Super Junior {Hankyung/Heechul ; fingertips (2/23)}
Title: fingertips (2/23)
Fandom: Super Junior (AU, !mutant)
Pairing: central Hankyung/Heechul; Siwon/Sungmin, Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kangin/Eeteuk
Word count: 5,724
Rating: PG-13
Summary: At the Soo Man Academy for Gifted Individuals, those with mutant powers are taught how to control their gifts. Hankyung has come to learn to control something he doesn't consider a gift, but rather a curse, and he wants nothing else from the school, certainly not friendship, but then, his life has never gone how he wanted it.
A/N: ...sobs. I did not realise how long this chapter was until it came to posting it. I...really don't know how it's this long. At all. Also, um, don't expect updates to be this quick. I had half-finished chapter five before I posted chapter one, so yeah :|
also, time for some pimping: superfic :D YO MAN CHECK IT OUT.
fingertips (2/23)
Hankyung woke the next day to the sound of Siwon's alarm going off. He was not used to being told when to get up: perhaps this boarding school thing was going to be harder than he'd initially thought. He moaned a little in annoyance, and Siwon swung upright and knocked the alarm off the dresser in his fumble, sending it flying across the room, where it hit the wall and smashed.
"Oh," he said morosely, staring between the spot where the alarm clock used to be, and the spot where the alarm clock now lay in pieces. "That's the sixth one this term."
Hankyung sat up, needing to ask his question no matter how tired he was. "Is it really that hard? Learning to control your powers?"
"It comes easier to some," said Siwon. "Kyuhyun, he's my year, but he's got senior-level control over his powers. His roommate, Ryeowook, however, still causes things to set alight every so often, so they're well-suited in that case."
Hankyung realised from the way Siwon was smiling at him that he expected him to now ask what Kyuhyun's power was. He wanted, somehow, to pull Hankyung into a conversation. Hankyung, however, was reluctant to show any kind of interest whatsoever, so he boxed down his curiousity. He wasn't at this school for other people, he was at this school for himself.
Siwon, finally understanding that Hankyung wasn't going to ask about Kyuhyun, glanced down and asked; "You wear your gloves to bed?"
"Yes," said Hankyung, a little flatly, looking neither at the gloves or Siwon.
"Oh," said Siwon, a trace of hurt in his voice that he was unable to disguise. Even from the short time Hankyung had known him, he had come to realise that Siwon wore his emotions on his sleeve. He felt slightly guilty over the way he was acting, but he was at this school for a purpose, and making friends was not it.
Hankyung showered first -- "I might break the shower again," Siwon had explained -- and instead of waiting for Siwon to finish, he instead got dressed and went to see if he could find the dining hall on his own. He was hoping that it would be empty this early, but when he arrived there -- after having taken a wrong turn and had to correct himself -- there were already a few people there, some of whom he recognised.
"Hi, Hankyung," said Eeteuk, smiling widely at him. Hankyung took the seat next to him, making sure there was enough room between them to stop their hands from ever touching, regardless of gloves. Eeteuk looked at the door curiously. "Where's Siwon?" he asked.
"In the room, I think," said Hankyung, reaching forward to help himself to some rice. He actually was hungry this morning, but then anyone would be after going without food for an entire day beforehand. He looked at the other person on the table and struggled to name him until he noticed the red tipping his hair. Ryeowook, Kyuhyun's roommate, who apparently set things alight.
Ryeowook seemed happy to just sit and eat in silence, which Hankyung thought was a desirable quality most of the others he had been introduced to seemed to lack. Eeteuk rambled on about things, Hankyung just stayed silent, and Ryeowook appeared to have mastered the art of nodding and making agreeing noises in all the right places. Hankyung was staring over at the large windows around the sides of the dining hall to look outside when suddenly Sungmin appeared at the table, smiling widely.
Hankyung jumped so hard that he hit his knee off the table; the wooden chopsticks in Ryeowook's hands suddenly burst into flame and he dropped them hurriedly and Eeteuk then threw water over them to stop the fire spreading to the wooden bench. "Hyung," wailed Ryeowook to Sungmin, as he sat down next to him. "I wish you would stop doing that, it's so scary."
"If I was supposed to walk down stairs, I wouldn't have been given the power to teleport straight to the bottom of them, would I?" said Sungmin cheerfully, and reached forward to help himself to some breakfast. The door to the hall opened then, and Heechul and Siwon stepped in. Heechul immediately spotted Sungmin and shouted over to him.
"You could at least bring me down with you," he shouted, hurrying over. Sungmin grinned at him.
"You know I don't have that control yet, hyung," he said. "What if I tried and you ended up with my face?"
"I would never be able to go outside," said Heechul in mock-horror, and slipped into a seat. Siwon looked like he wanted to say something to Hankyung, but chose not to, instead taking the seat next to Heechul. Hankyung was beginning to wonder if he'd ever see one of them without the other.
"Hyung, can I have permission to go into town this Saturday?" Siwon was now looking desperately at Eeteuk. "I need to buy a new alarm clock."
Eeteuk sighed, but Heechul just laughed. "God, Siwon," he said. "Your power costs the most out of all of us."
Money wise, maybe, but looking around, Hankyung could see that none of them really felt that their powers were anything less than brilliant. Sungmin, who teleported everywhere; Heechul, who used his power to annoy people; the others whose powers were raw and uncontrolled, but who still felt blessed to have them. Hankyung flexed his hands in his lap. He had never once thought of his own power that way, and he probably never would.
"I'm supposed to learn something," said Siwon. "But I feel like I'm getting worse."
"Don't worry," said Eeteuk. "It will come eventually."
"Just make sure you don't touch anything I own before you get it," said Heechul firmly.
Someone that Hankyung didn't know stopped by the table to talk to Eeteuk, who turned around in his seat -- Hankyung stared a little at the feathers which seemed to sprout straight from his back, pure white and soft, through holes in the back of his shirt. Eeteuk turned around and caught him looking. He smiled widely. "Didn't you know?" he asked.
Hankyung shook his head, and before he could stop himself, asked; "Can I see?"
"Sure," said Eeteuk, and he stood up and then, after making sure no one would be hit, unfolded a pair of huge, white wings from his back. Hankyung couldn't help but gape a little: sure, he'd noticed some bulk in the back of Eeteuk's shirt the night before, but it hadn't been enough to indicate wings of this size.
"How do you hide them?" he asked.
"I don't, particularly," said Eeteuk. "They fold right down, so that there's barely any mass, but for school, my shirts are specially made to accomodate them, and when I'm wearing other stuff, I tend to just get quite baggy things because it's easier than putting holes in them."
"What about your parents?" Hankyung asked. "Did they send you here?"
Eeteuk was looking at Hankyung like he was weighing something up in his mind, like he was trying to work something out. "They didn't send me, I asked to come," he said. "I read about it and wanted to come."
"My parents sent me here," said Heechul with a sigh. "Shipped me off like unwanted luggage, never to speak of me again."
"Hyung, don't lie," said Siwon. He seemed to be constantly disappointed or offended by whatever Heechul said. "You wanted to come here too."
"Why don't my parents visit me, then?" Heechul insisted.
"They do visit you," said Eeteuk, exasperated. "They visit every year."
"New boy didn't know that," said Heechul. "You totally just spoiled my fun. How can I convince him that I'm just like him?"
"Ju--just like me?" Hankyung stammered a little, staring at Heechul. What could Heechul possibly know about Hankyung -- he wasn't the one who could read minds.
"A loner," said Heechul. "My powers are so misunderstood that I must wander the earth alone forever, feared and fearing myself. Ah, what a hard life."
There was some laughter at that; Heechul was poking fun at him. Anger flared up inside Hankyung, and he glared at Heechul, who just looked back at him, impassively. Hankyung opened his mouth to speak, and Heechul just raised an eyebrow at him, and Hankyung realised that that was what Heechul wanted: he was trying to get a reaction of some sort. Slowly, Hankyung turned away to look at his breakfast. Even as others came down and took their seats, Hankyung didn't look up.
He was rather shocked than when the anger faded away to find that the emotion left behind was shame. He had come to this school determined to talk to no one, determined that no one would ever know his secret. But letting them know that he spoke Korean had ensured an awareness in them that he should talk and listen, and therefore the fact that he was rejecting their feelers of friendship was all the more damaging.
They actually had noticed his silences and his slight scorn, because he wasn't hiding behind his being Chinese. Heechul had recognised it, and Heechul thought he knew the reason for it, and he may have been closer than he realised, but Hankyung had his reasons for being distant, and his reasons for not wanting to get close to people. He buried down that prickling of shame: it was better for everyone if he was disliked.
A bell rang somewhere outside, and Hankyung looked up in confusion. "We have to get ready for classes now," said Eeteuk, taking pity on him. "We have half an hour to get to our first class from now."
"Oh," said Hankyung. Sungmin disappeared from the table, and then Donghae stood up and he too seemed to disappear. Hankyung blinked, but now everyone was getting up and preparing to move, so he didn't have a chance to ask how Donghae had managed it. Siwon, of course, walked a little in front with Heechul, and kept glancing back at Hankyung, as if he was worried, but Hankyung just ignored it and slowed down more and more until he could no longer make out the expressions of their faces whenever they turned around to look back at him. By the time he got to his bedroom, Siwon was nowhere to be seen: it was Heechul who stood in front of the door and glared at him.
"I need to talk to you," he said, pushing himself off the door against which he had been leaning. Hankyung looked blankly at him. "I want an explanation."
"An explanation for what?" Hankyung moved to open the door to the room, but Heechul reached out and took hold of his arm. Hankyung wrenched it out of his hold with lightening speed, heart thumping in his chest.
"That," said Heechul simply, and then; "And for why you're being such a bastard to Siwon."
Hankyung lowered his head, staring at the floor, feeling shame wash back over him. "I can't tell you," he said. Heechul suddenly became incredulous.
"All Siwon has done since you came to this school has been friendly towards you," he said. "It's only been a day and he's already convinced that you hate him. He's probably walking to class right now trying to work out what he's done."
"It's nothing he's done," said Hankyung quietly.
"Well, what is it?" Heechul asked, arms folded across his chest. Hankyung shook his head.
"I can't tell you," he said desperately. Heechul shook his head too.
"Then we can't help you." He turned and began to stalk away down the hallway. Then he stopped, and turned around. "And whatever your problem is with Siwon, sort it, before I do something about it."
Hankyung stood there for a minute or so after Heechul left the hall, eyes screwed shut; he felt almost close to tears. This was why he hadn't left the house, this was why he had locked himself away, this was why he had made himself numb: emotion hurt
He was almost late to class, and made it to the room he had been told to go to just before the bell rang. He knocked and opened the door to the third year classroom. Despite what he had told the teachers, they had put him in with his fellow eighteen-year-olds on the principle of his age, although he was likely to be behind even the first years, both in controlling his powers and in general lessons. He hadn't been to school for ten years, what he knew was what his parents had chosen to teach him, and what he had been able to teach himself. He only knew Korean because he'd decided to teach himself -- he had heard of a school in Korea, had never thought he'd actually end up there.
The teacher at the front of the room was a young woman in her mid-twenties, wearing a light blue skirt, with long black hair pulled back into a bun. She smiled welcomingly at him and said; "You must be Hankyung, right?" Hankyung nodded. "Come in, then. I'll introduce you to the class."
Hankyung already knew some of the class: there were only fifteen people in it, four of whom were Eeteuk, Heechul, Kangin and Yehsung. Eeteuk, sitting by the window at the front, smiled welcomingly at him. Heechul, at the back in the same row, was looking at his fingernails, clearly bored. Kangin, sat on the table next to him, was staring out of the window. Yehsung, a row across from Kangin, two chairs in front, was tapping his pen. Hankyung had wanted apathy and he had mostly got it.
"This is Hankyung," said the teacher, Ms. Park. "He's just started the school, he's come from China to learn how to control his powers." She turned, smiling, towards Hankyung, and he got ready to take the spare seat over on the left hand side of the classroom, but she stopped him and said; "Why don't you give us a demonstration of your power, Hankyung?"
Hankyung stared at her. She continued to smile, but now there was something in her face that made Hankyung swallow hard. He had been wondering about whether she knew about his power and the effect it could have, but now he realised that she knew exactly what it was, and she wanted him to reveal it anyway. Why, Hankyung didn't know, but he knew that if he went up against this woman, he would lose. He would later find that all teachers at the school knew exactly what they were up against, and didn't take no for an answer.
He sighed and nodded once, shortly. At the back of the classroom, Heechul sat up sharply, which made Kangin glance over at him. He whispered something, and Heechul whispered back. Kangin looked over at Hankyung quickly. By now, the entire class was watching curiously, but the four he already knew were watching him intensely: they knew what this moment held.
Slowly, fingers trembling, he removed one of his gloves from his hands, and clenched his fingers. His teacher had gone back behind her desk, and even though he was about a metre away from the nearest student, he was still nervous about what he could do.
He stepped over to the window where some plants were laying in the sun, the flowers on some of them blooming. Behind him, he heard a confused whisper of power over plants? and understood their confusion -- why would it be necessary for him to wear gloves if that was his power? He screwed his eyes as he reached a hand out, because he knew what his power meant -- rejection, fear; those people who had been trying to be friends with him would be too scared now, and he'd rather have lost them on his own terms.
Hand shaking, he touched the stem of one of the plants and counted to three under his breath. As he counted, the flowers along its length shriveled up and fell, the stem losing water almost instantly; after three seconds, the plant was suddenly, inexplicably dead. There was complete silence from behind him. He pulled the glove back on, eyes staring at the dead plant, feeling the comfort of the leather stealing back on him, a protective shield around him that stayed invisible to the human eye at all times.
Yehsung had dropped his pen, and both he and Kangin were staring at him, wide-eyed. In fact, that seemed to be the reaction of most of the class, and he desperately looked quickly from face to face, unable to take the shock written all over them. A boy near the back looked disgusted; a girl in front of him looked suddenly terrified. Eeteuk looked sympathetic. Hankyung caught Heechul's eyes last: he merely looked thoughtful.
He looked at the teacher, who was smiling sadly. "Thank you, Hankyung," she said. "You may sit down now."
Hankyung picked up his things from beside her desk and placed them on the empty table that he had wanted to get to before. He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath when the boy at the table next to him quickly moved his table away a little. Luckily the sound of his breath went unnoticed as the teacher had now started the lesson and was talking. He sat down and get out his things with his head bowed. He missed the movement behind him, as Heechul tossed a note to Kangin, who glanced at Hankyung, nodded, and then passed it onto Yehsung. Yehsung frowned a little as he read it, but once he looked over at Heechul and Kangin, he slowly nodded his head. Together, they spent the rest of the morning class time trying to get the attention of Eeteuk, who was completely oblivious, engrossed in the lessons.
"Oh my god," Heechul whispered eventually to Kangin. "This is like him with your crush: he just doesn't notice."
"Rub it in a little harder," hissed Kangin.
On leaving the classroom, Hankyung wasn't surprised to find that he was alone. Most of his classmates were avoiding him like he had some sort of plague, which, on second thoughts, he probably did have. Even those who he thought were trying to be friends now grabbed hold of Eeteuk and dragged him in the opposite direction to the front lawn, where Hankyung had been heading.
He wandered over the lawn without looking at anyone around him, head bowed. He wasn't hungry, had lost any appetite when he had stripped off the glove and put his fingers to the stem of the plant. It may have only been a plant, but he still didn't like killing it for no reason other than to show that he could. This was why he had never wanted to leave the comfort of his bedroom, where he could pretend to be normal, gloves lying on his dresser.
He shook his head. He had had to leave that room, come to Korea, be like this. It was the only thing he had been able to do, unable to face his parents after what he had done. A terrible mistake that ate at him inside, a mistake that had ruined his parent's dreams for a normal life. He couldn't stay there, not after that.
Somewhere near the slope down to the large fountain which was the focal point of the front gardens, Hankyung spotted a girl from his class sitting along the edge of the fountain with another girl and two boys, laughing and eating together. As he neared, the girl he knew looked up, and he realised it was the one who had looked at him with terror in her eyes earlier in the classroom. On spotting him, the look returned, and she tapped the girl next to him and pointed at Hankyung, her attempt at being subtle clearly failing. The boys noticed where she was pointing, and scowled: she had clearly already told them the story.
Hankyung tried to ignore them as he walked past, heading back towards the dorms, but as he walked past he heard someone shout "Hey," and one of the boys pushed himself off the wall of the fountain, and as Hankyung turned around, he came to stand in front of him, arms folded.
"Is it true?" he asked, face tinged with interest and disgust. "Can you kill things with your touch?"
Hankyung entertained thoughts of denying it, or just ignoring him, but his friend had now jumped up to stand next to him, and the girl in his class was glaring at him. There was no denying or escaping now, but he was used to dealing with people who were fearful of him, or who hated him for his powers. He nodded, but stayed silent.
"I told you," said the girl, voice a little high with fear.
The boy who had spoken looked back at her, and then looked at Hankyung, eyes hard. "You shouldn't be here," he said.
"Yeah," said the other boy. "All of us are dangerous when our powers are uncontrolled, what if you kill someone accidently?"
"What if he doesn't do it accidently," said the first, a little snidely. "What if he had to leave China because he killed someone?"
"I don't know how the teachers could allow it," said the girl from his class. Rather than looking for trouble or being obnoxious like the two boys, she just honestly seemed scared, but Hankyung was too stricken by the previous statement to notice. His mind was frantically trying to work it though: was that was they were saying? Had it already come out? He had wanted to keep it silent, never let anyone know. It was one thing being disliked and feared, quite another to be thought of as a criminal on the run.
"Hey," said the second boy, noticing his tense expression and laughing a little. "I think we hit a nerve."
"So is it true then?" asked the first eagerly. "Did you kill someone?"
"I--" Hankyung stopped himself from reacting. The two boys came a little closer, their expressions nasty.
Suddenly there was a faint noise, like wind rushing through a hallway, but muffled somehow, and Sungmin appeared beside him, and immediately latched onto his arm. Hankyung was so shocked that he didn't even react to it, just staring at him in shock. "Oh good," said Sungmin brightly, paying no attention to the boys in front of them. "I found you, everyone was wondering where you'd gone."
He turned and waved his free arm in the air, in the direction of the front entrance to the school. "Hey!" he shouted, waving like a maniac. "Hey guys, I found him!"
Squinting, Hankyung could just make out a group of people standing in front of the doors, but there was no way that Sungmin would have been able to catch their attention, they were too far away. However two people suddenly pointed down to exactly where they were, and Hankyung realised that Zhou Mi and Shindong must have heard; Sungmin had shouted with his mind so that Zhou Mi would hear if Shindong's super hearing failed him, as it could do.
"Why did you go?" Sungmin asked Hankyung, as the others came down towards them. The boys suddenly looked a little apprehensive. In the confusion, Hankyung still hadn't noticed that Sungmin had hold of his arm, but it suddenly struck him and he pulled his arm away harshly, like he'd been burnt. Sungmin frowned at him but didn't say anything; the same couldn't be said about the boys who had confronted Hankyung earlier.
"What, scared you'll kill him too?" The first one asked, clearly unable to stay quiet. Sungmin looked at them, confused. "Don't you know what his power is, Sungmin-shi?"
"Of course I do," said Sungmin. "Why would he kill me?"
"You touched him," said the boy, non-plussed.
"Yeah, but I didn't touch his hands," said Sungmin, and he smiled at Hankyung. "Right?"
Hankyung blinked, unsure as to when Sungmin had heard, and how he had worked out how the power worked. "Right," he said.
The others reached them then. "Next time you decide to go missing, can you do it after lunch?" asked Eeteuk, grinning in a good natured way. "We still haven't eaten yet, we were waiting for you."
"Yeah, you could as least have told us that you weren't hungry," said Kangin, a little grumpy.
"But--" Hankyung stopped himself, but the others just looked curiously at him. "You all walked off in the opposite direction after lessons."
"We thought you were following behind," said Yehsung. "We turned around and you were just gone."
"Wait," said the boy, and at the sound of his voice Heechul scowled and Kangin groaned under his breath. "You mean you're accepting him?"
Eeteuk frowned. "Of course we are, Jaekyung. Why wouldn't we?"
"His power," said Jaekyung. "It's not natural."
Heechul laughed in an unpleasant way. "Oh, like any of us are natural," he said. "Hankyung had no control over what his mutation was, just like you had no power over you being a complete dickhead."
"Heechul," said Eeteuk warningly, but it was already too late. The boy bristled with anger, and then his skin seemed to scale over suddenly, then darken, as if he was made of some sort of stone, linked like chain mail, and then something hissed, and from the links and holes oozed what looked like lava. His basic features were just about visible, but the effect was still strange. Hankyung couldn't help it; he took a step back. The heat radiating from him was suddenly intense.
"Jaekyung, stop it," said Eeteuk, sounding firm, though there was some desperation running underneath. "There's no need to over-react."
Jaekyung turned his face towards Eeteuk, eyes, irises and whites, suddenly glowing red. He said nothing, but hostility was visible in the way he stood. Kangin growled, and then suddenly morphed into a large tiger, standing in front of Eeteuk, who sighed. "Kangin," he said. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"I don't think fire plays well with skin and your hollow bones," said Kangin's voice from the mouth of the tiger, and he didn't change back. Heechul rolled his eyes.
"Look," he said. "This is stupid. Jaekyung, you really just need to cool off." He glanced at Kyuhyun, who grinned, and then he looked over to the fountain. Suddenly, a mass of water lifted itself from the surface, and moved to hover over Jaekyung. Kyuhyun raised his hands, and suddenly the air around him turned frosty; from where Hankyung stood, most of him was hot, his right hand side freezing. It was a strange sensation.
"Don't make me dump this on you," said Heechul casually, though his gaze was focused clearly on the water; it seemed like it took some concentrating to do. Siwon stood next to him, looking carefully at the other boy in the group, as if ready to protect Heechul from an attack from that sector.
The grass around Kyuhyun's feet was now tinged with frost, and the air around his hands had turned white; he was swirling a finger through the fog. Jaekyung glanced up at the water which would no doubt extinguish him, and at Kyuhyun, who was clearly ready to freeze him, and seemed to decide to give up. The lava seemed to get sucked back into his body, and then the strange stone scales faded away to be replaced by his normal skin. The grass around his feet was scorched black.
"Jaekyung, go away and I won't write you up." Eeteuk actually did look annoyed. "Heechul, Kyuhyun, Kangin, stop now, or I will write you up. You know you're not supposed to use your powers outside of the school building."
Heechul glared back at him, motioning to Sungmin. "Well, what about him? He transported down here."
"Yeah, but I started in the hallway of the school," said Sungmin with a grin. "You've got to think about the technicalities of it."
"Oh, you are so smug," said Heechul. "I want to hit you, I really do."
The water suddenly jumped back over into the fountain, causing a slight splash, a few drops of water hitting the girls sitting there, so that they jumped up, squealing. Heechul was glaring at the one from their class, but she seemed to be avoiding looking at him. While the grass around Kyuhyun was still frosty, the air had turned back to normal, and he had his hands tucked under his armpits to apparently try to warm them up. Zhou Mi looked curiously at him, Kyuhyun muttered something in Chinese too quiet for Hankyung to hear, and Zhou Mi took his hands and began rubbing them, trying to warm them up. Sungmin watched the whole thing with a dismayed expression.
Jaekyung turned then, muttering "Come on," to his friends. The other boy glared at Hankyung and the group, but turned anyway. The two girls shot one last scared look at Hankyung and then followed on. Hankyung let out a shaky breath that he hadn't been aware he'd been holding.
Kangin slowly turned back, looking at Eeteuk sheepishly. Eeteuk glared at him. "All three of you," he said. "Do you know how difficult it is to appear impartial when I don't want to get you into trouble? I had to let Jaekyung go, if you'd just controlled yourselves, I'd have been able to pull him up in front of the teachers."
"Sorry, hyung," said Kangin, but Heechul just look bored and Kyuhyun was shivering still. Eeteuk turned around and began storming up towards the school, with Ryeowook hurrying by his side, Yehsung hurrying after Ryeowook. "Great," said Kangin. "Now he's angry at me."
"Your chances just keep getting better and better," said Heechul cheerfully. Zhou Mi then began pulling Kyuhyun up towards the school, holding onto his hands, telling him that he should warm up. As they got out of earshot, Sungmin let out a heavy sigh. Heechul looked at him, amused. "And don't even get me started on your chances. You should really just give up."
"Hyung," whined Sungmin. "I'm going to draw on you with permanent marker while you sleep tonight."
"What kind of a threat is that?" Heechul asked, linking his arm through Sungmin's and trying to pull him forward. "There wasn't even any real violence in there. You didn't even threaten my hair."
"If I threatened any worse, you'd do it to me instead before I could do it to you," said Sungmin miserably. "I swear, hyung, I'm just going about it wrong, I'll get it right some day."
"Short of stripping off and giving him a lap dance," said Heechul, before they were out of earshot, "I don't think Kyuhyun is ever going to notice you."
Eunhyuk, Donghae and Shindong followed them, laughing amongst themselves, with Kangin following behind, looking entirely despondent. Soon, only Siwon and the silent boy from the night before, who Hankyung had found out was called Henry, were left, Siwon looking thoughtfully at Hankyung, Henry looking curiously at Siwon.
"Heechul-hyung told me about your power," said Siwon suddenly and loudly. "Is that why you were--"
"Why I was being a bastard?" Hankyung asked, and then shrugged at the shocked look on Siwon's face. "There's no point in denying it, I was."
"Well," said Siwon, looking unsure. "I wouldn't go that far."
"No," said Hankyung, shaking his head. "I was. And I -- it's partly my power, I just--"
"I understand," said Siwon eagerly. "It's terrifying, knowing you could crush someone just by hugging them, I -- I'm terrified of hugging Heechul-hyung, because he's so thin, what if I hurt him?" He looked at the floor, part sheepish, part nervous. "I'm not even allowed to touch Eeteuk-hyung," he muttered. "His wings also mean that he has hollow bones and they haven't strengthened enough yet."
"I--" Hankyung broke off, remembering his parents faces when his power had been revealed, remembering their faces when he had brought -- he stopped himself, looked at Siwon. "You accept me?"
"Huh?" Siwon looked up; Henry had tugged on his sleeve, looking impatient and curious now. "Well, of course we do. It's not like your power is anything that you can control."
"But I kill things," said Hankyung.
"I was taught to believe that my power was a gift from God," said Siwon. "Your power was given to you by God for a reason."
"If you knew--" said Hankyung harrowedly, before breaking off, breathing heavily. His power was not a gift, it was nothing but a curse, for him and for his family. Siwon was looking at him, questioningly. Hankyung shook his head desperately. "I don't want to talk about it," he muttered.
"But--" said Siwon, looking like he wasn't going to let it go, but then Henry spoke for the first time since Hankyung had arrived, something in English that Hankyung didn't understand. Siwon actually answered him in English, though it was a lot more stilted.
"No, I didn't understand what Heechul-ge said," said Henry in Chinese suddenly, and Hankyung blinked at him. "I don't know what his power is."
"Oh," said Siwon, in Chinese also. "I don't know how to say it, in Chinese or English."
"I kill things," said Hankyung bluntly. Henry turned to look at him nervously. "I touch things and they die."
"Oh," said Henry, and then grinned, cheekily. "I won't ask to shake your hand then."
"Henry!" said Siwon, in a shocked, scolding tone, but Hankyung felt something bubble up inside of him, something akin to amusement. It felt strange.
Henry looked sheepish, but pulled on Siwon's sleeve again. "Ge, can we go eat?" Siwon nodded, and them glanced at Hankyung and smiled in the same friendly way as he had the night previous. Hankyung nodded; Siwon had been nothing but nice to him, and Hankyung owed him at least civility. He would be around them now, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. As he walked with Siwon and Henry up to the school, he felt the danger he posed to the group even more acutely.
Fandom: Super Junior (AU, !mutant)
Pairing: central Hankyung/Heechul; Siwon/Sungmin, Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kangin/Eeteuk
Word count: 5,724
Rating: PG-13
Summary: At the Soo Man Academy for Gifted Individuals, those with mutant powers are taught how to control their gifts. Hankyung has come to learn to control something he doesn't consider a gift, but rather a curse, and he wants nothing else from the school, certainly not friendship, but then, his life has never gone how he wanted it.
A/N: ...sobs. I did not realise how long this chapter was until it came to posting it. I...really don't know how it's this long. At all. Also, um, don't expect updates to be this quick. I had half-finished chapter five before I posted chapter one, so yeah :|
also, time for some pimping: superfic :D YO MAN CHECK IT OUT.
fingertips (2/23)
Hankyung woke the next day to the sound of Siwon's alarm going off. He was not used to being told when to get up: perhaps this boarding school thing was going to be harder than he'd initially thought. He moaned a little in annoyance, and Siwon swung upright and knocked the alarm off the dresser in his fumble, sending it flying across the room, where it hit the wall and smashed.
"Oh," he said morosely, staring between the spot where the alarm clock used to be, and the spot where the alarm clock now lay in pieces. "That's the sixth one this term."
Hankyung sat up, needing to ask his question no matter how tired he was. "Is it really that hard? Learning to control your powers?"
"It comes easier to some," said Siwon. "Kyuhyun, he's my year, but he's got senior-level control over his powers. His roommate, Ryeowook, however, still causes things to set alight every so often, so they're well-suited in that case."
Hankyung realised from the way Siwon was smiling at him that he expected him to now ask what Kyuhyun's power was. He wanted, somehow, to pull Hankyung into a conversation. Hankyung, however, was reluctant to show any kind of interest whatsoever, so he boxed down his curiousity. He wasn't at this school for other people, he was at this school for himself.
Siwon, finally understanding that Hankyung wasn't going to ask about Kyuhyun, glanced down and asked; "You wear your gloves to bed?"
"Yes," said Hankyung, a little flatly, looking neither at the gloves or Siwon.
"Oh," said Siwon, a trace of hurt in his voice that he was unable to disguise. Even from the short time Hankyung had known him, he had come to realise that Siwon wore his emotions on his sleeve. He felt slightly guilty over the way he was acting, but he was at this school for a purpose, and making friends was not it.
Hankyung showered first -- "I might break the shower again," Siwon had explained -- and instead of waiting for Siwon to finish, he instead got dressed and went to see if he could find the dining hall on his own. He was hoping that it would be empty this early, but when he arrived there -- after having taken a wrong turn and had to correct himself -- there were already a few people there, some of whom he recognised.
"Hi, Hankyung," said Eeteuk, smiling widely at him. Hankyung took the seat next to him, making sure there was enough room between them to stop their hands from ever touching, regardless of gloves. Eeteuk looked at the door curiously. "Where's Siwon?" he asked.
"In the room, I think," said Hankyung, reaching forward to help himself to some rice. He actually was hungry this morning, but then anyone would be after going without food for an entire day beforehand. He looked at the other person on the table and struggled to name him until he noticed the red tipping his hair. Ryeowook, Kyuhyun's roommate, who apparently set things alight.
Ryeowook seemed happy to just sit and eat in silence, which Hankyung thought was a desirable quality most of the others he had been introduced to seemed to lack. Eeteuk rambled on about things, Hankyung just stayed silent, and Ryeowook appeared to have mastered the art of nodding and making agreeing noises in all the right places. Hankyung was staring over at the large windows around the sides of the dining hall to look outside when suddenly Sungmin appeared at the table, smiling widely.
Hankyung jumped so hard that he hit his knee off the table; the wooden chopsticks in Ryeowook's hands suddenly burst into flame and he dropped them hurriedly and Eeteuk then threw water over them to stop the fire spreading to the wooden bench. "Hyung," wailed Ryeowook to Sungmin, as he sat down next to him. "I wish you would stop doing that, it's so scary."
"If I was supposed to walk down stairs, I wouldn't have been given the power to teleport straight to the bottom of them, would I?" said Sungmin cheerfully, and reached forward to help himself to some breakfast. The door to the hall opened then, and Heechul and Siwon stepped in. Heechul immediately spotted Sungmin and shouted over to him.
"You could at least bring me down with you," he shouted, hurrying over. Sungmin grinned at him.
"You know I don't have that control yet, hyung," he said. "What if I tried and you ended up with my face?"
"I would never be able to go outside," said Heechul in mock-horror, and slipped into a seat. Siwon looked like he wanted to say something to Hankyung, but chose not to, instead taking the seat next to Heechul. Hankyung was beginning to wonder if he'd ever see one of them without the other.
"Hyung, can I have permission to go into town this Saturday?" Siwon was now looking desperately at Eeteuk. "I need to buy a new alarm clock."
Eeteuk sighed, but Heechul just laughed. "God, Siwon," he said. "Your power costs the most out of all of us."
Money wise, maybe, but looking around, Hankyung could see that none of them really felt that their powers were anything less than brilliant. Sungmin, who teleported everywhere; Heechul, who used his power to annoy people; the others whose powers were raw and uncontrolled, but who still felt blessed to have them. Hankyung flexed his hands in his lap. He had never once thought of his own power that way, and he probably never would.
"I'm supposed to learn something," said Siwon. "But I feel like I'm getting worse."
"Don't worry," said Eeteuk. "It will come eventually."
"Just make sure you don't touch anything I own before you get it," said Heechul firmly.
Someone that Hankyung didn't know stopped by the table to talk to Eeteuk, who turned around in his seat -- Hankyung stared a little at the feathers which seemed to sprout straight from his back, pure white and soft, through holes in the back of his shirt. Eeteuk turned around and caught him looking. He smiled widely. "Didn't you know?" he asked.
Hankyung shook his head, and before he could stop himself, asked; "Can I see?"
"Sure," said Eeteuk, and he stood up and then, after making sure no one would be hit, unfolded a pair of huge, white wings from his back. Hankyung couldn't help but gape a little: sure, he'd noticed some bulk in the back of Eeteuk's shirt the night before, but it hadn't been enough to indicate wings of this size.
"How do you hide them?" he asked.
"I don't, particularly," said Eeteuk. "They fold right down, so that there's barely any mass, but for school, my shirts are specially made to accomodate them, and when I'm wearing other stuff, I tend to just get quite baggy things because it's easier than putting holes in them."
"What about your parents?" Hankyung asked. "Did they send you here?"
Eeteuk was looking at Hankyung like he was weighing something up in his mind, like he was trying to work something out. "They didn't send me, I asked to come," he said. "I read about it and wanted to come."
"My parents sent me here," said Heechul with a sigh. "Shipped me off like unwanted luggage, never to speak of me again."
"Hyung, don't lie," said Siwon. He seemed to be constantly disappointed or offended by whatever Heechul said. "You wanted to come here too."
"Why don't my parents visit me, then?" Heechul insisted.
"They do visit you," said Eeteuk, exasperated. "They visit every year."
"New boy didn't know that," said Heechul. "You totally just spoiled my fun. How can I convince him that I'm just like him?"
"Ju--just like me?" Hankyung stammered a little, staring at Heechul. What could Heechul possibly know about Hankyung -- he wasn't the one who could read minds.
"A loner," said Heechul. "My powers are so misunderstood that I must wander the earth alone forever, feared and fearing myself. Ah, what a hard life."
There was some laughter at that; Heechul was poking fun at him. Anger flared up inside Hankyung, and he glared at Heechul, who just looked back at him, impassively. Hankyung opened his mouth to speak, and Heechul just raised an eyebrow at him, and Hankyung realised that that was what Heechul wanted: he was trying to get a reaction of some sort. Slowly, Hankyung turned away to look at his breakfast. Even as others came down and took their seats, Hankyung didn't look up.
He was rather shocked than when the anger faded away to find that the emotion left behind was shame. He had come to this school determined to talk to no one, determined that no one would ever know his secret. But letting them know that he spoke Korean had ensured an awareness in them that he should talk and listen, and therefore the fact that he was rejecting their feelers of friendship was all the more damaging.
They actually had noticed his silences and his slight scorn, because he wasn't hiding behind his being Chinese. Heechul had recognised it, and Heechul thought he knew the reason for it, and he may have been closer than he realised, but Hankyung had his reasons for being distant, and his reasons for not wanting to get close to people. He buried down that prickling of shame: it was better for everyone if he was disliked.
A bell rang somewhere outside, and Hankyung looked up in confusion. "We have to get ready for classes now," said Eeteuk, taking pity on him. "We have half an hour to get to our first class from now."
"Oh," said Hankyung. Sungmin disappeared from the table, and then Donghae stood up and he too seemed to disappear. Hankyung blinked, but now everyone was getting up and preparing to move, so he didn't have a chance to ask how Donghae had managed it. Siwon, of course, walked a little in front with Heechul, and kept glancing back at Hankyung, as if he was worried, but Hankyung just ignored it and slowed down more and more until he could no longer make out the expressions of their faces whenever they turned around to look back at him. By the time he got to his bedroom, Siwon was nowhere to be seen: it was Heechul who stood in front of the door and glared at him.
"I need to talk to you," he said, pushing himself off the door against which he had been leaning. Hankyung looked blankly at him. "I want an explanation."
"An explanation for what?" Hankyung moved to open the door to the room, but Heechul reached out and took hold of his arm. Hankyung wrenched it out of his hold with lightening speed, heart thumping in his chest.
"That," said Heechul simply, and then; "And for why you're being such a bastard to Siwon."
Hankyung lowered his head, staring at the floor, feeling shame wash back over him. "I can't tell you," he said. Heechul suddenly became incredulous.
"All Siwon has done since you came to this school has been friendly towards you," he said. "It's only been a day and he's already convinced that you hate him. He's probably walking to class right now trying to work out what he's done."
"It's nothing he's done," said Hankyung quietly.
"Well, what is it?" Heechul asked, arms folded across his chest. Hankyung shook his head.
"I can't tell you," he said desperately. Heechul shook his head too.
"Then we can't help you." He turned and began to stalk away down the hallway. Then he stopped, and turned around. "And whatever your problem is with Siwon, sort it, before I do something about it."
Hankyung stood there for a minute or so after Heechul left the hall, eyes screwed shut; he felt almost close to tears. This was why he hadn't left the house, this was why he had locked himself away, this was why he had made himself numb: emotion hurt
He was almost late to class, and made it to the room he had been told to go to just before the bell rang. He knocked and opened the door to the third year classroom. Despite what he had told the teachers, they had put him in with his fellow eighteen-year-olds on the principle of his age, although he was likely to be behind even the first years, both in controlling his powers and in general lessons. He hadn't been to school for ten years, what he knew was what his parents had chosen to teach him, and what he had been able to teach himself. He only knew Korean because he'd decided to teach himself -- he had heard of a school in Korea, had never thought he'd actually end up there.
The teacher at the front of the room was a young woman in her mid-twenties, wearing a light blue skirt, with long black hair pulled back into a bun. She smiled welcomingly at him and said; "You must be Hankyung, right?" Hankyung nodded. "Come in, then. I'll introduce you to the class."
Hankyung already knew some of the class: there were only fifteen people in it, four of whom were Eeteuk, Heechul, Kangin and Yehsung. Eeteuk, sitting by the window at the front, smiled welcomingly at him. Heechul, at the back in the same row, was looking at his fingernails, clearly bored. Kangin, sat on the table next to him, was staring out of the window. Yehsung, a row across from Kangin, two chairs in front, was tapping his pen. Hankyung had wanted apathy and he had mostly got it.
"This is Hankyung," said the teacher, Ms. Park. "He's just started the school, he's come from China to learn how to control his powers." She turned, smiling, towards Hankyung, and he got ready to take the spare seat over on the left hand side of the classroom, but she stopped him and said; "Why don't you give us a demonstration of your power, Hankyung?"
Hankyung stared at her. She continued to smile, but now there was something in her face that made Hankyung swallow hard. He had been wondering about whether she knew about his power and the effect it could have, but now he realised that she knew exactly what it was, and she wanted him to reveal it anyway. Why, Hankyung didn't know, but he knew that if he went up against this woman, he would lose. He would later find that all teachers at the school knew exactly what they were up against, and didn't take no for an answer.
He sighed and nodded once, shortly. At the back of the classroom, Heechul sat up sharply, which made Kangin glance over at him. He whispered something, and Heechul whispered back. Kangin looked over at Hankyung quickly. By now, the entire class was watching curiously, but the four he already knew were watching him intensely: they knew what this moment held.
Slowly, fingers trembling, he removed one of his gloves from his hands, and clenched his fingers. His teacher had gone back behind her desk, and even though he was about a metre away from the nearest student, he was still nervous about what he could do.
He stepped over to the window where some plants were laying in the sun, the flowers on some of them blooming. Behind him, he heard a confused whisper of power over plants? and understood their confusion -- why would it be necessary for him to wear gloves if that was his power? He screwed his eyes as he reached a hand out, because he knew what his power meant -- rejection, fear; those people who had been trying to be friends with him would be too scared now, and he'd rather have lost them on his own terms.
Hand shaking, he touched the stem of one of the plants and counted to three under his breath. As he counted, the flowers along its length shriveled up and fell, the stem losing water almost instantly; after three seconds, the plant was suddenly, inexplicably dead. There was complete silence from behind him. He pulled the glove back on, eyes staring at the dead plant, feeling the comfort of the leather stealing back on him, a protective shield around him that stayed invisible to the human eye at all times.
Yehsung had dropped his pen, and both he and Kangin were staring at him, wide-eyed. In fact, that seemed to be the reaction of most of the class, and he desperately looked quickly from face to face, unable to take the shock written all over them. A boy near the back looked disgusted; a girl in front of him looked suddenly terrified. Eeteuk looked sympathetic. Hankyung caught Heechul's eyes last: he merely looked thoughtful.
He looked at the teacher, who was smiling sadly. "Thank you, Hankyung," she said. "You may sit down now."
Hankyung picked up his things from beside her desk and placed them on the empty table that he had wanted to get to before. He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath when the boy at the table next to him quickly moved his table away a little. Luckily the sound of his breath went unnoticed as the teacher had now started the lesson and was talking. He sat down and get out his things with his head bowed. He missed the movement behind him, as Heechul tossed a note to Kangin, who glanced at Hankyung, nodded, and then passed it onto Yehsung. Yehsung frowned a little as he read it, but once he looked over at Heechul and Kangin, he slowly nodded his head. Together, they spent the rest of the morning class time trying to get the attention of Eeteuk, who was completely oblivious, engrossed in the lessons.
"Oh my god," Heechul whispered eventually to Kangin. "This is like him with your crush: he just doesn't notice."
"Rub it in a little harder," hissed Kangin.
On leaving the classroom, Hankyung wasn't surprised to find that he was alone. Most of his classmates were avoiding him like he had some sort of plague, which, on second thoughts, he probably did have. Even those who he thought were trying to be friends now grabbed hold of Eeteuk and dragged him in the opposite direction to the front lawn, where Hankyung had been heading.
He wandered over the lawn without looking at anyone around him, head bowed. He wasn't hungry, had lost any appetite when he had stripped off the glove and put his fingers to the stem of the plant. It may have only been a plant, but he still didn't like killing it for no reason other than to show that he could. This was why he had never wanted to leave the comfort of his bedroom, where he could pretend to be normal, gloves lying on his dresser.
He shook his head. He had had to leave that room, come to Korea, be like this. It was the only thing he had been able to do, unable to face his parents after what he had done. A terrible mistake that ate at him inside, a mistake that had ruined his parent's dreams for a normal life. He couldn't stay there, not after that.
Somewhere near the slope down to the large fountain which was the focal point of the front gardens, Hankyung spotted a girl from his class sitting along the edge of the fountain with another girl and two boys, laughing and eating together. As he neared, the girl he knew looked up, and he realised it was the one who had looked at him with terror in her eyes earlier in the classroom. On spotting him, the look returned, and she tapped the girl next to him and pointed at Hankyung, her attempt at being subtle clearly failing. The boys noticed where she was pointing, and scowled: she had clearly already told them the story.
Hankyung tried to ignore them as he walked past, heading back towards the dorms, but as he walked past he heard someone shout "Hey," and one of the boys pushed himself off the wall of the fountain, and as Hankyung turned around, he came to stand in front of him, arms folded.
"Is it true?" he asked, face tinged with interest and disgust. "Can you kill things with your touch?"
Hankyung entertained thoughts of denying it, or just ignoring him, but his friend had now jumped up to stand next to him, and the girl in his class was glaring at him. There was no denying or escaping now, but he was used to dealing with people who were fearful of him, or who hated him for his powers. He nodded, but stayed silent.
"I told you," said the girl, voice a little high with fear.
The boy who had spoken looked back at her, and then looked at Hankyung, eyes hard. "You shouldn't be here," he said.
"Yeah," said the other boy. "All of us are dangerous when our powers are uncontrolled, what if you kill someone accidently?"
"What if he doesn't do it accidently," said the first, a little snidely. "What if he had to leave China because he killed someone?"
"I don't know how the teachers could allow it," said the girl from his class. Rather than looking for trouble or being obnoxious like the two boys, she just honestly seemed scared, but Hankyung was too stricken by the previous statement to notice. His mind was frantically trying to work it though: was that was they were saying? Had it already come out? He had wanted to keep it silent, never let anyone know. It was one thing being disliked and feared, quite another to be thought of as a criminal on the run.
"Hey," said the second boy, noticing his tense expression and laughing a little. "I think we hit a nerve."
"So is it true then?" asked the first eagerly. "Did you kill someone?"
"I--" Hankyung stopped himself from reacting. The two boys came a little closer, their expressions nasty.
Suddenly there was a faint noise, like wind rushing through a hallway, but muffled somehow, and Sungmin appeared beside him, and immediately latched onto his arm. Hankyung was so shocked that he didn't even react to it, just staring at him in shock. "Oh good," said Sungmin brightly, paying no attention to the boys in front of them. "I found you, everyone was wondering where you'd gone."
He turned and waved his free arm in the air, in the direction of the front entrance to the school. "Hey!" he shouted, waving like a maniac. "Hey guys, I found him!"
Squinting, Hankyung could just make out a group of people standing in front of the doors, but there was no way that Sungmin would have been able to catch their attention, they were too far away. However two people suddenly pointed down to exactly where they were, and Hankyung realised that Zhou Mi and Shindong must have heard; Sungmin had shouted with his mind so that Zhou Mi would hear if Shindong's super hearing failed him, as it could do.
"Why did you go?" Sungmin asked Hankyung, as the others came down towards them. The boys suddenly looked a little apprehensive. In the confusion, Hankyung still hadn't noticed that Sungmin had hold of his arm, but it suddenly struck him and he pulled his arm away harshly, like he'd been burnt. Sungmin frowned at him but didn't say anything; the same couldn't be said about the boys who had confronted Hankyung earlier.
"What, scared you'll kill him too?" The first one asked, clearly unable to stay quiet. Sungmin looked at them, confused. "Don't you know what his power is, Sungmin-shi?"
"Of course I do," said Sungmin. "Why would he kill me?"
"You touched him," said the boy, non-plussed.
"Yeah, but I didn't touch his hands," said Sungmin, and he smiled at Hankyung. "Right?"
Hankyung blinked, unsure as to when Sungmin had heard, and how he had worked out how the power worked. "Right," he said.
The others reached them then. "Next time you decide to go missing, can you do it after lunch?" asked Eeteuk, grinning in a good natured way. "We still haven't eaten yet, we were waiting for you."
"Yeah, you could as least have told us that you weren't hungry," said Kangin, a little grumpy.
"But--" Hankyung stopped himself, but the others just looked curiously at him. "You all walked off in the opposite direction after lessons."
"We thought you were following behind," said Yehsung. "We turned around and you were just gone."
"Wait," said the boy, and at the sound of his voice Heechul scowled and Kangin groaned under his breath. "You mean you're accepting him?"
Eeteuk frowned. "Of course we are, Jaekyung. Why wouldn't we?"
"His power," said Jaekyung. "It's not natural."
Heechul laughed in an unpleasant way. "Oh, like any of us are natural," he said. "Hankyung had no control over what his mutation was, just like you had no power over you being a complete dickhead."
"Heechul," said Eeteuk warningly, but it was already too late. The boy bristled with anger, and then his skin seemed to scale over suddenly, then darken, as if he was made of some sort of stone, linked like chain mail, and then something hissed, and from the links and holes oozed what looked like lava. His basic features were just about visible, but the effect was still strange. Hankyung couldn't help it; he took a step back. The heat radiating from him was suddenly intense.
"Jaekyung, stop it," said Eeteuk, sounding firm, though there was some desperation running underneath. "There's no need to over-react."
Jaekyung turned his face towards Eeteuk, eyes, irises and whites, suddenly glowing red. He said nothing, but hostility was visible in the way he stood. Kangin growled, and then suddenly morphed into a large tiger, standing in front of Eeteuk, who sighed. "Kangin," he said. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"I don't think fire plays well with skin and your hollow bones," said Kangin's voice from the mouth of the tiger, and he didn't change back. Heechul rolled his eyes.
"Look," he said. "This is stupid. Jaekyung, you really just need to cool off." He glanced at Kyuhyun, who grinned, and then he looked over to the fountain. Suddenly, a mass of water lifted itself from the surface, and moved to hover over Jaekyung. Kyuhyun raised his hands, and suddenly the air around him turned frosty; from where Hankyung stood, most of him was hot, his right hand side freezing. It was a strange sensation.
"Don't make me dump this on you," said Heechul casually, though his gaze was focused clearly on the water; it seemed like it took some concentrating to do. Siwon stood next to him, looking carefully at the other boy in the group, as if ready to protect Heechul from an attack from that sector.
The grass around Kyuhyun's feet was now tinged with frost, and the air around his hands had turned white; he was swirling a finger through the fog. Jaekyung glanced up at the water which would no doubt extinguish him, and at Kyuhyun, who was clearly ready to freeze him, and seemed to decide to give up. The lava seemed to get sucked back into his body, and then the strange stone scales faded away to be replaced by his normal skin. The grass around his feet was scorched black.
"Jaekyung, go away and I won't write you up." Eeteuk actually did look annoyed. "Heechul, Kyuhyun, Kangin, stop now, or I will write you up. You know you're not supposed to use your powers outside of the school building."
Heechul glared back at him, motioning to Sungmin. "Well, what about him? He transported down here."
"Yeah, but I started in the hallway of the school," said Sungmin with a grin. "You've got to think about the technicalities of it."
"Oh, you are so smug," said Heechul. "I want to hit you, I really do."
The water suddenly jumped back over into the fountain, causing a slight splash, a few drops of water hitting the girls sitting there, so that they jumped up, squealing. Heechul was glaring at the one from their class, but she seemed to be avoiding looking at him. While the grass around Kyuhyun was still frosty, the air had turned back to normal, and he had his hands tucked under his armpits to apparently try to warm them up. Zhou Mi looked curiously at him, Kyuhyun muttered something in Chinese too quiet for Hankyung to hear, and Zhou Mi took his hands and began rubbing them, trying to warm them up. Sungmin watched the whole thing with a dismayed expression.
Jaekyung turned then, muttering "Come on," to his friends. The other boy glared at Hankyung and the group, but turned anyway. The two girls shot one last scared look at Hankyung and then followed on. Hankyung let out a shaky breath that he hadn't been aware he'd been holding.
Kangin slowly turned back, looking at Eeteuk sheepishly. Eeteuk glared at him. "All three of you," he said. "Do you know how difficult it is to appear impartial when I don't want to get you into trouble? I had to let Jaekyung go, if you'd just controlled yourselves, I'd have been able to pull him up in front of the teachers."
"Sorry, hyung," said Kangin, but Heechul just look bored and Kyuhyun was shivering still. Eeteuk turned around and began storming up towards the school, with Ryeowook hurrying by his side, Yehsung hurrying after Ryeowook. "Great," said Kangin. "Now he's angry at me."
"Your chances just keep getting better and better," said Heechul cheerfully. Zhou Mi then began pulling Kyuhyun up towards the school, holding onto his hands, telling him that he should warm up. As they got out of earshot, Sungmin let out a heavy sigh. Heechul looked at him, amused. "And don't even get me started on your chances. You should really just give up."
"Hyung," whined Sungmin. "I'm going to draw on you with permanent marker while you sleep tonight."
"What kind of a threat is that?" Heechul asked, linking his arm through Sungmin's and trying to pull him forward. "There wasn't even any real violence in there. You didn't even threaten my hair."
"If I threatened any worse, you'd do it to me instead before I could do it to you," said Sungmin miserably. "I swear, hyung, I'm just going about it wrong, I'll get it right some day."
"Short of stripping off and giving him a lap dance," said Heechul, before they were out of earshot, "I don't think Kyuhyun is ever going to notice you."
Eunhyuk, Donghae and Shindong followed them, laughing amongst themselves, with Kangin following behind, looking entirely despondent. Soon, only Siwon and the silent boy from the night before, who Hankyung had found out was called Henry, were left, Siwon looking thoughtfully at Hankyung, Henry looking curiously at Siwon.
"Heechul-hyung told me about your power," said Siwon suddenly and loudly. "Is that why you were--"
"Why I was being a bastard?" Hankyung asked, and then shrugged at the shocked look on Siwon's face. "There's no point in denying it, I was."
"Well," said Siwon, looking unsure. "I wouldn't go that far."
"No," said Hankyung, shaking his head. "I was. And I -- it's partly my power, I just--"
"I understand," said Siwon eagerly. "It's terrifying, knowing you could crush someone just by hugging them, I -- I'm terrified of hugging Heechul-hyung, because he's so thin, what if I hurt him?" He looked at the floor, part sheepish, part nervous. "I'm not even allowed to touch Eeteuk-hyung," he muttered. "His wings also mean that he has hollow bones and they haven't strengthened enough yet."
"I--" Hankyung broke off, remembering his parents faces when his power had been revealed, remembering their faces when he had brought -- he stopped himself, looked at Siwon. "You accept me?"
"Huh?" Siwon looked up; Henry had tugged on his sleeve, looking impatient and curious now. "Well, of course we do. It's not like your power is anything that you can control."
"But I kill things," said Hankyung.
"I was taught to believe that my power was a gift from God," said Siwon. "Your power was given to you by God for a reason."
"If you knew--" said Hankyung harrowedly, before breaking off, breathing heavily. His power was not a gift, it was nothing but a curse, for him and for his family. Siwon was looking at him, questioningly. Hankyung shook his head desperately. "I don't want to talk about it," he muttered.
"But--" said Siwon, looking like he wasn't going to let it go, but then Henry spoke for the first time since Hankyung had arrived, something in English that Hankyung didn't understand. Siwon actually answered him in English, though it was a lot more stilted.
"No, I didn't understand what Heechul-ge said," said Henry in Chinese suddenly, and Hankyung blinked at him. "I don't know what his power is."
"Oh," said Siwon, in Chinese also. "I don't know how to say it, in Chinese or English."
"I kill things," said Hankyung bluntly. Henry turned to look at him nervously. "I touch things and they die."
"Oh," said Henry, and then grinned, cheekily. "I won't ask to shake your hand then."
"Henry!" said Siwon, in a shocked, scolding tone, but Hankyung felt something bubble up inside of him, something akin to amusement. It felt strange.
Henry looked sheepish, but pulled on Siwon's sleeve again. "Ge, can we go eat?" Siwon nodded, and them glanced at Hankyung and smiled in the same friendly way as he had the night previous. Hankyung nodded; Siwon had been nothing but nice to him, and Hankyung owed him at least civility. He would be around them now, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. As he walked with Siwon and Henry up to the school, he felt the danger he posed to the group even more acutely.