn’t trust me. He doesn’t trust you. He doesn’t trust Hangeng. I don’t know if he’s even capable of it.”

Kyuhyun thought that was a lie. Heechul was cold, and sometimes he was ruthless, but he cared, didn’t he? Kyuhyun remembered his conversation with Hangeng before, about how he couldn’t understand why anyone liked Heechul. Hangeng had said Kyuhyun didn’t understand; that Heechul had saved them. Kyuhyun wondered if he’d begun to realize what Hangeng had been talking about now.

The only reason that Heechul wouldn’t trust them was if he were afraid…and in Kyuhyun’s mind, Heechul wasn’t afraid of anything.

“Kyuhyun…” Leeteuk looked torn. “I don’t want to distrust him. I want all of us to be in this together. But I can’t do that if I don’t know what he’s doing.”

“He’s doing it to protect everyone. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt any of us.”

“Why did he only save us, Kyuhyun?” Leeteuk whispered fiercely. “There were hundreds of others he could have saved but he didn’t. Why?”

Kyuhyun swallowed. That…he didn’t know the answer to that. But there had to be one. A reasonable answer. Leeteuk was looking at him with a mixture of worry and pity. He didn’t need that. He didn’t need pity. He didn’t want pity. He wanted revenge. Heechul had offered him that. And he wanted Heechul.

“I think we’re done talking…”

“Kyuhyun.” Leeteuk sighed tiredly. “Kyuhyun, let’s just talk this out, ok?”

Kyuhyun shook his head. “No hyung. I don’t want to talk anymore.” He turned to walk away, but Leeteuk’s words stopped him.

“You’re just like him.”

Kyuhyun rested his hand on the doorknob and looked back. Leeteuk was sitting on his bed, his gaze oddly cold. Kyuhyun ignored the twisting in his gut and opened the door, closing it behind him.

He headed down the hall as quickly as possible, as if he were scared of being followed. Perhaps he was. He needed to tell Heechul what Leeteuk was doing so that Heechul could explain things to them and then everything would be fine. But if Leeteuk saw him…he opened the door to their shared bedroom and closed it with a click.

At first he thought the room was empty, until he saw a figure on the bottom bunk wrapped in Hangeng’s blanket. A strand of blonde hair peeked out from its recesses.

Kyuhyun walked further into the room and paused at the edge of the bunk bed. He reached out and pulled the blanket off of Heechul’s face, expecting him to wake up and scold him for it. But Heechul didn’t move at all, and his breathing remained steady.

He lifted out a hand to touch Heechul’s shoulder to wake him but stopped.

He found himself staring down at his lips.

One kiss…wouldn’t be wrong, right? He’d never get to do it if Heechul were awake. Heechul loved Hangeng and if he didn’t love Hangeng than he wasn’t capable of love and neither of these alternatives worked in Kyuhyun’s favor.

He leaned forward.

He could feel Heechul’s breath on his face. Small puffs of air that smelled like peppermint toothpaste and coffee. Kyuhyun swallowed, before closing his eyes and closing the distance between them.

The sound of the door opening made him jerk back and he looked up to see Hangeng in the doorway. There was a moment of silence as Kyuhyun stood, frozen like a thief caught in the act, before Hangeng charged forward. “What were you doing!?”

“I—” Kyuhyun took a step back and Hangeng grabbed his shirt, throwing him up against one of the dressers. The picture frame atop it fell over before crashing to the ground, and the entire dresser seemed to rattle with the force. Kyuhyun winced.

“What were you doing?” Hangeng repeated, and there was more than just fury in his voice—although it was certainly the most obvious. There was some fear there too, and that confused Kyuhyun. Then he was shouting in Chinese that Kyuhyun didn’t understand, his fingers digging into Kyuhyun’s shoulders.

“…what…what’s going on?” Heechul tried to sit up, wincing as he clutched at his stomach. “Hankyung, what are you doing?”

“He tried to kiss you!” Hangeng shouted, and shoved Kyuhyun back against the dresser more forcefully this time.

“What?” Heechul paled slightly, eyes narrowing before his gaze centered on Kyuhyun. “…what the hell were you thinking?”

Kyuhyun swallowed. “I…” He looked from Hangeng’s fury to Heechul’s panic and it didn’t seem to connect in his mind. “I…”

“Let him go.” Heechul ordered Hangeng softly. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Heechul—”

“Go Hannie.”

Hangeng stared at Heechul for a few moments before he directed his glare at Kyuhyun. There was more than fury there. Fear, jealousy, and betrayal flickered in his eyes before he let go of Kyuhyun and took a step back with a shaky exhale. He headed for the door and closed it softly behind him.

Heechul began fixing his bed head with a soft sigh. “Don’t ever do that again.” He tucked an errant strand behind his ear.

Kyuhyun’s throat tightened painfully. He leaned on the dresser that Hangeng had shoved him against and tried not to cry. He’d known this would happen. He knew better than to try and kiss Heechul when Heechul didn’t love him.

“Anything I touch with my lips is destroyed. If I kiss someone they die. Don’t ever try that again.”

Kyuhyun blinked. What…was Heechul saying? That wasn’t the flat out rejection he’d expected. But Heechul was watching coldly, a reminder that it hadn’t been a welcomed action either. Kyuhyun didn’t know what to think.

He wasn’t given a chance to retort, because Heechul’s phone began ringing and the older man picked it up. “Hello?”

Kyuhyun watched the last vestiges of color drain from Heechul’s face as his grip tightened on his phone. “…get back here. I’ll talk to the others.” Heechul clicked his phone shut. “SUNGMIN!”

The other man appeared at the door in a matter of moments, looking worried. “Hyung, I saw Hangeng leave.” He looked to Kyuhyun. “What happened?” As if already deciding it was Kyuhyun’s fault.

“Get me to the debriefing room. Where’s Donghae?”

Sungmin grabbed Heechul like he weighed nothing.

“Aish, this is embarrassing. Get my chair…”

“Later.”

He left the room, leaving Kyuhyun alone and confused and hopeful.

---

Sungmin didn’t ask what had happened in the bedroom with Heechul and Kyuhyun, because the look on Heechul’s face said enough.

Donghae looked from Heechul to Sungmin with a dubious expression. He obviously knew something was up but he didn’t know what it was. “Hyung.” He eyed Heechul like a puppy. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Heechul answered roughly, leaning back in his chair with another wince.

“Did you take your pain medication?” Sungmin noticed the wince.

Heechul didn’t answer right away. Instead he fiddled with the tabletop computer and avoided both Donghae’s and Sungmin’s expectant glances. They heard the footsteps long before the door to the debriefing room opened and Siwon and Yesung walked in.

“Hyung.” Yesung sounded breathless as he walked toward the table and slumped into one of the chairs with a loud sigh. The two had obviously run as fast as they could from the car, although Siwon looked as normal as usual.

He took one look around the room. “Hyung, is Kyuhyun here?”

“He won’t be here for this meeting.” Heechul answered back. “Both of you sit down and tell us what it is that you found at the hotel.”

Siwon did as he was told, seeing that something had obviously happened while they were away that had put Heechul in a foul mood.  “We were investigating Kim Hyun Shik and going over the CCTV feeds.”

The group nodded.

“At first everything looked normal. Kim Hyun Shik hasn’t moved from the apartment and the Gifted with him haven’t revealed themselves either. The only people in and out are workers and tourists.” Siwon swallowed. “Then I checked the CCTV again and I saw someone walking up the twelfth floor stairwell.”

“Who was it?” Donghae leaned forward.

…

…

…

“Attack was there.” Siwon spoke gravely.

Sungmin blinked. “What…are you talking about?” That wasn’t possible. The damage he’d dealt should have left Attack permanently disabled if he’d been able to survive at all. “You must have seen someone else.”

Siwon opened his mouth to object, but closed it when Heechul spoke, “If what Yesung and Siwon saw is correct, it means that all of Squad 12 is still alive.”

The group went silent.

“If they’ve been training at the facility this whole time…we don’t know if they’ve figured how to strengthen or change powers.” Yesung murmured, dark eyes troubled as he peered out from behind his bangs.

“They haven’t perfected changing powers.” Heechul shook his head. “If they had, they wouldn’t continue to kill those they see as useless.”

“But we don’t know if they’ve amplified their powers.” Sungmin put in.

“That’s true. We’ll need to be careful. If the facility has discovered how to amplify preexisting powers then we are at a disadvantage.” Heechul bit his lip in thought. “We’re upping training. I’ll talk to Kangin and suggest a new training regimen for the others based on Squad 12’s known strengths.”

Everyone nodded, looking half convinced. None of them looked forward to whatever new training program that Heechul was concocting, but it would be necessary. The question was…would it help? Heechul stared down at his interlaced fingers, blonde bangs hiding his face from view.

It seemed like forever before Heechul gave a soft sigh and sat up fully, giving a smile. “Well now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” Heechul turned to Donghae. “How is Henry?”

Donghae shrugged, a little taken aback at Heechul’s change. He figured it was because Heechul had a plan, and that made him more at ease. “He’s tried to escape three times already. I heard Leeteuk and Kangin hyung stop him. He won’t tell me anything about his life either, even though I’ve been extra nice to him.” It ended in a disappointed pout.

Heechul smirked. “Luckily I’ve run across something interesting. I thought I recognized him, so I did some background research on our little dependent.” Heechul tapped the table top and a photo appeared on the screen. It was a newspaper clipping.

“…what?”

“A report three years ago about a new geneticist working on the GAM project. To the rest of the world he’s the CEO of a government pharmaceutical company.” Heechul smirked. “And this was at a press conference where he introduced his family.”

“Henry is his son?” Yesung stared at the black and white picture. Even though he was younger, it was obviously Henry standing next to the man.

“There have been rumors recently that a new strain of the GAM virus is being created at a hidden facility and Mr. Lau will be in charge of its development.” Heechul leaned back in his chair. “But the fact of the matter is that we can use Henry to find the location of the facility.”

“How? He won’t tell his son anything. Henry is just a civilian.” Siwon looked worried.

“If Henry were to return to his home he would very likely ask his father about us and then, well, one thing would lead to another…” Heechul trailed off with an arched eyebrow, as if to say, “do you get where this is going?”

Siwon did, and he didn’t know if he quite liked it. “You want…you want Henry to tell his father about us? That’s insane!”

Yesung also looked slightly concerned, although it was less obvious. “What if word got out? What if he kills Henry?” Because they all knew that someone like that didn’t care about familial ties. They would kill anyone to keep their secret.

“The list will be at the new facility.”

The entire room went silent.

Sungmin spoke first, gaze serious. “…how do we follow him?”

Heechul smiled. “We send someone along.” Everyone turned to Donghae, who looked excited at the idea of a mission. He wasn’t the type that enjoyed sitting still and being forced to sit back and watch everyone else while his injuries healed.

“We’ll have to kill everyone who he tells.” Sungmin looked momentarily troubled, whether it was the thought of killing or the thought of doing it on such a large scale with the fear of being caught. “And what about Henry afterwards?”

“We’ll bring Henry back and deal with him in time. We need to plan the details first.” Heechul turned off the screen, erasing the picture of Henry and his father.

“Donghae will be traveling with Henry?” Siwon looked at the shape shifter. “He isn’t healed yet.”

“We have a lot to plan. He’ll be healed by the time we’ve fleshed out the details.”

“Are we giving up on Kim Hyun Shik?” Yesung wondered if perhaps they weren’t waiting for Heechul to heal as well. He didn’t think that even Heechul would be able to move normally in that short amount of time, however.

Heechul gave a cold smile. “No. We’ll get him. Leave that to me.”

---

Later that night, Heechul wheeled himself into the bedroom to find the lights off. Donghae had gotten him the spare wheelchair from the medical room so that he wouldn’t have to be carried back.

He’d already been forced to take another dose of his pain medication, he didn’t think his pride could take much more of this.

He looked to Kyuhyun’s bed and it was empty. Heechul was oddly thankful for that. He didn’t know if he had the energy or desire to confront the boy about what happened earlier. He’d deal with that in due time.

There was a lump on Hankyung’s bed that Heechul knew was the Chinese man. He wheeled himself over and let out a sigh. This part was always painful. He lifted himself out of the chair and onto the edge of the bed, ignoring the tug of pain in his midsection.

He managed to fumble in the dark for the edge of the blanket and pull it over him as he laid down on his side, too tired and in pain to grab for the pillow. It was quiet, and he could hear his own strained breathing clearly.

And then something was holding him, arms pulling him taught against a hard body.

“Hannie…”

He was shaking, his grip painful against Heechul’s wound. Heechul shifted uncomfortably but didn’t move Hangeng’s hands. It was a bearable pain, and Hangeng seemed to need this.

“…do you love him?” It was a soft whisper in the dark. Heechul found himself staring at the empty bed across from Hangeng’s.

Heechul interlaced their fingers and slowly closed his eyes. The painkillers made him feel numb and tired, but he could still feel the trembling of Hangeng’s hands in his and his shaky exhalations against his neck. He didn’t like having to express himself. He liked to assume that people could read how he felt and act accordingly. But if he had to, he would. “Wo ai ni.”It wasn’t an easy thing to say, but it was easier in Chinese. He'd never said it in Korean and didn't know if he could.

There was silence after that, but Hangeng’s grip tightened. “I know.” He finally whispered. “But do you love him too?”

Heechul gave a soft laugh. “The rest of the world would have you believe I’m a heartless, unfeeling bastard. I wouldn’t have the time to love one person, let alone two.”

“That doesn’t…”

“He’s useful.” Heechul answered truthfully. He just wanted to sleep, but he didn’t know if it was the painkillers or because he wanted to avoid the situation. Lately he seemed to be avoiding a lot of them.

“And I’m not.”

“Oh you’re very useful.” Heechul murmured, leaning back and arching his neck. “If I need to feel up some nicely chiseled abs you’re very convenient. Siwon runs too quickly.”

Hangeng let out a soft laugh against his neck, a puff of hot air that traveled down Heechul’s spine. “And?”

“You give amazing blowjobs.”

“Oh really?” His voice had taken on that edge that mad Heechul’s stomach tie itself in knots. It was an amazing sensation. Hangeng was nibbling on his earlobe, and Heechul purred in approval.

“You should convince me of you usefulness right now, I think.” Heechul reached back to tug playfully on a lock of hair.

Hangeng shifted, pushing himself onto his elbows. In the darkness Heechul could barely see the outline of his face but he knew that Hangeng was frowning. “You’re injured.”

Heechul grinned. “It’s alright; I’ll let you do all the work.”

 

Title: What Doesn't Kill You / Side Story: Sungmin
Pairing: None in this chapter
Genre: Superhero AU, action
Rating: PG-13

Chapter 9 < ----- > Chapter 11

Character Profiles
Siwon's Story
Hangeng's Story
Yesung's Story
Henry's Story

---

Since the day he was born, Sungmin had been hated. The result of an unfaithful husband, Sungmin’s life was plagued by the overshadowing presence of his stepmother, whether she was there physically or not. His mother had never spoken of her, but even growing up he’d sensed her presence—choking, pervading, poisoning what could have been a pleasant childhood.

He and his mother grew up without a lot, but they had each other and it was enough. They weren’t starving and they had a roof over their head and beds to sleep in—a bed, one, but his mother was a comforting warmth at night—and the necessities were all they needed.

He tried hard because his mother worked hard. He studied and came home from school and made dinner so that she’d have something to eat when she got back from work. Sometimes she would be too tired and would go straight to bed so she could wake up in a few hours for her next shift.

Sungmin rarely saw her, but he knew that he was loved, and he contented himself with that fact.

His mother was always smiling.

When he wanted to cry he would remind himself of her smiling face, of the bright gleam of her white teeth as she welcomed him home with a hug even when she looked ready to collapse from exhaustion. She always smiled to assure him that everything was alright.

As he grew up, he truly thought everything was fine. Other boys and girls had fathers but to him they were unnecessary. True, he grew up cooking and sewing and liking pink and stuffed animals—they were his mother’s old toys—but he’d never thought that it was wrong to do so.

He played sports at school, but that was school stuff. When he came home he did the things he enjoyed doing at home with his mother. Other boys played catch with their fathers on the weekend. Sungmin cooked dinner.

It was different, but it was what Sungmin knew and he cherished his little world despite its simplicity.

When he was thirteen, he learned how to hate.

It was the day he met his father for the first time…

He remembered getting home from school on that Friday to an expensive car parked in front of their apartment building. He’d stood there at the corner, watching the growing crowd of neighbors that had gathered to look at the foreign vehicle.

Then he’d heard yelling, and the door to their apartment was thrown open and a man stomped out, followed by his mother. His mother was the one screaming. “Get out of my house! Don’t ever come here again! He’s my child!”

The man turned back abruptly. “He’s my son, and he’s my heir. I’m taking him with me.”

“You can’t take him from me!” His mother screamed, a heart-wrenching sound. “I won’t let you!”

Sungmin’s grip tightened on his backpack. Who was this man yelling at his mother? He should go up and help! He couldn’t let this man yell at her like that! He took a few steps forward and met the man as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

The man looked up at that exact moment and Sungmin paused.

He looked like him.

“Sungmin!”

He was jolted out of his revelry by his mother’s shout. She had come down the stairs and latched onto her son’s arm tightly. Sungmin could feel her nails digging into his skin through his jacket. “Sungmin, go inside.” She whispered hoarsely.

Sungmin shook his head. “He shouldn’t be yelling at you, mom.” He swallowed and looked back at the man that looked like him. “Apologize to my mother.”

The man eyed him for a moment. “Didn’t your mother teach you to respect your elders?”

“Only when they deserve it, sir.” Sungmin answered back stiffly.

The man’s eyes widened, before he gave a harsh laugh. “You’ve got a backbone. That’s good.”

Sungmin stared at him as the man turned back to the car. A driver got out of the front and opened the side for him. He looked at Sungmin and then to his mother one last time, “I’m going to get my son from you.” And then the door closed.

The next morning, the man returned with a lawyer. Sungmin’s mother was announced unfit to care for him, and he was taken in by the man he discovered was his father. His last memory of his mother was her screaming as he was led into the car, hand outstretched.

She committed suicide a week later.

His stepmother told him.

The next seven years of his life seemed a blur. He hated, and he harbored that hatred silently. His stepmother hated him because he was not her child, and he took most any opportunity he could to remind her that she couldn’t have children of her own—with a smile, always with a smile—and it would end in her slapping him and his father yelling.

He certainly didn’t care.

But even though he hated his stepmother and father, a part of him hated his mother too, and that made him hate himself. His mother had left him, abandoned him. Why hadn’t she come to tried and get him back? He certainly would have gone with her. No…she had simply let him be taken and had gone somewhere he could not follow.

He was twenty years old when he contracted GAM, and as he lay there in the most expensive hospital room that money could buy, his only regret was that he hadn’t given his sickness to his stepmother and father first.

As he closed his eyes and took one last, shuttering breath, he imagined his stepmother’s twisted, triumphant smile. Then there was nothing.

---

Everything was too loud.

There was a buzzing in his ears that sounded like a jackhammer, and a systematic ‘tick’ of a clock that reverberated in his skull. He let out a groan of pain and clutched at his ears.

“Ah, he’s awake sir!”

Sungmin forced his eyes open to a man standing over him with a clipboard. He smiled, “Good morning, Lee Sungmin.”

Sungmin found himself sitting up, and the sound of the sheets rustling was unbearable. The man’s voice sounded like a roar. And the beeping of the monitor beside him—wait, where was he? He glanced around the room in confusion, his brain muddled with what he guessed were painkillers. His hypersensitive hearing must have been a complication of the medication.

He tried not to wince as the man in the lab coat spoke again. “I’m sure you’re wondering what you’re doing here.”

He was. The man wasn’t the usual doctor at his father’s hospital. This also wasn’t his hospital room. It was wide, spacious, and much too white. There were no windows and the only furniture in the room were the monitors, the bed he was lying on, and a stainless steel table in the far right corner with a fold-up chair and a computer.

“My name is Dr. Jang.” The man continued with a chipper smile that didn’t seem to fit his voice. “You’re currently in the medical bay of GAM Training Facility # 3.”

---

The explanation of what had happened to him had been…oddly reasonable. Perhaps it was because he didn’t care, and so he took it all in stride. Perhaps it was because he simply wanted the man to stop talking because his ears felt like they were going to start bleeding. He didn’t know, he simply nodded at intervals and listened.

The GAM virus, huh? The doctors at the hospital had thought he’d had some other disease. Or maybe they’d lied about that to his father and stepmother. Wouldn’t the hospital be condemned now, for fear of an outbreak?

Oh well, perhaps his stepmother and father had gotten the disease after all. It was a comforting thought, as long as they had died from it. They weren’t here, so if they’d gotten it, it meant they hadn’t made it right?

Dr. Jang had explained the premise of his new life to him: he would live and train at the facility until it was time to go on missions. Until his power appeared he would simply have to do physical training to get his body in shape.

Before that, however, he needed a room.

Dr. Jang led him down a narrow hallway to the last door on the left. He knocked, but was met with silence. He gave a grunt of annoyance before opening it and walking in, “I have someone I need you to meet.”

The room reminded Sungmin of a boarding school dormitory. Along both walls were beds, with a dresser between them and a trunk at the end. A table with four chairs stood in a corner next to a TV.

Aside from the furniture there was no one there, and Dr. Jang frowned, “I was told at least one of them would be here…”

A door near the last bed opened and someone walked out, towel slung around thin hips.

“Ah! Kim Heechul-ssi!”

At first glance, Sungmin thought the person was female. Their hair was long and black and plastered against a pale neck. When they turned their face was feminine, and their figure was slender. If it wasn’t for the fact that the man was shirtless and the Adam’s apple he sported, he could have been a girl.

The other thing that Sungmin noticed were his gloves that he wore, even as he brought up the towel hanging around his neck to begin drying his hair. He didn’t spare Dr. Jang and Sungmin more than a passing glance as he walked toward a bed that Sungmin assumed was his.

He began rummaging through the drawers for something to wear.

Dr. Jang cleared his throat. “Kim Heechul-ssi, this is Lee Sungmin.”

The man turned, pinning them both with an annoyed glare, “And?” He pulled a shirt, underwear, and a pair of skinny jeans out of the dresser and threw them onto his bed before sitting down as well.

“He’ll be the last member of your squad.” Dr. Jang didn’t look entirely comfortable around the other man, and Sungmin wondered why. He did seem intimidating, Sungmin supposed, for all of his feminine looks. There was something very dangerous in the way he moved and eyed both of them with apathy, in the way a predator feigned disinterest until its prey came close enough to devour.

Heechul leaned his cheek against his hand and looked Sungmin over again. “Is that so?” Sungmin shifted a bit uncomfortably. Should he introduce himself? They would be living together after all. He gave a meek smile, “Hi.”

Heechul stood, “You smile too much.” He grabbed the clothes he’d taken from the dresser and walked out of the room.

---

Sungmin’s second meeting with Heechul went slightly better than the first, or at least, he liked to imagine it had. He’d stayed in the dorm until a taller, princely looking man had walked in and introduced himself as Choi Siwon. He’d told him they would be on the same squad and suggested they head to the cafeteria together.

The cafeteria was hell. The buzzing in his ears had never fully stopped but he’d assumed that it had lessened. That delusion was shattered when he left the quiet dorm room and found himself in a crowded mess hall. Everyone was talking, and his head began to swim as his ears rang.

“You alright? Come on,” Siwon smiled at him and led him toward a table in the back, “The pain killers must be making you dizzy.”

Sungmin nodded absently. He wanted to find something to stuff into his ears to block out the sounds. He could hear the grinding of teeth as people chewed, each slurp of ramen broth. He reached up his hands to place them over his ears but stopped himself. He didn’t want to seem like a complete freak. He allowed himself to be led forward through the crowd.

At the table he was introduced to the other members of their squad: Yesung, and Donghae. And then there was their leader…Kim Heechul.
As they were introduced, Heechul didn’t look away from the person he’d been talking to. The person looked up at Sungmin, however, and gave a wave, “Hey,” He nudged Heechul in the ribs. “Princess, aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”

“We’ve met already.” Heechul replied blandly, grabbing for his coffee.

“Hyung…” Donghae pouted, “Why are you so grouchy?”

“We have a mission tonight. You know how ruffled princess’s feathers get when we have a job.” The other man wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Heechul rolled his eyes in response.

“Now that we’ll have a full team we’ll go on team missions too, won’t we?” Siwon asked hopefully, having guided Sungmin to a seat.

“Probably.” Yesung nodded, twirling his chopsticks.

Sungmin cast a sideways glance at the man sitting with Heechul and was surprised at the look on his face. At Yesung’s words his smile had faltered, and there had been a cold gleam in his eyes. But it was gone within seconds and he’d put his arm around Heechul’s shoulders, turning him away from them and toward a group of people that Sungmin hadn’t been introduced to.

“That’s Typhoon.” Donghae pointed at the man with his arm around Heechul. “He and hyung have been here forever.” He looked to Yesung, “Are you going to finish your pork?”

“Don’t worry, Heechul hyung is like that with everyone when they first arrive.” Siwon supplied at Sungmin’s crestfallen face. “…it’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”

“When did you get here?” Sungmin asked softly. He didn’t really care if Heechul liked him or not. He’d accepted the reality he’d been given because he was no longer with his father and stepmother. He didn’t care about anything else.

“About six months ago.” Siwon replied with a smile. “I just started my squad training a week ago.”

“Hyung is also grouchy because he and Typhoon are going on a mission with Squad 7.” Yesung murmured. He was eyeing Sungmin, his gaze centered on Sungmin’s lips. Sungmin shifted uncomfortably.

“Squad 7?” Siwon’s brow furrowed. “But there are only 5 active squads at the facility.”

“They’re from facility 2.” Yesung answered through a mouthful of rice. “I’ve only ever met one of them though.” His face scrunched up a bit in a look of discomfort. “Something was off with that guy, seriously.”

Donghae shrugged, “I didn’t think he was bad. He smiled a lot.”

“He was a freak.” Yesung pointed with his chopstick in warning, “And that’s coming from me. No one should be that cheerful.”

Siwon shook his head with a disbelieving smile before looking back at Sungmin, who still looked confused. “Do you think you can eat? Sometimes the medication makes you nauseous.”

He wasn’t nauseous, he just felt like his eardrums were going to rupture at any moment. He didn’t say that, however. He simply took a sip of the banana milk that Donghae offered him with a bright smile.

As he watched Donghae relay a story and Siwon lean in expectantly, all ears, and Yesung’s soft smile, he thought that maybe he could like it here.

---

The ringing in his ears wouldn’t stop.

Two weeks after waking up at the facility, Sungmin was seriously contemplating cutting his ears off. He tried not to show how much pain he was in, but he avoided the cafeteria like the plague. He ate out of the vending machines and slept most of the day when he wasn’t at training.

He spent his waking hours at night, when it was quiet and he could think clearly. But even silence was loud, and he wondered if he should ask Siwon for a set of earplugs. He would know where to get some, right?

His late night walks gave him time to think and mull over why he was here. He had no one waiting for him, no one he cared about in the outside world, so the idea of leaving never crossed his mind. He didn’t suffer homesickness because he had no home to go back to.

Training to be a soldier gave him a sort of purpose, and the knowledge that he had a power, something special about him that no one else had, was different. It made him oddly happy. He missed his pink and his rabbit stuffed animals and his two kittens at home, but those feelings were brief, fleeting, and he wondered how long it would take before he forgot about his past life completely.

Except the hatred. He would always hate.

Since waking up and introducing himself, he’d spoken about three full sentences to Heechul. The other man brushed him off or ignored him most of the time. If not, he would grace him with a level look, “Why do you smile so much? It’s annoying.” And then he’d walk off, leaving Sungmin confused and a little hurt. He didn’t know why he sought Heechul’s acknowledgment—he was his leader. That had to be why. He needed the leader of his squad to accept him.

Or maybe it was because he, like everyone else, seemed to believe that Heechul’s acknowledgment was some kind of blessing. He saw the way everyone’s eyes followed him, awed but too scared to talk to him. Kim Heechul drank in their idol-worship with a smirk and a cold glare and the indifference of one who knew he was better.

Whatever it was, acceptance had not been achieved, and he didn’t feel like it ever would be.

Sungmin had taken to working out at night because it was difficult to do during the day when there were a million machines clanging and banging and people grunting and yelling and just too much noise altogether.

He was in the locker room changing back into his regular clothing when he heard footsteps. He turned to see a man—tall, muscular, vaguely familiar, someone he’d probably passed in the cafeteria or hallway at some point.

“Uh, hi.” Sungmin gave a small, uneasy smile. The man’s gaze followed him as he walked to his locker and pulled it open to grab his shoes.

“So you’re the new guy, huh?”

Sungmin blinked, before shutting his locker to find the other man right beside it. He jumped slightly at their proximity. “Uh, yeah.” He didn’t know why he still constituted as the “new guy” after two weeks at the facility, but he figured that they didn’t get new additions very often.

“You’re pretty thin.”

Well, now the conversation was definitely awkward. Sungmin began to feel a bit uneasy, and he didn’t want to bend down to pick up his shoes from the floor where he’d dropped them.

The man took another step forward and Sungmin took a step back, but an arm blocked his escape. As the man’s hand hit the metal locker it rang and Sungmin found himself gasping as pain lanced through his head. He put his hands to his ears to stop it but the man grabbed his wrists, pinning them to his side. He hit the locker and the sound echoed, even louder this time. He was certain his ears were bleeding.

White dots danced in his vision as he blinked wearily. What was going on? What was wrong with him? It was loud, too loud, it needed to STOP!

And there was silence.

Sungmin coughed, opening his eyes. He blinked in surprise. He could see the man’s lips moving but no sound was coming out. Why was there no sound? And then the sound came rushing back—the man’s voice, the banging of metal, his own harsh cry as the man’s fingers dug into the skin of his wrists.

“Don’t go touching others so casually.”

Sungmin blinked back a wave of pain at the voice. The man holding him had stiffened, and they both turned slightly to see Heechul standing in the locker room entryway, eyeing the man coldly. Sungmin had never been so happy to see another human being in his life.

“What’s it to you?” The man’s voice shook slightly, but he didn’t back down, nor did he loosen his grip.

“Let go, or do you want me to make you?” Heechul opened and closed his palm suggestively, and the man’s eyes remained glued on his gloves, knowing full well what it meant if those gloves came off.

“Hey, hey, it was just a joke.” The man let go and took a few steps back, holding up his hands with a forced grin.

“No one is laughing.” Heechul replied coldly, and took a step forward.

The man booked it, nearly tripping over his own feet as he ran out of the room, giving Heechul a wide berth.

Sungmin swallowed, and his legs gave out on him. He slid down the wall with a shaky exhale, and winced as the lockers rattled. He could still feel where the other man had touched him. He hiccupped once and reached up a hand to rub his eyes, afraid he was going to start crying. “…thank you…” He managed.

“Just kick his ass next time. Just because you’re new doesn’t mean you have to do anything for anyone else.” Heechul replied.

“…why…?” Sungmin questioned softly.

Heechul gave him a sideways look. “They go after the pretty, weak-looking ones first.”  He stretched, brushing imaginary dirt off of the back of his pants. “Once your power appears they won’t try anything. But now that he knows you’re one of mine he won’t mess with you.”

“Now that he knows you’re one of mine he won’t mess with you.”

He began crying in earnest, and he wasn’t even sure why. Heechul raised an eyebrow at him in question and gave a small laugh and a shake of his head before turning, “You coming? We have training in the morning.”

Sungmin nodded, bright smile plastered on his face as he stood.

---

Sungmin hadn’t realized his power had appeared that night until later, when Heechul questioned him.

“I yelled at you but no sound came out. You were screaming but I didn’t hear anything either. What the hell did you do?”

He’d gone to the medical center and they’d run some tests. They’d put him through a few hearing exams and he’d ended up blasting a hole through one of the walls with a sound wave when they’d turned the frequency up too loudly.

The next day, a pair of noise cancelling headphones was lying on his bed when he returned from training. Donghae, Yesung, and Siwon had no idea where they came from.

Heechul never said anything, but he’d looked rather smug the rest of the week.

---

Sungmin’s first mission wasn’t with his squad as a whole. Instead, it was Sungmin, Siwon, Heechul, and Typhoon. Their mission was simple: get the GAM user out and take him back to the facility. The reason they’d been called in was because the family refused to give up the body or vacate their home and they’d become quite vocal about it. There were news crews outside, and a crowd had gathered on the street.

The police were too afraid to make a move for fear of bad press.

The four of them had arrived with government ID’s and gas masks—no one was sure whether or not the virus was airborne, so they played the part of a bio-hazard team coming to inspect the home and check for any further signs of the virus.

They passed the growing crowds until they were standing at the door. From what the firemen had said, there were six people in the house: the GAM user, his mother, father, older brother, older brother’s wife, and his niece.

Typhoon looked bored as Siwon knocked at the door. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

“Idiot, of course someone’s inside.” Typhoon rolled his eyes, but Heechul silenced him with a glare.

“We’re here to talk.” Heechul held up his hands. “We’re not soldiers.” The curtain rustled and a face peered out from the corner of the window. The four of them were dressed as civilians, and aside from Siwon they didn’t look particularly tall and muscular. Unthreatening.
The door slowly opened.

As they walked through the doorway, Heechul tugged on his mask, and his voice crackled in Sungmin’s earpiece. “Mute the house.”

Once they’d all entered the door slammed shut behind them. Sungmin jumped, wincing. Even though he’d learned how to mute sounds somewhat, it was difficult to control when he was already silencing the whole house from the outside.

The father was the one who had opened the door.

Heechul looked at the others and nodded. The four slipped off their gas masks and Siwon gave a smile, “Hello sir. Would it be alright if you took us to where your son is?”

The man looked hesitant, but nodded.

He led them down the hallway to a back room. Inside a young man was lying on a bed, motionless. Seated at the edge was the mother and his sister-in-law. His older brother was standing, “What are you doing here?”

“They’re here to talk.” The father looked at them. “Aren’t you?”

They nodded.

“We won’t give him to you! He’s just…he’s just sleeping. He isn’t dead. Just sleeping.” A traumatized mother. Sungmin wondered if his mother had been alive when he’d contracted GAM, would she have grieved like this?

“You’re right. He’s just sleeping. We’re going to take him to somewhere safe so that he can wake up.” Siwon smiled kindly, and the woman seemed to relax. Siwon had a way of making people feel comfortable around him. “We don’t work with the police. We’ll take him somewhere safe.”

Heechul said nothing, merely leaned in the doorway and watched.

“Will you bring him back?” The mother finally asked.

“They’re lying! They came to kill all of us!” The older brother snapped. “Mother, don’t listen to them.”

“But…”

Typhoon let out a low laugh. “Heh, you’re pretty smart ajusshi.”

Siwon turned to Typhoon with a worried gaze. “Hyung!”

“He’s right.” Heechul answered coldly—not meanly, just with a crisp finality that brooked no argument. “We’re here to get your son’s body. Then all of you will be checked to see if you carry the virus. Please cooperate.”

“If we don’t?” The brother asked archly.

“The house will be condemned.” Typhoon answered back with a sharp smile, “And you will be condemned with it.”

“You bastard!” He looked ready to fight, but seemed to think better of it as Typhoon stepped forward.

“Hyung…” Siwon looked to Heechul, as if hoping he would say something to deflate the situation.

Heechul let out a soft sigh—whether it was from annoyance or fatigue Sungmin couldn’t tell. “Your son won’t be coming back. Whether you believe that we’ll keep him alive or not is none of my concern but you should think of him as dead to you either way.” 

“We have another mission. We need to get going.” Typhoon glanced down at his watch. “Give us the body.”

“You’ll kill us either way.” The older brother hissed, and his wife let out a frightened cry.

“None of you seem like carriers of the virus. You’ve been in contact with it for a while. No one is going to kill you. Just please cooperate.” Siwon held up his hands, still smiling his gentle smile.

“I won’t let you take my son!” The mother wailed, collapsing atop his body like a shield. Her daughter-in-law stared helplessly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Don’t come near my family!” The brother stood in front of them, protecting them. The father looked on from the sidelines—old and feeble and frightened. Sungmin’s throat tightened. A family willing to die for one another. A family that loved one another. It was something he’d never experienced, save for his mother, and he wanted to cry.

He didn’t need this reminder or what he’d had—or never had—and lost.

“We don’t have time for this.” Typhoon let out a sigh. “Give us the body.”

“Nooooo!” The mother wailed, sobbing.

“Che.” Typhoon gave an annoyed glare before a piercing wind shook the house and the woman was thrown backwards, off of the GAM user. She hit the wall and there was a snap before she slumped to the ground.

“Mother!”

“Hyung!” Siwon looked on in horror, as the family rushed toward the mother. “Hyung she…”

“She’s dead! You killed her!” The son looked up, face twisted in fury. “You BASTARD!”

Typhoon had already gone to the bed and grabbed the GAM user. He hefted him over his shoulder, “Let’s go.”

“YOU KILLED HER!” The son rushed forward. Typhoon didn’t look back as the man charged. A gush of wind hit him before he could attack, and he crashed into his father.

“They refused to cooperate.” Typhoon turned a level stare at Heechul. “If this continues, you know what will happen.”

“Give the body to Siwon.” Heechul ordered, his gaze never leaving the family. The daughter-in-law was shaking her mother-in-law, trying to get her to awaken even though they all knew she was dead. The father and brother had stood.

Typhoon practically threw the man to Siwon, who caught him numbly, eyes trained on the woman’s corpse.

“Go Siwon.” Heechul whispered.

“Hyung…”

“Just take the body!” Heechul snapped, and Siwon flinched, before moving. He disappeared, faster than Sungmin could catch with his eyes, and then the brother was lunging at him.

“Sungmin!”

The man let out a yell and Sungmin threw up his hand just in time. There was a moment of silence and then a squelching sound followed by a splatter. Sungmin slid to the ground and stared at the wall in front of him, now painted red with blood and entrails.

The sister-in-law let out a horrified shriek.

“Sungmin! Is the house still muted?”

Heechul’s voice sounded like it was coming through a fog. Sungmin just stared at the body parts that remained. Part of the man’s large intestine slid down the wall and landed at the bottom with a ‘plop’.

The woman was still screaming, until Heechul ripped off his glove and placed his hand over her mouth. She bucked once, before her body began to dissolve.

Sungmin vomited.

By the time he’d emptied his stomach completely, the room had gone silent. He wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand and looked up. There were two piles of ash on the ground by the remains of the brother-in-law. Heechul was slipping on his gloves. “…come on Sungmin.” He grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet.

“…appa? Appa what’s going on?”

Heechul moved before Sungmin could turn at the little voice. By the time he looked Heechul was already leading the little girl out of the room, his hand over her eyes. “It’s alright.” Sungmin had never heard Heechul use such a gentle tone.

“I don’t like the dark. Where is my appa?” The girl cried out.

Typhoon pushed Sungmin through the doorway and closed it as he followed Heechul into the hall. Heechul took his hand off of the girl’s eyes and paused. Her eyes were glazed over and glossy.

Typhoon noticed it too. “…Heechul.”

Heechul remained silent, before he looked up at Typhoon. “She’s burning up.”

“She’s contracted it.” Typhoon nodded. He knelt down next to the girl. “Do you want to go with your daddy?”

The girl brightened. “Yes! I want to see my appa!”

“JAY!” Heechul yelled, just as Typhoon grabbed the girl’s head in his hands and twisted. There was a snap and she went limp in his hold.

There was a moment of silence, as Sungmin stared in horror at what Typhoon had just done and Heechul stared down at the little girl that Typhoon had just killed. “…she didn’t see anything.”

Typhoon sighed, “Heechul—”

Heechul stood up and grabbed Sungmin’s arm. His grip was tight, painful, as he dragged him toward the door. Sungmin tripped over his own feet but managed to keep up. They exited the house to find Siwon standing outside next to the car.

“What’s the status of the house, inspector?” One of the firemen walked up to them. “What about the family?”

“…dead.” Heechul replied dully. “Burn it.”

He let go of Sungmin and walked toward the car, his steps stiff. He looked small, and for the first time since he’d met him, Sungmin realized just how thin Heechul really was.

“He won’t be mad for long.”

Sungmin turned to see Typhoon walking toward him, gaze trained on Heechul’s retreating figure. “…he won’t be mad for long,” he repeated, as if trying to convince himself, before he stepped past Sungmin and toward the car.

Sungmin followed silently.

---

The ride back to the training center was made in silence. Siwon had asked what had happened and Heechul had snapped at him and told him to shut up. After that, no one had spoken.

The moment the vehicle was parked, Heechul stepped out.

Typhoon got out hurriedly from the front seat and ran toward him, stepping back only when the door slammed shut, nearly on his foot. He let out a sigh and wrenched it open, Sungmin following behind.  Siwon stayed with the car and waited for the scientists to get there for the body.

Heechul was halfway down the hall when Typhoon caught up with him. He grabbed his arm and wheeled him around. “She had the virus. She didn’t look strong enough to live.” Typhoon spoke for the first time since they’d left the home. “I saved her from suffering.”

“Don’t touch me.” Heechul grunted, shrugging off Typhoon’s hand.

Sungmin watched him stomp off and turned to follow when Typhoon spoke, “We were just doing our job.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.” Sungmin answered back. It was the first time he’d spoken that afternoon, and his voice cracked a bit from disuse.

Typhoon sneered, “I expected that from Siwon, not you.”

“Why not?” Sungmin bristled. Was Siwon the only one allowed to have a conscience and morals?

Typhoon’s sneer disappeared to be replaced by a tired, knowing smile. “Because you want to kill someone, don’t you?”

“…what do you mean?”

“Your stepmother, right? You hate her. You want her to die.”

“I—I never—how do you know about her?”

“She and your father killed your mother. They’re bad people.”

Yes. They were. But that didn’t mean he had a right to kill them. In all the years he’d hated them, he’d wished them dead more times than he could count, but he’d never once thought of killing them himself.

“If you kill them, you’ll be happy don’t you think?”

“What?”

Typhoon looked at him seriously for a moment. “There’s someone I want to kill. When I think about killing that person, it makes me happy.”

Sungmin swallowed. Someone that Typhoon wanted to kill? Who could he possible hate?

Typhoon must have read the question in his eyes. He gave a crooked smile. “They left before you came.” Typhoon shrugged. “But one day I’ll kill them. And then I’ll be happy.” He seemed so sure of himself, so confident that if he really killed them, he’d be happy.

As he walked off, Sungmin found himself wondering…would he be happy if he killed his father and stepmother?

---

Sungmin tried to forget about Typhoon’s words, but they stuck in the back of his mind for the rest of the next two weeks. He was given some relief by the beginning of their squad training. Because they were Heechul’s team, Sungmin soon learned that the expectations were higher. Mistakes were looked down upon, and the scientists were over-critical.

Squad 15 was meant to be the elite.

Failure was not tolerated.

Oftentimes, Heechul would end up snapping at the scientists when they pushed them too hard—Siwon fainted once because he he’d burned more calories than he’d consumed after they forced him to train overtime.

The worst times were when they trained with Squad 12, Typhoon’s squad. Sungmin didn’t know what Xmas’ problem was, but he seemed to have it out for Heechul. Not only that, but Heechul still wasn’t talking to Typhoon and took their training as an opportunity to take out his anger.

Once, after a group training session, Donghae twisted his leg dodging one of Sungmin’s sound blasts. Heechul had called training off but their instructor insisted they continue with their session.

Instructor Hwang looked up from his clipboard. “Continue.”

“Donghae needs to go to the medical room.” Heechul answered back tersely, checking the boy’s ankle. Donghae winced as he applied some pressure. “Siwon, take him.”

“Donghae is going to need to learn how to continue despite pain. The chances of you fighting while injured are high.” Instructor Hwang began scribbling down some notes. “Continue.”

“Fuck you.” Heechul snapped. He turned to Siwon, “Take him.”

“Kim Heechul-ssi! You must obey my orders. Donghae needs to develop a tolerance to pain.”

Heechul gave him a cold smirk and pulled off his glove. “Do you want to try and develop a tolerance to my hand?”

Instructor Hwang paled, before he began scribbling something else on his clipboard.

Heechul glared. “Stop taking fucking notes! You’re always scribbling whatever the hell you want about us. We’re not lab rats.” He pulled on his glove and stalked to the door. He kicked it open and stormed out.

There was a moment of silence, as Instructor Hwang seemed to get control of himself. He, like the others, had assumed Heechul was going to attack him. “…ungrateful…” He muttered to himself, going back to his notes.

Sungmin helped Donghae stand. “…let’s get you to the medical center.”

“No.” Donghae shook his head. “I don’t want to get hyung in trouble.”

“I think we’re past that point.” Sungmin looked toward the door Heechul had kicked down, before he gave Donghae a smile, “If you can handle it, should we continue?”

Siwon stilled looked doubtful. Yesung eyed the instructor for a moment, before turning to them. “Alright, we’ll continue with evasive maneuvers.”

“Right hyung!” Donghae smiled, but it was tinged in pain as he tested his footing.

Sungmin got into place, ready to begin shooting so the others could dodge, but his mind was elsewhere. What were the instructors writing about them? Why was Heechul so edgy lately? Even when he snapped at the instructors he rarely raised his voice and he’d never walked out on a session before.

Was he still emotional over that girl’s death?

Did Heechul hyung have someone he wanted to kill? Did he think killing them would make him happy? Sungmin figured that Heechul certainly wouldn’t mourn Instructor Hwang’s death.

That night, after training, he met Typhoon in the cafeteria. “I want to do it.”

Typhoon had merely smiled with a nod.

---

The next day Typhoon walked into Squad 15’s dormitory with an apologetic knock.

Yesung, Donghae, and Sungmin were in the middle of a game of goblin’s world rock, paper, scissors and Siwon was giving Heechul a much-needed back massage. Everyone paused, and Heechul opened one eye lazily before he leaned forward with a stoic glare. “What is it?”

Typhoon took a seat at the table and eyed the half-empty beer can there. “I have a mission.”

“Then you should go.” Heechul replied coolly. He leaned back against Siwon, “I want a scalp massage next.”

“Sungmin can come with me, right?”

Heechul paused, eyes narrowed. “Why do you need him?” He’s a part of my team, not yours.

“I’m noisy.” Typhoon grinned.

Sungmin, by this point, had stood up from Yesung’s bed. “It’s alright hyung, I asked if I could go.”

Heechul was sitting up fully at this point. He looked from Sungmin to Typhoon and looked oddly betrayed. Sungmin ignored the look and walked to the door, “Are we going?”

Typhoon nodded. “Yeah.”

Heechul’s gaze burned into the back of his head, even after the door had closed.

---

The mission went by quickly—routine, Sungmin didn’t remember the details of it—and it wasn’t long before Rose had pulled their van in front of a large gate that Sungmin remembered with vivid clarity.

“You can take a bus back, right?”

Sungmin nodded, and watched as they drove off. He stood outside the gate for a few moments, staring at the intercom. He lifted his hand to press the button and stopped. He eyed the wall for a moment before he climbed over it.

He silenced the area, and as his feet hit the paved driveway they made no sound.

The driveway was unimaginably long, but at the same time, he found himself standing on the porch in a matter of seconds. He grabbed the knocker. Once, twice, it was unnaturally loud, even after he’d dampened the sound. Even through his headphones it rang, like a countdown.

“…coming!” The voice was faint, but coming closer. Footsteps. Heels. He knew who it was before she opened the door.

“…S-Sungmin?”

His stepmother didn’t look any different. There were no signs of grief upon her face. She was wearing a nice dress, and had been in the process of pulling on her coat. Getting ready for a night out.

“Honey, who is it—” His stepmother opened the door a bit more and Sungmin spotted his father coming down the staircase. “…Sungmin?”

They were fine. They looked happy. They hadn’t missed him at all.

Sungmin gave a bright, cheerful smile. Smile. Always smile. Just like mom. Then he lifted his hand in front of his stepmother’s face. “I’ve wanted to do this for a while.”

“What are you—” The spark of fear in her eyes was satisfying, but then all he saw was a spray of crimson in front of his eyes as her body dropped and his eyes landed on his father.

His father bolted, and Sungmin gave a cold smile, stepping over his stepmother’s lower half, careful not to slip on the blood pooling out of her midsection as he headed toward the stairs.

His father got halfway up them before he was knocked to the ground by the magnified vibrations of his own footsteps. Sungmin watched him tumble to the floor, where he stopped at Sungmin’s feet.

“P-please…what are you doing? Sungmin, what’s going on?”

I’m happy. I’m happy. This makes me happy. “…you killed my mother. I’ll never forgive you.”

His father panted, panicked, and he shook his head with a frantic, high-pitched laugh. “Your mother killed herself.”

“You took her away from me!”

“She gave you to me! I paid off her debts in return!”

Sungmin placed his hand over his father’s mouth, “LIAR!” He slowly began to build up the vibrations around his father’s ears. His eyes bulged, and blood trickled down the sides of his head, sliding down Sungmin’s fingers.

“I’ll kill you.” Sungmin repeated. “I’ll kill you.” I’ll be happy. You’re lying and when you’re dead I’ll be happy.

Brain matter and bits of hair coated the stairs, and Sungmin took a step backwards. What had he just done? What had he just done!? He waited for the happiness to bubble up. His breathing began to quicken and he swallowed, taking another step back.

Where was it? Where was the happiness? He couldn’t find it. Where was it?

He didn’t hear the door open, or Heechul’s footsteps. It was only his voice that told Sungmin he was there.  “What did you do?” Heechul whispered hoarsely. “Sungmin, what did you do?”

Sungmin took another step back. When he spoke, his voice was steady. “I killed them. I killed them hyung and I don’t feel any different.”

Heechul nodded slowly. “Get in the car. I’ll get rid of the bodies.”

Sungmin’s shoulders shook. “He said I’d be happy when I did it but I’m not.” And he finally began to sob. “I’m a horrible person, hyung!”

Heechul’s hand was warm on his back. “No.” He answered steadily. “If you were a bad person, you would have felt happy.”

“…did you…?”

“Yeah.” Heechul replied. “Yeah. I did.”

 Title: What Doesn't Kill You Chapter 10
Pairing: None in this chapter
Genre: Superhero AU, action
Rating: PG-13



Chapter 9 < --- Side Story: Sungmin--- > Chapter 11

Character Profiles
Siwon's Story
Hangeng's Story
Yesung's Story
Henry's Story

---

Kyuhyun had figured that once Heechul had decided he was part of the group that the rest of them would follow with their welcome. As it was, they all seemed wary of him. As they’d dispersed they’d shot both Heechul and Kyuhyun sidelong glances.

Even Donghae looked unsure as Yesung helped him hobble out of the debriefing room, and Siwon sent him one last, worried frown before wheeling Heechul out the door, leaving Sungmin and Kyuhyun alone.

Sungmin, of all people, he suspected to be the most welcoming. Despite his sometimes scary cheerfulness he was Kyuhyun’s first friend at the apartment complex. That had to account for something, didn’t it?

Apparently he’d thought incorrectly, because the moment the door closed behind Siwon, Sungmin’s smile fell to be replaced by a stony emotionless visage that Kyuhyun had never seen on his face before.

“So uh…” Kyuhyun cleared his throat. “What information are we looking at?”

Sungmin leaned back in his chair and sized Kyuhyun up through half-narrowed eyes, as if seeing him for the first time.

“What we find here, the others can’t know about.”

Kyuhyun blinked. “The…others…?”

“Leeteuk hyung and the others.” Sungmin clarified coldly.

Kyuhyun swallowed. Was the information…dangerous? They were all in this together, weren’t they? Why were they keeping something from the rest of the group? “Why can’t we tell them?”

Sungmin held the flashdrive in his hand so tightly that his knuckles had begun turning white from the pressure. His gaze was stony. “I don’t know why Heechul chose you, but let me tell you one thing. If you betray us, we will kill you.”

That wasn’t what Kyuhyun had expected. No matter what people had said about Sungmin, Kyuhyun had always believed he would continue to be the cheerful, pink-loving man that had befriended him his first day here. Not…this.

It was as if there was a different person sitting in front of him.

“Do you understand?”

No, he didn’t. He was more confused—and frightened—than ever. What was so important that they were threatening him with death? What were Sungmin and Heechul and the rest of the “usefuls” planning?

His throat clamped up as he suddenly realized that if he didn’t answer correctly, Sungmin really would kill him without batting an eye. The only person that would be able to stop him was Heechul.

Heechul.

Heechul had trusted him. That’s what Sungmin had said, right? So Heechul wanted him to be on his team. He wanted him as a member of the “usefuls”. That meant something. It had to mean something. He was useful and Hangeng was not. It had to mean something.

Kyuhyun found himself nodding slowly. “…I understand.”

Sungmin didn’t look convinced, but he held up the flash drive anyway. “Come on, we need to start decoding this.” He stood and headed toward the computer room.

Kyuhyun stood, hesitating, as he watched Sungmin’s retreating form. There was sureness to his steps, a coldness that Kyuhyun hadn’t seen before. Perhaps he’d never known the real Sungmin at all.

He followed behind silently.

---

For some reason, Eunhyuk had wanted to see Henry—or maybe Leeteuk had ordered him to watch him—and somehow he’d gotten Kibum to go with him, even if the other man didn’t seem as inclined to welcome their new addition.

At least, that’s what Donghae assumed when he found them.

“Hey! So this is where you guys were!” Donghae grinned as he peered around the door. He turned to Henry. “Hi, my name is Lee Donghae and I’m the dog that you hit.”

Henry squirmed uncomfortably at the memory, and he wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Um…sorry about that.”

“Oh it’s fine. I’m perfectly fine now!”

“Did you finish your talk?” Kibum asked. No, Donghae was not fine. Maybe in comparison to Heechul hyung, but that didn’t mean he was ready to go running around and transforming into kittens anytime soon.

Donghae nodded. “Yep! Heechul hyung seems better.”

Henry didn’t see why these people seemed worried about the evil feminine professor Xavier. He didn’t seem likeable at all. He supposed he was a bit biased since Heechul had told them to kill him, but even pushing that aside, he didn’t appear to be a very nice person.

Donghae shuffled over to Kangin’s bed and sat down. “We should throw Henry a welcoming party!”

“I don’t think anyone else is going to want to throw a party.” Eunhyuk put in, but Donghae waved him off.

“Ryeowook can make a cake! He likes making cakes.” Donghae had stood and began hobbling toward the door on his cast but was stopped by Kibum, who grabbed his arm with a frown.

“Sit down. I’ll go and get him.” Kibum murmured, “I need to walk around more anyway.” He limped out, leaving Henry with Eunhyuk and Donghae.

“I don’t think Kibum hyung likes me.” Henry finally answered.

“He’s probably just mad now that he can’t curse in English without someone understanding.” Donghae grinned, “Kibum went to school in California when he was little.”

“For a few years,” Eunhyuk supplied, and he saw the way Henry’s eyes lit up a bit in hope. It was as if he’d been tossed some kind of lifeline. Eunhyuk hoped he didn’t think it meant Kibum would be nicer to him. Henry was a threat to them, he knew that much, even if it was simply because Henry was different, and that Henry’s family would be looking for him.

Eunhyuk was rarely “in the know” but he wasn’t stupid like Heechul always said. They couldn’t fully trust Henry yet—maybe they never would—so for now he had to keep a close eye on him.

Especially since Donghae seemed overly friendly to someone that had almost killed him and—inadvertently because of this—almost killed his favorite hyung. Eunhyuk understood Donghae well enough to know that as cheerful and playful as he seemed on the outside, he was more than capable of hatred and holding a grudge.

It just didn’t sit well with him at all.

He’d have to ask Kibum about it later.

---

After three hours sitting on the rooftop of the hotel Siwon began to miss the warmth of their car parked three blocks away, and even more so for their apartment full of hot chocolate and down-feather comforters.

He could feel the chilly bite of oncoming winter even through his gloves. He zipped his coat up as far as it could go, the metal zipper brushing against his chin and making him shiver. He looked out of the corner of his eye to see Yesung looking unfazed, sprawled out on the ground with a pair of binoculars.

Siwon hunkered down beside him and bit the inside of his cheek. The silence was uncomfortable. It wasn’t that Siwon found it difficult to be around Yesung, but the situation they were in, the knowledge that in the building across from them could be the person that had almost killed Heechul…it put him on edge.

“…now that we know Typhoon and the others are out there and they know about us, what are we going to do hyung?”

Yesung shifted his attention from the seventh floor window to Siwon before his gaze flickered back again. “Heechul will take care of it.” Because Heechul always did.

Siwon nodded, but he looked unconvinced, “But if we have to go against them—”

“They chose their path. We have to stick with ours.” Yesung answered, grip tightening on his binoculars. There was movement…the curtain had shifted. Were they leaving?

“But if we have to go against each other—”

“We’ll win. We always did in training.” Yesung continued scanning the building to see if any of the other rooms showed any activity. It was easier than looking over at Siwon, who he knew was confused and worried.

“Only as a group,” Siwon continued, “One on one—”

Yesung was a mellow person. He didn’t often get angry, so even when he continued to interject, it was in that same bored, dull tone he always used, “We just have to make sure we aren’t separated.” He paused. “No matter what we can’t be separated.”

Siwon nodded slowly, as Yesung sat up from where he lay, resting his binoculars in his lap as he leaned against the air conditioning unit. Siwon watched him fiddle with the straps, “Why didn’t Typhoon and the others come with us? I wasn’t there when Heechul hyung asked them.”

“Only Sungmin was.” Yesung shrugged. “I don’t remember. That day was…” I try to forget it. No one wants to remember anything from that place, especially not that day.

Siwon sat down beside him and busied himself with the security camera feed on his iPad. That day, he and Donghae had been sent ahead to get Eunhyuk and Ryeowook out of the facility. Yesung had cleared the way for them and stayed behind to help Heechul and Sungmin. Heechul had wanted to ask Typhoon to come with them.

…ever since then, Heechul hyung had walked with a limp.

“Fuck! Let’s go!” Sungmin’s arm was bleeding—Yesung could see the bone—and he and Heechul were holding each other up. They were slipping on their own blood against the tiled floor, and Yesung hurried forward to help with Leeteuk only a second behind him.

Heechul’s leg was in shreds, and his mouth was ringed in crimson, the liquid dripping down his chin.

Leeteuk grabbed Sungmin, and the others held on as he phased them through the wall. Heechul collapsed on the other side and Yesung pulled him up. The other man didn’t speak but he nodded through the pain, coughing up a mouthful of blood and bracing himself.

There were no sirens, and that scared Yesung even more as they neared the cleaning van they’d gotten for this mission. Judging from the damage that had been dealt, they’d had to have made some noise. Shouldn’t people from the facility be converging on them from all sides?

Or had Sungmin silenced them? Right. That was probably it. Yesung leaned back against the seat and turned to the two they’d just saved. He tried to smile, but both of them were looking more terrified than anything. One of them, a dark-haired boy with sharp facial features and wide-eyes stared at Heechul and Sungmin in horror.

Heechul had found a mop bucket from the shelves and proceeded to throw up a mouthful of blood.

“Hyung! Are you alright?” Siwon called from the side. He was sitting in the front but took this moment to crawl over the seat into the back. He looked to their two new members, “…do you want to go sit in the front with Shindong and Leeteuk?”

One of them, a red-head, scurried over the seat to get as far from the blood as possible. The other hesitated, looking as if he wanted to help but was unable to get passed the shock of everything that had just happened.

They didn’t have much time to worry about it, however, because Sungmin began screaming.

“Fuck! Fuck! Get it out!” Sungmin was writhing on the ground, seizing as he clawed at the back of his neck.

The two pressed themselves back against the seats, as far from Sungmin as possible as the others converged on him. Heechul motioned to Siwon and the other man turned Sungmin onto his stomach, holding him in place.

“Oh god…” Yesung slid down against the wall, trying not to look at the plant root growing out of Sungmin’s skin.

Heechul dug into Siwon’s boot and grabbed the switchblade he kept there, he coughed up another mouthful of blood, spitting it into the mop bucket. Then he brushed away Sungmin’s hair and dug into the back of his neck with the knife with one hand and pulled on the root with the other.

Sungmin screamed, bucking under him, thrashing in pain. Siwon held him fast, but Yesung and Donghae ended up having to help as the others continued to stare.

“What’s going on? Is he ok?” Leeteuk asked from the front. Shindong looked back worriedly through the rear view mirror but couldn’t see anything.  

Heechul pulled, hacking, until his hand came up full of bloodied roots which he threw into the mop bucket. They writhed there in the blood before going still, and Heechul was already pressing his jacket against the wound.

He tried to speak, but it came out garbled and he ended up having to throw up another mouthful.

“We need to get them to Kibummie!” Donghae looked frantically from one to the other. The jacket that Heechul had been wearing was once white. Now he watched it turn a disgusting pinkish red against Sungmin’s neck.

“W-what is going on?” The angelic-faced boy finally squeaked out.

The others turned, as if remembering the two they’d saved for the first time. The boy swallowed, before he pointed at Sungmin, “He’s…I can hear the plants in him. There’s still some against his spine.”

“We can’t get too close to his spine!” Donghae looked ready to panic. He leaned over the seat, bloodied hands leaving slick stains against the fabric. “Hurry Shindong hyung!”

Heechul paused only for a moment before swallowing. He spoke, but his voice was hard to distinguish around the blood bubbling from his lips. “Where is it?”

“…what?” The boy squeaked.

“The roots.” He managed, pointing at Sungmin with the knife.

“I…I don’t think…” The boy looked fearful and unsure. “I don’t even know how I know about the roots! I can’t tell you! It’s not real!” He clenched his eyes shut and put his hands over his ears.

Yesung swallowed, looking from Sungmin to Heechul to the boy that was now crying softly. He reached out and grabbed one of his hands and pulled it back. “Hey,” He gave a soft smile. “I believe you. We need your help, please. I’m Yesung.”

The boy hesitated, before he looked back down at Sungmin. He began to thrash and scream again and Donghae and Siwon tightened their grip. Finally the boy climbed over the seat and held out his hand for the knife.

Heechul stared at him for a few moments before he gave it.

“…I’m Ryeowook.” The boy finally whispered, before he removed the jacket and began.

“Hyung, you ok?”

Yesung blinked. Siwon was staring at him worriedly, and he realized that he must have been out of it for a few moments. He gave a small smile and a nod before going back to his binoculars. “…Siwon…?”

“Yeah hyung?”

“Definitely…we definitely can’t let them separate us.”

---

Heechul stared woefully up at his top bunk from where he sat in his wheelchair and wondered how long he’d be confined to the stupid thing. Sleeping in it was going to be a bitch, but he preferred it to the hospital room.

He gave an agitated sigh and turned his attention back to the laptop in his lap and the files it held. Henry Lau…he’d find out what about the kid had made him seem familiar. Kim Heechul didn’t like not knowing something.

He rolled his shoulders and felt a satisfying pop. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, taking a deep breath. The pain was coming back. He’d need some more painkillers…no, he didn’t need anymore. The less dependent he was on the things the better. He just needed to focus on something that wasn’t pain.

Or perhaps he just needed to focus on a pain he was familiar and comfortable with, like the ever-present ache in his leg. But that only served to remind him that both injuries had been given by the same person.

Xmas seemed to have gotten used to living with one arm and channeling his gift through it.

He also seemed to have continued his initial hatred of Heechul.

Fucking bastard…first he went for my leg and now my stomach. Next time I’m taking more than an arm. Heechul’s fingers curled around the sides of the laptop. Xmas had been lucky that Typhoon had cut his arm off before the rest of his body could disintegrate.

It really was a shame that his reflexes were so quick and that Heechul had been in too much pain of his own to make sure he killed him outright.

At least Sungmin had fucked Attack up enough that he probably couldn’t function properly. Heechul would just have to focus on the positive things.

Xmas was there…that means the others are nearby if they aren’t dead already. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. He didn’t want to deal with them, and he didn’t want his team to have to deal with them either.

The last thing they needed was a family reunion.

He knew the others were bracing themselves for that moment—had been since they’d escaped—and he wondered if maybe he was the only one dreading it. He didn’t like feeling that weak.

The door to the bedroom opened and Hangeng walked in with a tray of food and a medicine bottle. “Hey.”

Heechul shut the laptop closed with a definite click—not quickly, as if he were hiding something—but deliberately, because they both knew that Hangeng wasn’t allowed to see it.

Hangeng didn’t comment on the action as he sat down on the bottom bunk beside Heechul’s wheelchair and placed down the tray. “Are you hungry? Ryeowook said not to take your medication without eating first.”

Heechul shrugged and grabbed for an orange.

“…why did you let Kyuhyun go with you?”

Heechul picked at the skin. His leather-clad finger dug too far and the juices squirted out onto his palm. “We’re decoding some information.” Heechul answered truthfully. “The kid seemed up to the job and his power made it easy, that’s all. Why?”

“Is that all?” Hangeng asked softly.

Heechul’s eyes narrowed. “What are you implying?” His grip on the orange tightened and the juice dripped onto his pants’ leg.

“It’s just…” Hangeng looked away. “Are you sure?”

“Idiot.” Heechul rolled his eyes and reached out to poke Hangeng in the forehead with a leather-encased finger. He tore off a slice of orange and popped it into his mouth. He took one bite and swallowed as the citrus flavor turned to ash.

He grabbed for the water.

---

It wasn’t an easy decision to make, and Leeteuk felt more than a little uncomfortable as the group stared back at him.

They shouldn’t be having this meeting at all. But like Kangin had said, if the “usefuls” were keeping secrets, they needed to be ready. But ready for what? Leeteuk didn’t want to believe that it could end with sides being chosen, but they needed to be ready in case it happened.

Leeteuk felt responsible for all of those that had been deemed “useless” so he needed to find a way to protect them.

“What are we going to do about the kid?” Kangin poked at his ramen with a chopstick, looking uninterested.

Ryeowook eyed him with a bit of annoyance—he’d made the ramen at Kangin’s request and the older man wasn’t even eating!—but sat down in his own seat and wrapped his fingers around his coffee mug.

“He’ll stay in our room for now.” Leeteuk rubbed his forehead and felt a soft twinge that meant an oncoming headache. “Ryeowook, are you going to check Heechul’s injury later?”

Ryeowook nodded.

“Where are Eunhyuk and Kibum?” Shindong was eating his own ramen with his usual gusto, but he’d paused as he noticed that two of their own weren’t present.

“I had them watching Henry.” Leeteuk replied. “We can’t leave him alone.”

“Why not? No one is going to hurt him. He’s just a kid.” Shindong shrugged, “It’s not like anyone is going to try and take him out. I mean, what can he do anyway?”

“I don’t know, but we don’t know what Heechul is planning.” Kangin grumbled, and he stabbed a piece of pork floating on the surface of his broth and held the impaled meat up for inspection. “We have to keep him somewhere away from the others.”

“Speaking of others, what’s with Heechul hyung picking out Kyuhyun, huh?” Shindong put in. “That was weird.”

Yes, it was. Leeteuk didn’t know what was going on there but he would definitely be asking later. He was hoping it would be after Ryeowook gave Heechul more pain medication though. He’d be easier to deal with if he couldn’t feel the hole in his stomach.

“We need to know whose side he’s on.” Kangin looked around the table seriously.

“Why do there have to be sides?” Ryeowook asked softly. “Aren’t we all on the same side?” Of course they were. They were his hyungs…Yesung was with them. They had saved the rest of them, of course they were all on the same side!

“It’s complicated, Wookie.” Leeteuk replied softly. “I don’t know what’s going on either but something feels different.” Something had felt different since the beginning. “We need to be cautious, just in case.”

“My hyungs wouldn’t hurt us.” Ryeowook answered back stiffly.

“Yeah, well we don’t know that.” Kangin snapped back, more than a little brusquely. Ryeowook bit back an angry retort when he saw Leeteuk’s silent agreement and Shindong’s hesitant acceptance. All of them were thinking the same thing: what happens when the others turn on us?

But they wouldn’t! Did Eunhyuk and Kibum think the same way? Of course not. They were with Donghae. The three of them were inseparable. It was impossible for them to distrust Donghae and the others, right? Right. Ryeowook wasn’t going to let paranoia destroy them from the inside.

He’d talk with Kibum and Eunhyuk later. They had to figure out some way to get the others to trust Heechul. It wasn’t fair to be so cruel.

Something in the back of his mind seemed to crawl forward, digging into his brain and latching on and refusing to budge, they’ve been hiding so much from you for so long…you don’t know what they’re planning. Any time you’ve asked, Yesung has never told you the truth. He’s lied to you.

NO! Yesung had never lied. But he’d never told him the truth either. He’d always avoided the subject, or asked Ryeowook not to ask about it again. Ryeowook swallowed. What if…they really were planning something?

The door opened and Ryeowook jumped, practically falling out of his chair.

Kibum looked around the kitchen with a raised eyebrow. “…did I miss something?”

“No, nothing that they can’t fill you in on.” Leeteuk answered back tiredly.

“Donghae wants to throw Henry a welcoming party.” Kibum continued. He turned to Ryeowook, “He wants to ask if you’ll bake a cake.”

Ryeowook nodded, breaking out in a small smile. “Of course!” Right. Nothing was wrong. Everything was normal. They were going to have a party and everything would be fine.

“I could go for some beer.” Kangin grinned, “Should I pick some up at the store?”

“There’s no need to get drunk.” Leeteuk scolded, before standing. “I have something to talk about with Heechul.” It seemed like he’d have to have that talk without the buffer painkillers after all.

“Do you want someone to go with you?” Kangin’s smile had fallen slightly.

“No. Just the two of us.” This talk has been a long time coming.

---

Heechul passed Kyuhyun in the hallway and the other boy barely looked up. When he spotted him he jumped slightly and gave a shaky nod in greeting before disappearing back into the apartment. Heechul was left momentarily confused before he wheeled himself into the computer room to see Sungmin briskly going through a file.

“If you turn those pages any faster you’re going to rip them in half.”

Sungmin looked up at Heechul’s voice. “Hyung! You should be resting.”

Heechul shrugged and patted the laptop on his lap. “I found out a few interesting pieces of information. Did you find out anything from the codes?”

“I’m still trying to break it.”

“Why don’t you just let Kyuhyun touch it?” Heechul suggested, and the slight, panicked look that crossed Sungmin’s face told him why the younger man had looked so frightened. “You stopped him?”

Sungmin looked like he wanted to argue. He’d probably been rehearsing this speech ever since Heechul had said that Kyuhyun would be joining their group. He clenched the papers in his hands tightly and they crinkled at the edges. “Do you trust him?”

“He trusts me.” Heechul answered back readily. “And we can use that to your advantage. He would have been one of mine at the training facility anyway.” Heechul didn’t know why Sungmin was so against this.

“But he isn’t one of us.” Simple, but true. So that was the answer. Did Sungmin think someone was threatening their tight-knit family? He’d always been possessive of what was his, and overly-protective.

“I thought you were his friend. Why are you being so harsh all of a sudden?” Heechul had placed his laptop on the table but didn’t open it. His information could wait till this was finished.

“Everyone here is my friend.” Sungmin answered. “But they’re just friends.” They aren’t family. No, closer than family. They aren’t you or Siwon or Donghae or Yesung. “What about you and Hankyung hyung? He would do anything you asked him to.”Not that Sungmin would have accepted him either, but that choice just seemed more logical.

“Would he?” Heechul questioned aloud and shot Sungmin a sardonic grin. “I wonder.”

Sungmin would have asked what Heechul meant by that but the door opened and Leeteuk walked in. Heechul eyed him with a tired sigh. It looked like he’d have to tell Sungmin the information later. “Sungmin, go check on the kid and then go to sleep. You’ve been up for a while.”

Sungmin’s jaw tightened. “I’ll stay up until Siwon and Yesung get back.”

“Well, wait for them outside.”Leave. It was an order, but one that Sungmin didn’t take well. He was already agitated with the earlier talk, and he’d never quite trusted Leeteuk to begin with. Heechul was injured, and Leeteuk had been trained enough to be able to take him out in his current state. It wasn’t safe to leave Heechul alone with him.

“Go.” Heechul repeated, annoyed, and Sungmin found himself heading for the door. He walked outside and closed it with a soft click.

Heechul didn’t hear Sungmin’s retreating footsteps and he knew he was waiting outside, listening. He didn’t think anything said between Leeteuk and himself would be confidential so he didn’t call out to him to tell him to go into the apartment. He’d only made him leave for Leeteuk’s sake, after all. “I guess it’s time for that talk, huh?”

“Yeah.” Leeteuk sat down at the table. He looked older than he should have. Heechul wasn’t an inherently caring person, but he’d become attached to his only hyung enough to worry that he hadn’t been sleeping well. “Have you phased lately?”

“Not since our mission.” Leeteuk replied, “I figure I’ll have an attack soon.” They always came after using his power. “But you’re not going to change the subject on me, Kim Heechul.”

Heechul shrugged, “Whatever. Talk.”

“You’ve been harsher lately.”

“I just don’t think it’s smart to let a normal kid run around our apartment.” Heechul defended. “We don’t know anything about him. He could be a spy.”

“He doesn’t even have a power!” Leeteuk answered back, exasperated.

“What if he has the ability to hide it? We don’t know if he’s really a civilian or not. He could be a GAM user.”

“Not everyone is a spy. Not everyone is the enemy. When did you become so paranoid that you couldn’t trust even us?” Because that was the real reason Leeteuk was angry.

Heechul eyed him for a moment. “When have I never trusted you?”

“You’ve been keeping things from us, haven’t you?” Leeteuk asked wearily. He already knew the answer, and they both knew it was rhetorical. “Why?”

“Because there are things you don’t approve of.” Heechul answered truthfully, and the finality and coldness there was deafening. His expression was clear and apathetic.

“Why do you have to do those kinds of things?” Leeteuk managed to get out. “Why do you have to kill innocent people? This was never about killing our enemies. It was about saving people.”

Heechul was silent, but his eyes said enough. He was quietly judging, and in his eyes Leeteuk was lacking. Finally he spoke, and his voice was soft. “We’ve been through a lot together, but I wonder just how far you’re willing to go to achieve your goals. Sacrifices must be made.”

“You aren’t some military general. You aren’t Sun Tzu.” Leeteuk bit out. Angry. Tired. He just wanted all of this to end.

Heechul looked offended and more than a little annoyed at Leeteuk’s statement but he hid it behind a pained wince and a crooked smile. “Someone needs to be if we’re going to survive. We’re different hyung. We aren’t human anymore.”

Leeteuk let out a sigh that ended with a shaky half-sob. “I just want to go back to my family. That’s all any of us want. Why can’t we go back to the way we were, Heechul?”

Heechul’s eyes narrowed. “Because everything has changed. You can’t ignore that.”

“I can!” Leeteuk shouted, slamming his hands down on the table. The sound echoed. “We can pretend it never happened.”

“No.” Heechul’s voice broke softly, and he no longer looked angry. “You can pretend and forget. But we can’t.”

He looked younger, more fragile than Leeteuk was used to. Was this the young Heechul before the training facility? Before 12 years in that hell had turned him into what he was now? Leeteuk didn’t know, but he did know that the boy he saw wasn’t there any longer. He’d probably imagined it, because Heechul looked cold and haughty once more.

“I think we’ve finished our talk.” Heechul turned his wheelchair toward the door.

“…Heechul…” Leeteuk sighed.

“Don’t make me lose what respect I have for you, hyung.” Heechul whispered, and opened the door and wheeled himself out, leaving Leeteuk alone.

Leeteuk looked up before the door closed to see Sungmin’s harsh, pained glare and he knew that he’d heard it all. He didn’t care, he simply leaned his forehead against the cool wood and closed his eyes.

Why couldn’t they all just go back to the way they’d been?

What was so wrong with being happy?

Title: Atheism and Heechul
Pairing: SiChul, HanChul, HeechulxMystery, KiHyuk, YeWook
Genre: comedy, crack, romance
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Siwon decides that HanChul needs to stop. Permanently. And so begins the greatest pairing war in the history of Super Junior. Sides are taken, friendships and couples destroyed…and there will only be one true pairing in the end.
---

It was like a really, really bad music video. The kind that was supposed to be touching and thought-provoking, but ended up really cheesy and over-the-top and full of useless metaphors. Like a kind of smarmy ballad.

Or well, it would have been, if Heechul had eased up a little bit on the skinship at their latest Super Show concert and Siwon hadn’t finally snapped.

“I knew it was going to happen. It was only a matter of time. His delicate good boy mentality was bound to break at some point.” Kangin murmured from the couch.

“Heechul hyung’s room IS a religious dead zone.” Kyuhyun agreed with a solemn nod. He had been forced to the floor because magnae’s didn’t get things like couches and chairs to sit on when the entirety of Super Junior crowded into the 12th floor apartment. “Even God’s favored son was bound to snap.”

“He won’t hurt Heechul hyung, will he?” Ryeowook bit his lip in worry.

“If by hurt you mean smother with his chocolate abs then yes, that is a very large possibility.” Yesung intoned.

“Hey, as much as I love how concerned you all are for my wellbeing, how about you get over here and do something?” Heechul shouted from the doorway of his bedroom.

“No way, didn’t you hear Yesung? His chocolate abs are good for more than just fanservice!” Eunhyuk grabbed on to Kibum, “…I’m scared.”

“Ya! You should be more scared about what I’m going to do with you when I get out of here, monkey!” Heechul roared, trying to step out of the doorway to attack the dancer. Unfortunately, there was a large obstacle stopping him from leaving said room.

That obstacle was currently spread out in the doorway, glaring at Hangeng who was standing a few feet away, looking confused and
worried. “Stay back! I’m sleeping with hyung tonight! You can go sleep in my room!”

“But…your room is at your parent’s house.” Donghae piped in, but quickly quieted down as Kibum and Eunhyuk pulled him away from the door and toward the safety of the living room.

“Siwon…”

“No!” Siwon cried out, “SiChul is real! I don’t like HanChul! Stay away!”

“I love it when hot men fight over me, I really do, but my face is still covered in stage makeup and I’d really like to take a shower. I don’t want to end up an acne ridden teen like Kyuhyun.” Heechul tried to dip under Siwon’s arm.

“Hey!”

Siwon caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and grabbed Heechul, hugging him to him. “Hyuuuuuung!”

“Ermph.” Heechul grunted against Siwon’s chest.

“Hyung can’t leave! I know you love Hannie more than me!”

Hangeng stared on helplessly, raising up his hands. “Siwon, let Heechul hyung go and let’s talk this out.” He took a few steps forward.

“Stay back!” Siwon shouted, holding Heechul, if possible, tighter against him. Heechul began to flail for lack of oxygen. “I’ve tried to handle this nicely!”

“How does stealing Hankyung’s heart plushie attribute to being nice?” Kyuhyun whispered to Sungmin, who simply shrugged, yawning. He didn’t seem particularly worried about the fight at all.

Heechul heard Kyuhyun’s whisper—because it wasn’t a whisper, no matter how ninja Kyuhyun had been trying to be—and he managed to turned his head a bit to look up at Siwon. “You stole the heart plushie I got for Hannie?”

“You didn’t get ME one, hyung!” Siwon whined.

“Of course not! Because that heart isn’t filled with Jesus. It’s filled with atheism and Heechul.” Kyuhyun announced, before Sungmin smacked him on the head. “And you love Jesus, Siwon. You love Jesus a lot.”

“But I love hyung too!” Siwon defended, and Heechul found his face pressed against Siwon’s collarbone.

Hangeng frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well I love hyung too. So give him back.”

“No.”

“Can’t we all just let hyung take a shower?” Heechul asked against Siwon’s clavicle, but his request went unanswered.

“HanChul is better than SiChul anyway. And it’s more realistic, since we’re both atheists.”

“But SiChul is more romantic, and sweet. There are more obstacles to pass so it’s a stronger, more fulfilled love! And the plotline is more interesting!”

“Come on, come on, let’s all calm down…” Leeteuk had stood and was making his way toward the group. “We can talk this out calmly.”

“Yes we can.” Heechul agreed, but it came out as, “em me gam,” against the fabric of Siwon’s shirt. Siwon didn’t listen to Heechul’s words—or Leeteuk’s—because he was too busy glaring at Hankyung. How dare Hannie assume that HanChul was better! It wasn’t. At all! Ever! And well, just…just because SiChul was awesome!

And because Siwon obviously loved Heechul more than Hangeng did. He was willing to sacrifice more, fight harder for their love…it was destined to be!

“If there really was SiChul, you’d have to choose between Heechul and God.” Shindong put in, because he figured that it might help.

It didn’t.

Hangeng merely gave a smug smile and a nod. “You wouldn’t choose hyung over God. I would.”

Siwon blinked, looking momentarily torn. “But…”

Ryeowook frowned. “Why can’t he have both? There’s nothing wrong with that. God loves everyone. SiChul could be realistic.”

“Right!” Siwon nodded, still holding Heechul. “Like Ryeowook said. It’s still real!”

Leeteuk ran a hand through his hair. “It’s late everyone. Can we talk about this tomorrow? We have schedules in the morning so we all need to sleep. Besides Siwon, you and Kibum need to get home soon.”

“I’m not leaving hyung here with him.” Siwon answered emphatically, gesturing at Hangeng with one arm, the other still trapping Heechul to his side. Heechul contemplated chewing through Siwon’s arm to escape but decided that Siwon might notice when he started biting and then he’d either cry or like it and Heechul didn’t want either outcome at the moment.

“If they stop now, who knows what could happen?” Kangin said offhandedly. “I mean, Heechul and Hangeng sleep in the same bed a lot, don’t they?” He tried to suppress his glee at the horrified look that spread across Siwon’s face.

“I hate HanChul!”

Hangeng frowned. “Well I don’t like SiChul. Besides, Heechul and I have more in common. We’re closer to the same age, we both go out drinking…”

“But SiChul looks cute.” Ryeowook piped up again.

“Really?” Siwon beamed, “Thanks Ryeowook. I knew that you cared.”

Heechul managed to twist enough in Siwon’s grip to glare at Kibum in the “you’re one of my favorites. Not only that, but I can blackmail you. Make this better or I shall destroy your dignity in one fell swoop” way.

Kibum sighed, before he shrugged. “I’ve seen Hangeng hyung and Heechul hyung together more. I think they have better chemistry.”

Heechul was going to kill him.

Hangeng was going to knight him. Could he do that? Make him Sir Kibum, defender of HanChul? Yeah, he’d do that. He needed a sword though. Maybe Donghae had a lightsaber somewhere he could use. But not now. Now was gloating time because Kim Kibum chose HanChul.

Ryeowook huffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! SiChul has such a better feel to it. Siwon is a loving, caring, gentle person, while Heechul is the snippy, troubled female protagonist. They have to get together!”

“This isn’t some kind of drama.” Kyuhyun muttered from the couch.

Kangin grinned. This was getting good. Ryeowook versus Kibum? That was a match he wanted to see. And he would be damned if he didn’t make it happen. “But the headstrong female protagonist never chooses the gentle heartthrob who has her best interests at heart.”

“He’s right.” Sungmin put in. “She always chooses the bastard.”

“I’M NOT A HEADSTRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST!”

“Does that make Hankyunng hyung the bastard?” Kyuhyun asked Eunhyuk. Eunhyuk shrugged.

“Well it doesn’t make sense that the headstrong female protagonist chooses the bastard. That just isn’t believable.” Ryeowook replied, and there was a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Heechul hyung wouldn’t choose someone mean. He’d want someone who would care and dote on him.”

“You mean someone he can walk all over and take full advantage of?” Kangin answered, nearly cackling. This was good. Too good. Sungmin AND Kibum versus Ryeowook?

“Well that fits Hankyung more.” Shindong drawled. “He’s been Heechul’s slave since we met.”

“Everyone, let’s calm down.” Leeteuk pinched the bridge of his nose. “Siwon, let go of Heechul.”

“No! Choose!” Siwon cried. “Choose now!”

“What? This isn’t a game. I’m not choosing sides.” Leeteuk answered hotly.

“If we have to choose. It’s HanChul.” Shindong shrugged.

“SiChul!” Ryeowook snapped.

“HanChul is more believable.” Sungmin replied smoothly. “So if we’re choosing, that’s what I’m going with.”

Yesung looked at Hangeng. Yeah…HanChul was definitely more believable. He looked at Ryeowook. Right. He wanted sex. “I like SiChul more?”

“Is that a question?” Ryeowook raised an eyebrow.

“No, not at all. I choose SiChul. Go go SiChul, woo!” Yesung threw up his hands.

“What on earth…are you all really doing this?” Leeteuk looked around disapprovingly. “This isn’t something we should be joking about.”

Kibum sighed. His loyalties lay with Hangeng, of course, since they’d been roommates. Bros before hoes or something like that. Except there weren’t really hoes. It was bros over bros that he didn’t know as long or…whatever. “Are you coming Eunhyuk?”

…

…

…

“…no.”

Kibum blinked. “What?”

Eunhyuk swallowed, cowering on the couch, a pillow held in his lap. “I like SiChul more.”

There was a long moment of silence. A cold, deathly silence as Kibum stared, expressionless, at Eunhyuk who stared back fearfully but held his ground.

“…oh my god, you’re destroying a couple.” Leeteuk shook his head. “This is ridiculous. Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?”

“Of course not. It’s ridiculous alright. Now let me go! I need to take a shower!” Heechul shouted from Siwon’s hold, trying to wriggle free. Siwon merely wrapped both arms around him more securely. Heechul looked over at Donghae mournfully. “Donghae, my favorite dongsaeng…”

Donghae looked between the two groups, confusion and worry written all over his face. Choose? Choose? How could he choose? He looked at Leeteuk, who was fuming, and Kangin, who was grinning like an idiot. He gave a hesitant smile. “How about…SiHanChul?”

Sungmin picked Donghae up and threw him out of the apartment.

“Ya! My dongsaeng!” Heechul screeched, before he was placed inside his and Hangeng’s bedroom and the door closed, locking. “What the…how did you lock the door from the outside? Let me out!”

“Siwon!” Leeteuk reprimanded. “Let him out this instant!”

“It’s for your own protection, hyung!” Siwon called out to the closed door that Heechul was banging against.

“Let hyung go.” Hangeng demanded.

“No.”

“This is ridiculous.” Leeteuk repeated, amazed that this was actually happening. He looked at Kangin. “Are you enjoying this? You’ve destroyed a couple!” He waved at Kibum and Eunhyuk who were glaring at one another. “Not only that, you’re fueling Siwon’s newfound insanity and—what is going on with everyone!? Kyuhyun!” He turned to the only person that hadn’t chosen a side. “Kyuhyun-ah, please help me here.”

Kyuhyun looked around solemnly. “I agree hyung, we shouldn’t be arguing over whether SiChul or HanChul are better.”

Leeteuk let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you Kyuhyun. I knew I could trust your maturity at a time like this—”

“It’s obvious that KyuChul is the only truth.” And with that Kyuhyun picked up his laptop and scooted into a corner of the living room, hunkering down for the rest of the war.

Leeteuk blinked. “…you’ve got to be kidding me.” He whispered. “Heechul!” He shouted at the door. “Are you alright?”

“FIX IT HYUNG!”

“We have to get hyung out of there.” Hangeng looked around frantically. Dammit, he couldn’t knight Kibum now that Donghae had been thrown out of the apartment. Wait, he supposed they could always use a ladle or something from the kitchen. A kitchen knife was the most sword-like but it was also a bit dangerous and he didn’t think that waving a knife at Kibum would lead to anything other than Kibum taking the knife and cutting off his ear with it.

He also figured that Kibum wasn’t in a mood to be knighted. He was currently staring in disbelief at Eunhyuk. Hangeng had to admit that it was pretty balsy of the dancer. It was probably only Ryeowook’s presence and the shield of Siwon’s chocolate abs that made him brave enough to go against his boyfriend.

“We could always kick the door down.” Sungmin suggested.

“We’d have to get through Siwon and Ryeowook.” Hangeng shook his head. “It’s risky.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but it looks like Team SiChul has begun barricading the bathroom hallway.” Kangin sang, ignoring the glare that Leeteuk was sending him.

Hangeng and the rest of “Team HanChul” looked to see that Eunhyuk and Yesung were dragging one of the couches across the hallway, blocking Heechul’s door and the path to the bathroom from the rest of the apartment.

“Hey!” Sungmin lunged, grabbing the other end of the couch. “You can’t block the bathroom!”

“Keep them busy while we barricade our stronghold!” Siwon called, slipping into the bedroom with Ryeowook.

Yesung and Eunhyuk looked momentarily taken aback by being left to the fury of Team HanChul; Kibum (who they were rather certain owned a mafia) and Hangeng and Sungmin, who both knew martial arts, and Shindong, who could sit on them and crush them like bugs.

They exchanged a glance, swallowed, and then turned and ran into the bedroom.

“Let’s make our own fortifications.” Hangeng ordered, grabbing the couch and dragging it back to the middle of the living room.

“All of you, I’m calling the managers.” Leeteuk grabbed his cell phone and began dialing, only to be stopped by Kangin who grabbed the phone and clicked it shut.

“Kangin—give that back! I’m ending this now before it gets any worse.”

“Come on Teuk,” Kangin slung an arm over Leeteuk’s shoulders. “Think about it this way. This is really good therapy for everyone. They’re getting out all those emotional outbursts they’ve been holding in. If they’d done this a bit more Siwon probably wouldn’t have snapped. It’s like a nice dose of catharsis.”

Leeteuk gave him a level stare. “You’re just doing this because you find it fun.”

“Pretty much.”

“Give me my phone back!”

---

Inside Heechul and Hangeng’s room, things were going about as smoothly as Kibum’s unshaved stubble.

Heechul was sitting on his bed, glaring with all of his might. “Siwon, if I wasn’t worried about how it would ruin my image, I’d kill you right now.”

Siwon grabbed a hold of the thinner man and hugged him.

Ryeowook had picked up a box of some sort and was rummaging through it. He pulled something out and threw it at Yesung, who caught the package clumsily. He held it out. “A…shirt?” He turned it over. “…SiChul Forever?”

“When did you have time to make t-shirts?” Eunhyuk looked down at the shirt he’d been given as well.

Ryeowook unbuttoned his jacket to reveal the same shirt. “…I’ve supported SiChul for a very long time.”

“…you’ve got to be kidding me…” Heechul muttered in exasperation.

“I’ve read a little SiChul fanfiction before…” Eunhyuk trailed off.

“I haven’t. I hate fanfiction.” Yesung glowered, but shrank back as Ryeowook sent him a warning look. Ryeowook still hadn’t forgiven him and Eunhyuk for losing the path to the bathroom. It had been their one chance at placating Heechul with the promise of a shower.

“Really, you read fanfiction?” Ryeowook beamed at Eunhyuk. “Do you have a favorite?”

“Well, not a favorite story.” Eunhyuk assented. “But I have a favorite author! Simba&CinderellaLove.”

“That’s me!” Ryeowook squealed.

“Oh my god, really?” Eunhyuk stared in wonder. “Your last fanfiction…about SiChul’s first time…it was beautiful.” Ryeowook practically beamed.

Yesung stared at Eunhyuk. “So all those times we thought you were watching porn you were reading SiChul smut?” Then he turned to Ryeowook. “And you were writing SiChul smut?” His boyfriend was insane. This entire thing really was over the top. Maybe he could somehow escape with Heechul…

Ryeowook eyed him coldly.

…or not. He’d just stay here and be a good little boy.

Siwon wasn’t comfortable with Ryeowook writing about the first time he and Heechul had sex, or Eunhyuk reading it, but he supposed that it was alright as long as they were on his team.  He looked at the t-shirts that everyone was pulling on. “Do you have one for Heechul hyung too?”

Heechul bit him.

---

Kyuhyun would not be defeated.

He sat in his corner, typing away furiously on his computer as he watched the other two groups begin strengthening their fortresses. Team HanChul had taken over the whole living room aside from Kyuhyun’s small niche. They’d secured a path to the bathroom, and were working on taking over the kitchen.

Ha. Only fools rushed into war without being prepared.

He looked down at the box of pocky he’d brought with him. Yes. This would last him until he proved to them all that KyuChul was the truth because everyone belonged to him. Everyone. He’d even started a KyuChul community and it had…three members.

Right. He needed to fix that. He pulled up youtube and his video-making software. Time to make some KyuChul fanvids…

---

One hour later Kyuhyun was out of pocky and he had no new members for the KyuChul fansite. Over that course of time he figured there had been some fighting because he vaguely remembered yelling from the kitchen and the next time he looked up he saw that Ryeowook and Eunhyuk had managed to get the kitchen and blocked it off from team HanChul. Team HanChul didn’t seem too worried, having claimed that they’d just use the downstairs kitchen if they needed to.

Ryeowook was currently cooking something for Heechul. Eunhyuk was guarding the door. Why they had Eunhyuk guarding the door was beyond him, because Kibum was sitting on the couch a few feet away, staring coldly, and Eunhyuk looked ready to burst into tears.
Kyuhyun could smell the food…and it smelled good. His stomach rumbled. No, focus! He couldn’t back down now! He had to be strong! All those fangirls that believed in KyuChul were depending on him! He needed food, but he couldn’t risk missing an opening to grab Heechul for himself.

He quickly dialed a number on his cell phone.

“Kui Xian!!!!!!!!” Zhou Mi sang from the other end. “What is it?”

“12th floor. Bring food.” And Kyuhyun hung up.

Yes…Kyuhyun would be victorious.

---

At the same time as Kyuhyun was plotting his victory, a rescue mission was commencing. It had been decided by team HanChul that they could not sit idly by while Siwon had his wicked way with Heechul. And Hangeng knew that Siwon was trying. He’d heard the screams.

Mostly they were Siwon’s screams of “stop hitting me!” and “you bit me hyung!” but still, Hangeng knew that Heechul was in danger.

Ryeowook and Eunhyuk were in the kitchen cooking food, so Hangeng and Sungmin decided to leave Shindong and Kibum to distract them. It was a simple task, as Kibum and Eunhyuk had taken this chance to get out all of their couples problems under the guise of defending their pairings.

Eunhyuk: “Well I bet that SiChul shaves.”

Kibum: “Probably, because SiChul is also as neurotic as an OCD child stuck in a dumpster.”

Eunhyuk: “I am not neurotic!”

Kibum: “I never said you were. But SiChul color coordinates underwear. That’s pretty neurotic.”

Eunhyuk: “If you’re going to have multi-colored underwear than you have to follow the color wheel. ROYGBIV! ROYGBIV!”

Kibum: “Indigo isn’t a color anymore.”

Eunhyuk: “AGH!”

While Kibum and Eunhyuk fought, Ryeowook cooked and Shindong ordered Chinese food because watching Ryeowook make fried rice was just too much. And while that happened, Sungmin and Hangeng began operation SHAG [Save Heechul And then Gloat].

The problem with operation SHAG was that it involved getting into Heechul and Hangeng’s room and the door was locked and guarded and Ryeowook was only a few feet away with sharp knives and fire. So the two decided that the safest course of action was to repel down the side of the apartment building and go through the window.

“Are you sure these extension cords are going to hold me up?” Hangeng asked cautiously from the roof, looking down at the street that seemed very very VERY far away.

Sungmin shrugged. “You’re skinny.”

“…right.” Hangeng swallowed, grasping the extension cord tightly. “Right, so, tell me when I’m at the right window.”

“Down three, over five.” Sungmin chirped, “And don’t worry, I’ll have the extension cord tied to my waist. Nothing can possibly go wrong.”

Hangeng began his slow descent, praying that the extension cord they found in the janitor’s closet held his weight and that his grip didn’t slip. Only the power of love kept him from bursting into tears and crying for his mommy when his grip slipped and he fell several feet down before he strengthened his hold, praying that his sweaty palms held up for just a bit more.

“You ok?” Sungmin called down.

“Fine!” Hangeng called out, voice cracking.

“It’s the next window over.”

Hangeng nodded and reached out, grabbing for the windowsill. The blinds were closed, but he could see light. Alright…so the plan was to burst through the window, hope that he came out with a relatively small amount of glass in his body, grab Heechul, kick down the door and get behind the safety of Sir Kibum, Defender of HanChul (he’d knighted him with a spoon right before he’d embarked on Operation SHAG) and then gloat. There would be lots of gloating.

And band-aids.

“…what are you doing outside the window…and why are you laughing like an idiot?”

Hangeng blinked. He hadn’t even realized he’d begun cackling until Yesung had pointed it out. Wait, Yesung! Hangeng nearly let go of the cord in surprise and barely managed to steady himself on the sill. Yesung had opened the window and was staring at him worriedly.

“That’s dangerous, you should probably get down from there. Wait is…is that an extension cord?”

“Why do you care, SiChul shipper?” Hangeng snapped angrily.  “You’d probably enjoy me falling to my death!”

“Er…no.” Yesung replied truthfully, looking behind him before turning back to Hangeng. “Seriously, this is crazy. I don’t understand why people think I’m the weird one. I just like turtles and philtrums. I don’t write smut about my bandmates or read smut about my bandmates or hang from the roof on an extension cord. You all need help.”

“But you chose SiChul.”

“I chose life.” Yesung intoned. “And sex. I chose life and sex.”

“Yesung hyung, what are you—YOU!” Siwon had come to the window and upon spotting Hangeng, glared. “What are you doing outside the window?”

“I’m getting hyung back!” Hangeng replied. “Hyung!” He peered around Siwon to see Heechul sitting on the bed, still glaring. “I’ll save you!”

“Hannie what the hell are you doing outside the window?”

“I’ll do anything for hyung, even risk my own safety. That’s true love!” Hangeng called out proudly.

Siwon elbowed Yesung in the kidney and pushed Hangeng off of the windowsill.

There was a small moment of realization that he’d just been pushed off of the twelfth floor of an apartment building by one of his own bandmates before he began screaming. Then he felt a tug, heard a loud, “Oh SHIT!” and then he was falling again, only this time Sungmin was falling toward him from the roof.

This wasn’t going to end well.

---

Leeteuk and Kangin were leaning against the front door of the apartment with several bottles of soju.

“Something terrible is going to happen. Someone is going to die and I’ll get blamed,” Leeteuk announced, waving his shot glass around. “I’ll get blamed and then Heechul is going to be wracked with guilt over either Siwon or Hangeng’s death and my prison sentence and he’ll join a convent.”

“Oh come on Teuk, that won’t happen.” Kangin slurred.

“You’re right.” Leeteuk muttered. “Heechul wouldn’t join a convent. He’s a boy. He’d join a monastery.”

The doorbell rang and Leeteuk blinked drunkenly as Kangin pushed him to the side and opened the door. “Hey…uh, what is going on?”

“Hello everyone!” Zhou Mi beamed.

“Oh hey, you have my food.” Shindong looked over from the couch. “Did you pay the guy?”

“Hm?” Zhou Mi looked down at the Chinese takeout in his arms. “What guy? Henry and I were walking to the apartment and saw Hannie and Sungminnie lying on the ground beside your Chinese food.” He stepped inside, Henry following behind him, Hangeng and Sungmin limping a bit more slowly. “Oh, and I think that your sweet and sour sauce spilled or something because there was red stuff all over the ground…”

“Your Chinese food came with actual Chinese people…” Kangin stared in awe. “Do they come with Chinese girls too? Did you get to specify?”

“What the—I thought you two said you were going to the corner store to get some toothpaste!” Leeteuk glared at Hangeng and Sungmin. “What took you so long? I was worried—and that’s not sweet and sour sauce!” He then turned to Zhou Mi and Henry. “Zhou Mi! Henry! My sane babies! Come give mommy a hug!”

Zhou Mi did so gladly, having handed over the Chinese takeout to an eager Shindong. Henry stared around awkwardly. What was going on? “So um…why is Donghae hyung sitting outside?”

“Donghae refused to choose between HanChul and SiChul.” Ryeowook replied coldly from the kitchen. “And those who do not choose don’t belong here.”

“Choose?” Zhou Mi looked around, before he spotted Kyuhyun. “Kui Xian!”

“Food.” Kyuhyun held out his hand, not looking up from his computer. Zhou Mi frowned but fished into his man-purse and pulled out a Tupperware container. “I made rice and kimchee—” Kyuhyun grabbed it—and the spoon that came with it—and curled himself further into his corner.

“What side are you on, Kui Xian?” Zhou Mi asked excitedly.

“My side. KyuChul.” Kyuhyun said between mouthfuls of rice.

“Huh? But…HanChul is the best.” Zhou Mi responded simply. “Kui Xian, you’re so silly. Why would you choose KyuChul?”

“Because KyuChul is better than HanChul or SiChul!” Kyuhyun shouted, snapping his laptop shut and grabbing his food, stomping toward the front door.

“Is this a game?” Henry asked finally.

“Yes!” Ryeowook grinned gleefully. “And Zhou Mi chose HanChul,” He shot a deadly glare that would have withered even Zhou Mi’s cheerful persona if the other man had been paying attention, “So to make the teams even, you have to choose SiChul.”

“Um…ok?” Henry shrugged.

Ryeowook grabbed Henry and tugged him into the bedroom.

“Oh my god they got Henry.” Leeteuk ran a hand through his hair. “Oh god, what on earth is going on?”

Hangeng clapped Zhou Mi on the back—and winced as his arm began hurting—“Welcome to team HanChul.”

Zhou Mi beamed. “I’m glad to be here, Hangeng ge! But…where is Heechul hyung?”

“He’s been captured.” Sungmin replied solemnly, limping to the couch to sit down, not paying attention to Leeteuk’s command not to sit on the furniture with whatever red stuff was covering him.

Zhou Mi gasped. “Captured? By who?”

“Siwon.”

“It must have been China.” Shindong replied, cracking open a fortune cookie. “He went crazy after he got over there, seriously.”

“Don’t blame my country for his insanity.” Hangeng huffed, crossing his arms. “Heechul is just too irresistible. Still, I thought that Siwon and I were friends. But he…pushed me off a windowsill.”

“He pushed you off a WINDOWSILL?” Leeteuk’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. “He almost killed you!” Leeteuk turned to Kangin. “I’m calling management right now!”

“Fist of Silence!” Kangin shouted, karate chopping Leeteuk to the back of the neck. The older man crumpled into his arms and Kangin hurriedly hauled him up over his shoulder. “Well um, I’ll uh just take him back to his bedroom. Don’t mind us…” He trailed off before slowly stepping backwards into the hallway.

Eunhyuk: “SiChul doesn’t abandon the band to go to AMERICA and to ACT.”

Kibum: “SiChul obviously doesn’t understand how important acting was to the person they loved. SiChul obviously wouldn’t support their lover to do what they enjoy the most in the world, unlike HanChul.”

Eunhyuk: “HanChul is too selfish to understand the needs of others! SiChul would stay by the side of the person they loved forever!”

Kibum: “If SiChul had a problem with this before than SiChul should have brought it up a long time ago.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Zhou Mi asked worriedly.

“A lover’s quarrel. It’ll probably end in sex.” Sungmin shrugged.

“As long as that sex doesn’t happen in the living room,” Shindong shuddered. “…I don’t want to ever see that again…”

“Why are you still out here yelling?” Ryeowook and Yesung stood in the doorway of Hangeng and Heechul’s room. “Eunhyuk, come on! We have dinner.”

Eunhyuk glared at Kibum, “I hate you!”

Kibum raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“YES!”

“What’s going on?” Siwon had come to the door as well, and there was a large bruise on the side of his head that everyone assumed was Heechul’s doing.

“You are not my boyfriend!” Eunhyuk shouted.

There was a large intake of breath as everyone stared, including Kangin who had just come out of Leeteuk’s room.

Kibum blinked, his expression stony. “…are you breaking up with me?”

Eunhyuk looked like he wanted to cry, but it was at that moment that Heechul kicked Siwon and Henry out of the door and slammed it shut, locking it behind him.

---

As Donghae had sat outside the door to their apartment, he’d contemplated many things. He’d thought about HanChul versus SiChul and wondered why no one in the apartment seemed ok with a threesome. He’d contemplated going down to the other apartment rather than sitting in the hallway, but he felt that Heechul hyung might need him.

Too bad the door was locked…

At some point Hangeng and Sungmin had come out and he’d stood up, ready to head inside but they’d closed the door and headed up the stairs before he could do so.

Thirty minutes afterwards Hangeng and Sungmin returned, only this time with Zhou Mi and Henry in tow. He’d lit up cheerfully—if anyone could appreciate a good threesome it was Zhou Mi—but then they’d all been pulled inside and once again he was left alone.

He hoped Heechul was alright. Heechul hyung had always been so nice to him, he didn’t deserve to be kidnapped and not able to take a shower.

The door flew open with a bang and Kyuhyun stormed out, frowning—as much as he could frown, Donghae was rather certain his face was paralyzed and he didn’t possess the ability to smile sometimes except for the goofy smile he gave when he was super happy—holding his laptop and a container full of rice.

Donghae blinked, before he grinned. “You decided to join my team?”

Kyuhyun glared. “NO! This is MY wolf pack!”

Donghae swallowed, “Oh…um, ok…” He watched as Kyuhyun walked a few feet away and sat down with a huff. He leaned against the wall and opened his computer, plugging in his charger to one of the outlets before he paused. “The floor is uncomfortable.”

“Ah, yeah.” Donghae had given up on sitting comfortably.

“I need a pillow.” Kyuhyun grumbled, standing and heading to the door. He opened it and walked inside.

Donghae stared. The door…had been unlocked the entire time? He stared around at the empty hallway and then back at the door before he slowly stood up and opened it. He peered inside.

There was a war going on in the living room.

Eunhyuk and Kibum were staring at one another. Well, Kibum was staring. Eunhyuk was avoiding eye contact and crying over something. Kangin was looking around with smoldering glee. Ryeowook had pulled Henry over to a corner and was explaining something to him while Yesung watched the fight in the middle of the room with growing horror.

Siwon and Hangeng were having a tae kwon do match in front of the TV. Hangeng currently had Siwon in a headlock as the church-going man pulled on his hair and shouted, “Hyung! Hyung! Open the door! Why did you lock me out? You love Hannie more than me, don’t you?”

Donghae assumed that Siwon was shouting this at Heechul who was locked in his bedroom.

Zhou Mi and Sungmin looked like they weren’t sure if they should help Hangeng or not. The other man was trying to squirm out of Siwon’s hold, “Save Heechul hyung!”

Zhou Mi and Sungmin nodded, heading for the door, but Ryeowook and Henry stopped them. Yesung looked like he was going to help—reluctantly—but he and Shindong had ended up sneaking off to the kitchen to eat something.

Kyuhyun had grabbed his pillow and looked at the fight before giving a huff and heading back out into the hallway.

Kangin was laughing.

Leeteuk was nowhere to be seen.

Donghae took this opportunity to sneak around the group and tapped lightly on the door. “…hyung?”

“What is it?” Heechul sounded angry and irritated.

“It’s Donghae.” Donghae whispered.

“Donghae? My dongsaeng?” Donghae heard the lock turn and the door opened a bit before Heechul peered out. As he spotted the younger man he opened the door enough for him to step inside. Donghae did so and then Heechul grabbed him in a bone crushing hug. “My favorite dongsaeng! You’re the only one that understands me!”

---

“I can’t believe that SiChul is immature enough to break up over a pairing war.”

“I can’t believe that HanChul would call SiChul immature after making fun of his color coordinated underwear!”

“I can’t believe SiChul tried to make a comeback with that statement and expected it to be hurtful.”

“Obviously HanChul has the emotional awareness of a mushroom if he can’t see that his boyfriend is hurting and needs comfort!”

“Obviously SiChul is deaf, because HanChul doesn’t have a boyfriend anymore, remember?”

Shindong and Yesung continued shoveling fried rice and sweet and sour chicken into their mouths and watched from the couch. Eunhyuk and Kibum were still having their shouting match—Eunhyuk was cowering behind said couch while Kibum stood in front of it and glared—and the rest of the SiChul vs HanChul shippers were in the middle of a fight on the floor.

“Heechul hyung loves me!”

“He loves me more!”

Sungmin and Ryeowook had begun an all out brawl that seemed more deadly than Siwon and Hangeng’s fight. Sungmin may have had the martial arts abilities, but Ryeowook was scrappy and resourceful. He’d begun fending Sungmin off with a soup ladle.

Zhou Mi was standing in front of Henry. “Um…please let me get to Heechul hyung.”

Henry shook his head. “I’m supposed to keep you away, ge! It’s a game!”

“Er…” Zhou Mi looked from the fight to Yesung and Shindong.

No one seemed to notice Donghae slipping out of Heechul’s room and heading down the hall.

“HA! Take that! Five members to the KyuChul fanclub!” Kyuhyun’s voice echoed through the apartment from the hallway.

“Making multiple accounts doesn’t count!” Ryeowook shot back from Sungmin’s back where he clung like a spider monkey, whacking the other man with his ladle.

Kyuhyun stuck his head into the apartment to glare at the eternal maknae, “I don’t deem your comment worthy of my fury.” He paused. “Kibum hyung, you have a package.” He opened the door wider and two men walked into the room carrying a large trunk.

Kibum smiled and walked over to sign for the package. Then he turned to the others, “I think this war ends now.” He opened the trunk and pulled out a frumpy looking girl tied with an extension chord.

“That’s the Vice-President of the SiChul fanclub!” Eunhyuk gasped. “Kibummie! How could you?”

Ryeowook had crawled been thrown off of Sungmin at this point and picked himself off of the wall he’d crashed into with a grave glare. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists! She’ll die for a good cause!”

“Die?” Siwon was in the process of giving Hangeng a wedgy. “Hyung, we can’t kill anyone!”

“I won’t be killing anyone!” Ryeowook defended snippily.

“I will be though.” Kibum answered calmly, “Unless you give us Heechul hyung, that is.”

“STAND FIRM IN YOUR BELIEFS!” Ryeowook roared. “NEVER GIVE IN TO FEAR! THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF!”

The only problem was that the vice president was rather certain Kibum was fear. And if not fear, he was at least some kind of crime lord.  “I’ll change! I’ll change! I’m all for HanChul! I wasn’t even that big of a SiChul fan anyway!”

No one seemed to notice Donghae return to Heechul’s room with a box of chocopies, his facial cleanser, and Heebum atop his head.

Kibum decided that this was a fair trade. Even if she was no longer his hostage at least she had chosen HanChul. He untied the extension chord. “You’re free to go.”

The Vice-President leapt up gratefully and took one step before she went down with a fork to the head.

There was a moment of silence before everyone turned to Ryeowook. The boy gave a sheepish smile. “Whoops…I slipped.”

…

…

…

“Well, let’s hide the body.”

There was a brief moment in time—about forty-five minutes—in which SiChul and HanChul became one. There was no separation when one is covering up a crime, after all. It was easy enough to throw the body in the Han river, and Kyuhyun had reminded them to wear gloves so that there would be no fingerprints.

It was a moment of unity, a moment of selflessness. They were once again Super Junior, friends for life, brothers for always. A group that lived, laughed, loved.

Then they returned to the apartment building and the love was gone.

There was a moment of silence as the group all turned and sized each other up.

Then, they bolted.

Siwon, Hangeng, Ryeowook, and Sungmin went for the stairs. The rest of them looked at each other and calmly stood in front of the elevator and waited for the doors to open. The ride up was quiet and tense and filled with both sides keeping Kibum and Eunhyuk as far from each other as possible.

The door opened on the 12th floor with a cheerful ‘ding’ and the group rushed out, just as the other four stumbled out of the doorway to the stairwell, gasping and sweating. Except for Sungmin. Sungmin didn’t gasp and sweat. Sungmin took deep manly breaths and glistened.

The door to the apartment had been left unlocked—as always, it really was a security hazard—and when they entered it was eerily quiet.
Where was Donghae? Where was Heechul? Surely Heechul had realized they were gone and taken the opportunity to shower, right? Or…

“He ran away!” Siwon fell to his knees. “My hyung ran away because you were smothering him with too much affection!” He lunged for Hangeng’s knees, knocking him onto the floor.

The two began their—now routine—living room brawl before Kibum spoke, “Shh, listen.”

The two stilled and everyone craned their ears.

“Ooooo yes, just like that. Oh that feels gooood.”

“That’s hyung’s voice!” Siwon gasped in horror. “What’s going on!?”

“Shut up and listen!” Ryeowook was leaning over the couch now to hear.

“Only I’m allowed to do this, right hyung? I do it well, don’t I?”

“That’s Donghae!” Eunhyuk squeaked, and nearly fell off of the back of the chair in shock.

The entire group rushed forward. Hangeng grabbed the doorknob, but it was locked. He jiggled it a few times frantically. “What do we do? What is Donghae doing to him in there?”

“Horrible things. Horrible sadistic kinky things!” Siwon wailed, “We have to stop him!”

Hangeng and Siwon exchanged a glance, a look of comradery. Yes, they would do this together. To save Heechul, they could make it work. They nodded, before they both braced themselves.

Hangeng and Siwon kicked the door down with a shout. It hit the floor with a loud bang and the entirety of Team HanChul and Team SiCHul poured into the bedroom only to see Heechul pressed against the pillows, Donghae looming over him, fingers wrapped around Heechul’s—

“Foot massages? I love foot massages!” Zhou Mi let out a girlish shriek and skipped forward. “Can I have one?”

Heechul looked up as Donghae continued rubbing his foot. “Where did all of you go? I’m hungry!”

“…h-hyung?” Siwon croaked out.

“Don’t call me hyung!” Heechul crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “Either of you.” He looked between Hangeng and Siwon. “I don’t support HanChul OR SiChul. I’ve decided that my OTP is CinHae.”

“W-What?” Hangeng gaped, “But it can’t be! That isn’t one of your major OTPs!”

“OTPs are too mainstream anyway.” Heechul shrugged, before reaching out to pat Donghae on the head. “Aren’t you just too cute?”
Donghae merely smiled.

“Well…I suppose there’s always my second OTP…” Ryeowook sighed woefully, “SiHan.” He ripped off his SiChul Forever shirt to reveal SiHanisTruth underneath.

“I DON’T WANT SIHAN!!!!!” Siwon sobbed.

“ME EITHER!” Hangeng agreed, and the two embraced, sobbing.

“…idiots.” Kibum rolled his eyes and grabbed Eunhyuk by the collar, dragging him out of the room, “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” Eunhyuk asked fearfully. Didn’t everyone else see Kibum pulling him out to a non-populated area? That’s how serial killers took out their victims! Why wasn’t anyone paying attention?

“You’re going to help me shave my face.”

Eunhyuk blinked. “Shave your—oh. Oh I see. Um, yes, we should do that. And then we can color coordinate underwear.”

The two disappeared down the hallway.

Kyuhyun glowered before he gave a huff and stalked out of the room with his computer in hand. He was going to tweet about this! He would tweet and get the fangirls on his side and have them assassinate Donghae! Or...or he could create KyuChulHae…yes. Because Donghae belonged to him as well. Brilliant!

Kyuhyun went back to plotting.

“If we’re giving massages, we should just do a full makeover. I’ll go get the facial cream!” Sungmin sang, skipping to the bathroom.

Yesung didn’t want to go with Ryeowook. He was probably going to write some kind of kinky SiHan smut. He looked back at Shindong, and then to Henry. “…video games?”

“Yes.” The other two agreed, Shindong dragging Henry—who was still confused about what was going on in the first place—to sit on the couch in the living room.

“What? No! Guys! Come back and fight for your pairings! Grow some balls! We covered up a murder over this!” Kangin shouted desperately, looking from one group to the next. “I WANT TO SEE BLOODSHED!”

“Oh really?”

Kangin turned just in time to see a frying pan smack him in the face before Leeteuk stood triumphantly over him, glowering as Kangin rolled on the floor in pain.

Leeteuk looked around and smiled victoriously.

“I’m so glad all of my little chicks are getting along.”