SM Town; HP AU; Initiation
Title: Initiation
Fandom: SM Town
Pairings: various
Word Count: 3,127
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Taemin is set to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Heechul, at the Jae Neung Academy for Young Witches and Wizards. He just didn't know how big his shoes were.
Genre: Humor, Crack, Action
A/N: Wow...Haha...hi guys... >__>;; *guilty look* I'm gonna pretend like I HAVEN'T been AWOL for the past year or so. Life got in the way :/ I can't really say more, and I don't have an excuse. I feel kinda bad, actually, and I wouldn't blame anyone for not reading this since the updates come so rare. Mian. Really. Anyyyyways...This one is noticeably shorter than the other posts because I missed this and I thought "fuck it, I'm gonna update RIGHT. NOW." And then I saw that I had 2k words written and I was like, WEYL, ALRIGHT. And I finished this and posted. I was gonna write some about the Jonghyun Key dynamics (because I have something juicy planned) but hey, something posted is better than nothing posted. RIGHT? Right! Please don't spear me! Please send love instead! ⎝(′∀`;⎝) "love...only love...♥ ♥ ♥ "
Edit: Oh yes, and I went to SM Town. ♥ (I don't say this in a bragging way, just that I went and if anyone wanted to see any of my fancams I'll be uploading them in time ^^)
Previous Chapter<<
That afternoon, Heechul, Siwon, and Hankyung joined the rest of their class at the castle front doors and trooped down the lawns to the group of greenhouses for their Herbology lesson. They were joined by Kangin and Yesung from their year. Kangin was a Validi like them. He was on the stockier side, stomping through corridors and intimidating first years, but once he smiled everyone was immediately disarmed. He might have come off as frightening, or as Heechul said, “like a great hulking troll”, but all in all he was harmless. He had been thrown by Heechul when he first met him, but they got along swimmingly for the most part, despite the occasional fights, headlocks, and hexes.
Yesung, on the other hand, was an Acer. Today, like all the other days the Validi had lessons with the Acers, he separated from the group of his classmates, trotting over to walk with them instead. Yesung wasn't the most popular among his Sector, due to his rather spastic performance in almost every subject. After nearly decapitating a few of his classmates in Charms over the years, he had more-or-less been permanently on their bad side. He wasn't exactly the most popular with Heechul either, for that matter, but their general group approved of him, and so Heechul put up with his presence.
The five of them lagged behind the others, enjoying the sunshine of the late summer. The grounds had always been gorgeous, spruced up by the castle’s unseen army of house elves-turned-gardeners. When they reached the greenhouse they would be working in again, their teacher, a tall, wispy-looking witch named Professor Oh met them with a smile and herded them inside. The five took their position at one of the tables.
“Today you’ll all be nursing the solarflowers you were given last week,” Professor Oh announced, looking around at them all. Solarflowers were plants that looked exactly like sunflowers, but only in their early stages. When they were full grown they were a blazing red, and very hot to the touch, drying out most of the soil within a five-foot radius of each plant. They were highly useful, giving off plenty of energy and heat, and the petals were popular choices for camping trips to start fires and the like.
“They’ll be crossing into the second stage of their growth, and by now they should all be a nice healthy orange…”
Heechul tuned out their professors voice as they began working, conversation starting to break out at tables. He tugged on his gloves and began inspecting his own plant, able to feel the warmth of it through the material. It seemed to be in fine condition. To him, Herbology was one of the easier subjects.
Hankyung and Kangin were having a bit more difficulty with their plants. Hankyung’s was smoking ever so slightly, and he was completely bewildered as to when and how that had even started. Siwon was prodding at it, trying to figure out what was wrong. Kangin’s solarflower was a sickly mustard yellow and he was flipping through his book, Herbology For the Good, Bad, and the Just Plain Useless - Volume 6, scowling at his plant between index topics as petals floated sadly to the ground every so often.
Yesung was relieved to see that his was neither in danger of spontaneous combustion and was also the proper hue and color. He had been paying special attention to pick the right fertilizers and follow directions carefully. In fact, it was probably the healthiest of all five. He took his eyes off it for a moment as Heechul started speaking.
“So what do you two think of the whole school merging business?” He was addressing Kangin and Yesung; he clearly already had this discussion with Hankyung and Siwon.
“It sounds sketch to me,” said Kangin, slipping on his own gloves. “Isn’t the Keom Jeong Institute known for being kind of…dark?”
“Exactly,” said Siwon. “This whole Evaluation seems like a bad idea. It doesn't feel like a challenge, but more like a war.”
“Well, they are our biggest rivals,” chipped in Yesung over his plant. “I’m so relieved it wasn't their letter that came for me.”
“You should just be relieved you got any letter at all,” muttered Heechul. Yesung scowled at him.
“It isn’t fair that only seventh years can be Representatives,” Kangin complained. “I’d like to go over there and show them what’s what.”
“Kangin, you can’t keep a plant alive,” said Heechul nonchalantly, now daintily pruning his own solarflower, “how do you expect to keep yourself alive?” He threw a glance at Kangin’s shedding greenery. “Look at that thing. It’s practically crying for serious medical attention.”
Kangin threw a handful of solarflower petals at him.
Herbology continued more or less normally, and by the middle of the lesson, Kangin’s solarflower was wilting steadily, Hankyung’s had progressed to steadily engulfing him in a thick cloud of smoke, and Heechul’s was behaving quite nicely. Siwon had given up trying to help Hankyung, whose arms were frantically trying to dispel the acrid cloud around him, and instead had gone to fetch more fertilizer for the table.
Heechul took this opportunity to have some fun.
“How am I supposed to deal with this whole…mess?” he asked, resting his chin in his hand and giving his wand a lazy flick every few seconds. Hankyung took a second to look away from his plant.
“What mes-oh,” he said, following Heechul’s gaze and finding Imae sitting a fair few tables away, jumping ever so slightly as a few strands of her hair yanked themselves out of her head every so often. Each time she looked around furiously, scratching at her head and looking for the source. Hankyung was fairly sure she was going to end up putting compost in her bookbag instead of her plant pot if she wasn’t paying attention.
“Couldn’t you just try to be nice to her?” Yesung asked.
Heechul stared at him.
“Okay, okay, sorry I asked,” Yesung muttered, trailing off with a roll of his eyes.
“Why don’t you just find him a better girlfriend?” Kangin suggested helpfully.
“That’s far too much work and a girlfriend would still take too much attention,” Heechul said. “Besides, no girl is good enough for my Siwon,” he said fondly.
“You are,” Kangin snickered.
Heechul jabbed his wand in his hand. Kangin growled and pulled his hand in towards his chest, a welt springing up on the back. Kangin knew it would go away in a few minutes, but he stuck his tongue out at Heechul childishly anyway.
“I’m hoping something will come about with this whole merger thing, to be honest,” Heechul said, somewhat under his breath. The other three leaned in. Kangin looked behind him to check that Siwon was still lovingly tucking compost into the corners of his plant’s pot. “Her family has got something nasty in them, they've always been the wrong sort but they get away with it with their pay-offs. Over half of her relatives are Keom Jeong alumni, you know? I think this challenge will bring out some of her true colors. I’m onto her, when she slips up I’ll know. I bugged her book bag when we were waiting outside the door, I can listen in on everything when we get back to our dorm.”
“…You talk to bugs?” Yesung asked, confused.
“What are you talking about?” Heechul asked. “It's a…thing. A bug. A recording device. Muggles use them,” he elaborated, waving his hand vaguely.
“I thought they didn't work on magical grounds,” said Kangin.
“That’s in Britain. This is Korea. Privacy is optional.”
“Heechul, that's just dumb, even for you-“ A handful of petals fell off Kangin’s solarflower. “Stop it.” Kangin ordered his plant, clearly irritated. Herbology was obviously not his strong suit.
“Well we’ll see who’s so dumb when I finally prove that Siwon’s perfect girlfriend is a dirty whor-le world deserves peace and love.” Heechul said, eyes widening for a moment as Siwon rejoined their table before schooling his voice into a false, matter-of-fact tone. His absurd statement, however, gave him away.
“What are you talking about?” asked Siwon, raising his eyebrows.
“Nothing.” said Heechul.
BANG!
Fortunately for Heechul, and not so much for Hankyung, his solarflower chose that exact moment to spontaneously combust with a giant bang that rocked a fair few people off of their stools. A few girls screamed, Heechul grimaced and slapped his palms over his ears, and Kangin yelled a word inappropriate for Herbology class. Professor Oh hurried over as thick black smoke billowed out of Hankyung’s now obliterated plant and pot, covering a fine layer of ash over their entire table like a miniature volcano. She waved the smoke away as best as she could to unearth a soot-covered, coughing, terrified Hankyung.
“What happened?!” she asked.
“…WHAT?” Hankyung shouted.
“What happened to your plant?!” Professor Oh tried again, pointing at the charred mound of dirt.
“WHAT?” he shouted back.
“For God sakes, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR PLANT?!”
Hankyung dug a finger in his ear.
“….WHAT?”
“Oh Jesus Christ,” Professor Oh said.
“He’s Chinese, Professor, it means you have to speak slowly and in very simple words,” said Heechul, delicately brushing soot off his own solarflower.
“I know he’s Chinese, thank you, Heechul,” snapped the Professor.
“I’M NOT BALINESE,” Hankyung said quite loudly.
After a little bit of shouting between Hankyung and the professor, and once Hankyung had managed to regain somewhat of an inside voice, he tried to explain to Professor Oh that he hadn’t actually done anything to the plant, although it had started smoking at him and he had been trying to figure out how to make it knock it off without straight up dousing it with water and thus killing it.
“Oh, yes,” said Professor Oh sadly. “That happens sometimes. I’m afraid it didn’t quite like you.”
“What do you mean, ‘it didn’t quite like me’?!” asked Hankyung exasperatedly.
“Mmm, indeed,” Professor Oh said, nodding solemnly. She turned and walked away, apparently not knowing that she hadn’t actually answered Hankyung’s question or explained his plant’s displeasure in the least.
By the time they left Herbology, Hankyung was minus one solarflower, Heechul’s, Yesung’s, and Siwon’s were relatively perfect and ready for the next stage, and Kangin had to accept a fraction of his grade deducted in order to get Professor Oh to help restore his plant to decent health before next lesson without giving him a brand new baby one to start over with. Hankyung took a C for the rest of the time they were to be working with the plants.
They said goodbye to Yesung at the main doors, and the four Validi returned to the dorm and dropped off their school bags before heading down to the Parlor for an early dinner.
“I didn’t do anything-“
“You came to this school, didn’t you? Ugh, you don’t even deserve to be here-“
Halfway along a corridor, they heard heated voices down one of the passages leading off of it. Kangin slowed down to listen-if it was a first year, he would no doubt go see who was causing trouble this time. He was quite noble on occasion.
“Ow, stop, you’re hurting my arm!”
Kangin stiffened visibly. So did the other three, Siwon in particular straining to listen. He unconsciously straightened his Avanti badge on his chest.
“He said knock it off!” said a third voice angrily. It held a hint of fear.
“Shut up, loser,” sneered the older voice. “You two are the dirt of the school. You hang with trash like this, you get taken out with the rest of the garbage too. So let’s take-you-out-!“
There was a grunt of pain and a sharp bark of laughter. The first voice shouted and was immediately muffled, the distinct sounds of a scuffle breaking out, only to be joined by the slapping of feet as the four boys barreled down the hallway towards the commotion. The scene they came upon made Heechul’s blood boil.
Six third years were bent in a group, arms swinging. Kangin got to them first, picking two up by the scruff of their shirts and bodily tossing them to the side. They hit the ground with a loud “Oof!”, one of them clutching his head where it hit the marble flooring. Hankyung and Siwon were each dealing with their own boy, Hankyung elbowing one in the ribs, thoroughly winding him, and Siwon pinning another to the stone wall, his eyes (and badge) flashing dangerously. Heechul grabbed one still hunched over the two forms on the ground and punched him straight in the jaw, before picking off the last, hand tight around his throat. He glanced down and immediately went pale.
Heechul snarled, fists twisting in the boy’s robes and slammed him into the wall, hard. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to my brother?!” he shouted, face an inch away from the boy’s. His robes marked him as an Acer.
Hankyung and Siwon’s heads snapped around to where Taemin kneeled on the ground, a smear of blood at the side of his mouth and the unmistakable gleam of tears in his eyes. One of his eyes was starting to purple, and one of his arms wrapped around his stomach. He clearly avoided looking at them.
Next to him sat Minho, who struggled to stagger upright, he, too, wrapping an arm around his chest. He wiped a thin red line of blood from under his nose. The look he turned upon Heechul was apologetic. He looked away to try to help Taemin to his feet.
The boy in Heechul’s grip sneered. “Big brother to the rescue. Patheti-“
He cut off as Heechul’s fist connected with the side of his face. “Shut up.” Heechul hissed. “What the hell was that for, huh? What’d he do to you? Just feel like…like picking on someone smaller than you?!” Heechul was pressed as close as he could get without touching the boy, a sort of unnerving glint of fury in his eyes.
“Hyung,” Taemin started, sounding almost annoyed or embarrassed.
“Shut up Taemin,” Heechul snapped. “Don’t even try to tell me to just let it go, because that isn’t happening, I’m going to make sure these low-life punks get expelled.” Heechul turned his eyes to the five other boys lucky enough to have escaped his grip. One of their lips curled in a slight sneer, but he seemed to think twice about testing his chances against the four of them. Kangin cracked his knuckles dangerously.
Heechul suddenly turned back to the boy in front of him, bringing his left knee up swift and hard. There was a muffled fwump and the boy shrieked in pain.
Heechul let go of his robes and watched him slowly slide down to his knees, hands cupped in his crotch and eyes screwed up. The look of pure disgust on his normally pristine face was terrifying. The boy stumbled to his feet, falling once, before limping off with the rest of his third-year friends, all six of them knowing two Avanti’s were odds you didn’t want to mess with. Heechul thought he heard one of the boys say, “Wonder what she’ll say about this,” but he brushed it off. They were already too far down the corridor to bother.
Heechul’s shoulders stiffened, and he turned around to reach for Taemin. Hankyung, Siwon, and Kangin looked away. Minho looked at the floor uncomfortably. His nose had stopped bleeding.
Taemin wasn’t looking at Heechul, or anyone for that matter. His black hair was mussed up, and his eye was showing signs of swelling. He had managed to wipe most of the blood off of his mouth, but his lips were cracked and red. He stared resolutely at the wall he had been pinned to only moments ago, his jaw set tersely. His eyes shone.
“Tae…”
“Forge-“ Taemin started to say, but he cut off when Heechul’s fingers dug into his shoulders. He looked at the floor, not wanting to let his older brother, his perfect brother, his popular brother, let him see the way he twisted his face, trying to choke back the tears in his eyes. Dammit. I can’t believe I’m about to cry at school. Pathetic.
“Hyung, I just want to forget about it, okay? So can you just-“
“Stupid, why didn’t you call for anyone?” Heechul said, trying to pretend nothing happened, that his brother hadn’t been pummeled for no reason in front of his eyes.
Taemin finally looked at him, openly, and Heechul was hit with how much older he looked than he could remember, how he seemed almost…adult.
“Would you have?”
Heechul’s mouth twitched resignedly, and he pulled Taemin towards him into a slight embrace. Taemin sincerely hoped no one had decided to start watching again.
“Yah, you hungry? Get cleaned up and come eat with us, okay? Bring Minho, too. It’s dinner time, little bro~” Heechul sang, adding a wink and a kiss at the end. If Taemin wanted to forget, then they would forget. Minho looked up at his name, glancing at Taemin to see if the offer would be accepted, already assuming that if Heechul asked, there wasn’t much discussion. Hankyung and Siwon followed after Heechul, and Kangin gave them both a gruff cuff on the back of the neck and a reassuring, manly sort of nod. (The pair hadn’t known Kangin for very long yet, but as soon as they had been introduced, Heechul had caroled that Kangin was to be Taemin’s papa bear. Kangin and Taemin had both sighed.)
As they made their way to the dining hall a few minutes later, after a pit stop by the boys bathroom, Heechul sauntered at the front of the pack, but something about his usual confident swagger was amiss. There was a worried tilt to his brows, and he looked around the hall as he entered. Five Acer thugs who wouldn’t have eve known Taemin…unless they had just been looking for random prey…
“Ugh, you don’t even deserve to be here”
Something about that statement was too personal for Heechul to just brush off, and it irked him. What did that boy mean? Why Taemin, why Minho? If they had only bumped into him, there would have been others around…Heechul felt uneasy. If he had come to the right conclusion, and he normally always did, then someone was really crossing the line. And if he was right, Taemin was in trouble. Heechul took a deep breath, and hoped to God he was wrong, for everyone’s sake. And especially for Taemin’s.
“Wonder what she’ll think about this…”
Because you don’t fuck with family.
Fandom: SM Town
Pairings: various
Word Count: 3,127
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Taemin is set to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Heechul, at the Jae Neung Academy for Young Witches and Wizards. He just didn't know how big his shoes were.
Genre: Humor, Crack, Action
A/N: Wow...Haha...hi guys... >__>;; *guilty look* I'm gonna pretend like I HAVEN'T been AWOL for the past year or so. Life got in the way :/ I can't really say more, and I don't have an excuse. I feel kinda bad, actually, and I wouldn't blame anyone for not reading this since the updates come so rare. Mian. Really. Anyyyyways...This one is noticeably shorter than the other posts because I missed this and I thought "fuck it, I'm gonna update RIGHT. NOW." And then I saw that I had 2k words written and I was like, WEYL, ALRIGHT. And I finished this and posted. I was gonna write some about the Jonghyun Key dynamics (because I have something juicy planned) but hey, something posted is better than nothing posted. RIGHT? Right! Please don't spear me! Please send love instead! ⎝(′∀`;⎝) "love...only love...♥ ♥ ♥ "
Edit: Oh yes, and I went to SM Town. ♥ (I don't say this in a bragging way, just that I went and if anyone wanted to see any of my fancams I'll be uploading them in time ^^)
Previous Chapter<<
That afternoon, Heechul, Siwon, and Hankyung joined the rest of their class at the castle front doors and trooped down the lawns to the group of greenhouses for their Herbology lesson. They were joined by Kangin and Yesung from their year. Kangin was a Validi like them. He was on the stockier side, stomping through corridors and intimidating first years, but once he smiled everyone was immediately disarmed. He might have come off as frightening, or as Heechul said, “like a great hulking troll”, but all in all he was harmless. He had been thrown by Heechul when he first met him, but they got along swimmingly for the most part, despite the occasional fights, headlocks, and hexes.
Yesung, on the other hand, was an Acer. Today, like all the other days the Validi had lessons with the Acers, he separated from the group of his classmates, trotting over to walk with them instead. Yesung wasn't the most popular among his Sector, due to his rather spastic performance in almost every subject. After nearly decapitating a few of his classmates in Charms over the years, he had more-or-less been permanently on their bad side. He wasn't exactly the most popular with Heechul either, for that matter, but their general group approved of him, and so Heechul put up with his presence.
The five of them lagged behind the others, enjoying the sunshine of the late summer. The grounds had always been gorgeous, spruced up by the castle’s unseen army of house elves-turned-gardeners. When they reached the greenhouse they would be working in again, their teacher, a tall, wispy-looking witch named Professor Oh met them with a smile and herded them inside. The five took their position at one of the tables.
“Today you’ll all be nursing the solarflowers you were given last week,” Professor Oh announced, looking around at them all. Solarflowers were plants that looked exactly like sunflowers, but only in their early stages. When they were full grown they were a blazing red, and very hot to the touch, drying out most of the soil within a five-foot radius of each plant. They were highly useful, giving off plenty of energy and heat, and the petals were popular choices for camping trips to start fires and the like.
“They’ll be crossing into the second stage of their growth, and by now they should all be a nice healthy orange…”
Heechul tuned out their professors voice as they began working, conversation starting to break out at tables. He tugged on his gloves and began inspecting his own plant, able to feel the warmth of it through the material. It seemed to be in fine condition. To him, Herbology was one of the easier subjects.
Hankyung and Kangin were having a bit more difficulty with their plants. Hankyung’s was smoking ever so slightly, and he was completely bewildered as to when and how that had even started. Siwon was prodding at it, trying to figure out what was wrong. Kangin’s solarflower was a sickly mustard yellow and he was flipping through his book, Herbology For the Good, Bad, and the Just Plain Useless - Volume 6, scowling at his plant between index topics as petals floated sadly to the ground every so often.
Yesung was relieved to see that his was neither in danger of spontaneous combustion and was also the proper hue and color. He had been paying special attention to pick the right fertilizers and follow directions carefully. In fact, it was probably the healthiest of all five. He took his eyes off it for a moment as Heechul started speaking.
“So what do you two think of the whole school merging business?” He was addressing Kangin and Yesung; he clearly already had this discussion with Hankyung and Siwon.
“It sounds sketch to me,” said Kangin, slipping on his own gloves. “Isn’t the Keom Jeong Institute known for being kind of…dark?”
“Exactly,” said Siwon. “This whole Evaluation seems like a bad idea. It doesn't feel like a challenge, but more like a war.”
“Well, they are our biggest rivals,” chipped in Yesung over his plant. “I’m so relieved it wasn't their letter that came for me.”
“You should just be relieved you got any letter at all,” muttered Heechul. Yesung scowled at him.
“It isn’t fair that only seventh years can be Representatives,” Kangin complained. “I’d like to go over there and show them what’s what.”
“Kangin, you can’t keep a plant alive,” said Heechul nonchalantly, now daintily pruning his own solarflower, “how do you expect to keep yourself alive?” He threw a glance at Kangin’s shedding greenery. “Look at that thing. It’s practically crying for serious medical attention.”
Kangin threw a handful of solarflower petals at him.
Herbology continued more or less normally, and by the middle of the lesson, Kangin’s solarflower was wilting steadily, Hankyung’s had progressed to steadily engulfing him in a thick cloud of smoke, and Heechul’s was behaving quite nicely. Siwon had given up trying to help Hankyung, whose arms were frantically trying to dispel the acrid cloud around him, and instead had gone to fetch more fertilizer for the table.
Heechul took this opportunity to have some fun.
“How am I supposed to deal with this whole…mess?” he asked, resting his chin in his hand and giving his wand a lazy flick every few seconds. Hankyung took a second to look away from his plant.
“What mes-oh,” he said, following Heechul’s gaze and finding Imae sitting a fair few tables away, jumping ever so slightly as a few strands of her hair yanked themselves out of her head every so often. Each time she looked around furiously, scratching at her head and looking for the source. Hankyung was fairly sure she was going to end up putting compost in her bookbag instead of her plant pot if she wasn’t paying attention.
“Couldn’t you just try to be nice to her?” Yesung asked.
Heechul stared at him.
“Okay, okay, sorry I asked,” Yesung muttered, trailing off with a roll of his eyes.
“Why don’t you just find him a better girlfriend?” Kangin suggested helpfully.
“That’s far too much work and a girlfriend would still take too much attention,” Heechul said. “Besides, no girl is good enough for my Siwon,” he said fondly.
“You are,” Kangin snickered.
Heechul jabbed his wand in his hand. Kangin growled and pulled his hand in towards his chest, a welt springing up on the back. Kangin knew it would go away in a few minutes, but he stuck his tongue out at Heechul childishly anyway.
“I’m hoping something will come about with this whole merger thing, to be honest,” Heechul said, somewhat under his breath. The other three leaned in. Kangin looked behind him to check that Siwon was still lovingly tucking compost into the corners of his plant’s pot. “Her family has got something nasty in them, they've always been the wrong sort but they get away with it with their pay-offs. Over half of her relatives are Keom Jeong alumni, you know? I think this challenge will bring out some of her true colors. I’m onto her, when she slips up I’ll know. I bugged her book bag when we were waiting outside the door, I can listen in on everything when we get back to our dorm.”
“…You talk to bugs?” Yesung asked, confused.
“What are you talking about?” Heechul asked. “It's a…thing. A bug. A recording device. Muggles use them,” he elaborated, waving his hand vaguely.
“I thought they didn't work on magical grounds,” said Kangin.
“That’s in Britain. This is Korea. Privacy is optional.”
“Heechul, that's just dumb, even for you-“ A handful of petals fell off Kangin’s solarflower. “Stop it.” Kangin ordered his plant, clearly irritated. Herbology was obviously not his strong suit.
“Well we’ll see who’s so dumb when I finally prove that Siwon’s perfect girlfriend is a dirty whor-le world deserves peace and love.” Heechul said, eyes widening for a moment as Siwon rejoined their table before schooling his voice into a false, matter-of-fact tone. His absurd statement, however, gave him away.
“What are you talking about?” asked Siwon, raising his eyebrows.
“Nothing.” said Heechul.
BANG!
Fortunately for Heechul, and not so much for Hankyung, his solarflower chose that exact moment to spontaneously combust with a giant bang that rocked a fair few people off of their stools. A few girls screamed, Heechul grimaced and slapped his palms over his ears, and Kangin yelled a word inappropriate for Herbology class. Professor Oh hurried over as thick black smoke billowed out of Hankyung’s now obliterated plant and pot, covering a fine layer of ash over their entire table like a miniature volcano. She waved the smoke away as best as she could to unearth a soot-covered, coughing, terrified Hankyung.
“What happened?!” she asked.
“…WHAT?” Hankyung shouted.
“What happened to your plant?!” Professor Oh tried again, pointing at the charred mound of dirt.
“WHAT?” he shouted back.
“For God sakes, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR PLANT?!”
Hankyung dug a finger in his ear.
“….WHAT?”
“Oh Jesus Christ,” Professor Oh said.
“He’s Chinese, Professor, it means you have to speak slowly and in very simple words,” said Heechul, delicately brushing soot off his own solarflower.
“I know he’s Chinese, thank you, Heechul,” snapped the Professor.
“I’M NOT BALINESE,” Hankyung said quite loudly.
After a little bit of shouting between Hankyung and the professor, and once Hankyung had managed to regain somewhat of an inside voice, he tried to explain to Professor Oh that he hadn’t actually done anything to the plant, although it had started smoking at him and he had been trying to figure out how to make it knock it off without straight up dousing it with water and thus killing it.
“Oh, yes,” said Professor Oh sadly. “That happens sometimes. I’m afraid it didn’t quite like you.”
“What do you mean, ‘it didn’t quite like me’?!” asked Hankyung exasperatedly.
“Mmm, indeed,” Professor Oh said, nodding solemnly. She turned and walked away, apparently not knowing that she hadn’t actually answered Hankyung’s question or explained his plant’s displeasure in the least.
By the time they left Herbology, Hankyung was minus one solarflower, Heechul’s, Yesung’s, and Siwon’s were relatively perfect and ready for the next stage, and Kangin had to accept a fraction of his grade deducted in order to get Professor Oh to help restore his plant to decent health before next lesson without giving him a brand new baby one to start over with. Hankyung took a C for the rest of the time they were to be working with the plants.
They said goodbye to Yesung at the main doors, and the four Validi returned to the dorm and dropped off their school bags before heading down to the Parlor for an early dinner.
“I didn’t do anything-“
“You came to this school, didn’t you? Ugh, you don’t even deserve to be here-“
Halfway along a corridor, they heard heated voices down one of the passages leading off of it. Kangin slowed down to listen-if it was a first year, he would no doubt go see who was causing trouble this time. He was quite noble on occasion.
“Ow, stop, you’re hurting my arm!”
Kangin stiffened visibly. So did the other three, Siwon in particular straining to listen. He unconsciously straightened his Avanti badge on his chest.
“He said knock it off!” said a third voice angrily. It held a hint of fear.
“Shut up, loser,” sneered the older voice. “You two are the dirt of the school. You hang with trash like this, you get taken out with the rest of the garbage too. So let’s take-you-out-!“
There was a grunt of pain and a sharp bark of laughter. The first voice shouted and was immediately muffled, the distinct sounds of a scuffle breaking out, only to be joined by the slapping of feet as the four boys barreled down the hallway towards the commotion. The scene they came upon made Heechul’s blood boil.
Six third years were bent in a group, arms swinging. Kangin got to them first, picking two up by the scruff of their shirts and bodily tossing them to the side. They hit the ground with a loud “Oof!”, one of them clutching his head where it hit the marble flooring. Hankyung and Siwon were each dealing with their own boy, Hankyung elbowing one in the ribs, thoroughly winding him, and Siwon pinning another to the stone wall, his eyes (and badge) flashing dangerously. Heechul grabbed one still hunched over the two forms on the ground and punched him straight in the jaw, before picking off the last, hand tight around his throat. He glanced down and immediately went pale.
Heechul snarled, fists twisting in the boy’s robes and slammed him into the wall, hard. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to my brother?!” he shouted, face an inch away from the boy’s. His robes marked him as an Acer.
Hankyung and Siwon’s heads snapped around to where Taemin kneeled on the ground, a smear of blood at the side of his mouth and the unmistakable gleam of tears in his eyes. One of his eyes was starting to purple, and one of his arms wrapped around his stomach. He clearly avoided looking at them.
Next to him sat Minho, who struggled to stagger upright, he, too, wrapping an arm around his chest. He wiped a thin red line of blood from under his nose. The look he turned upon Heechul was apologetic. He looked away to try to help Taemin to his feet.
The boy in Heechul’s grip sneered. “Big brother to the rescue. Patheti-“
He cut off as Heechul’s fist connected with the side of his face. “Shut up.” Heechul hissed. “What the hell was that for, huh? What’d he do to you? Just feel like…like picking on someone smaller than you?!” Heechul was pressed as close as he could get without touching the boy, a sort of unnerving glint of fury in his eyes.
“Hyung,” Taemin started, sounding almost annoyed or embarrassed.
“Shut up Taemin,” Heechul snapped. “Don’t even try to tell me to just let it go, because that isn’t happening, I’m going to make sure these low-life punks get expelled.” Heechul turned his eyes to the five other boys lucky enough to have escaped his grip. One of their lips curled in a slight sneer, but he seemed to think twice about testing his chances against the four of them. Kangin cracked his knuckles dangerously.
Heechul suddenly turned back to the boy in front of him, bringing his left knee up swift and hard. There was a muffled fwump and the boy shrieked in pain.
Heechul let go of his robes and watched him slowly slide down to his knees, hands cupped in his crotch and eyes screwed up. The look of pure disgust on his normally pristine face was terrifying. The boy stumbled to his feet, falling once, before limping off with the rest of his third-year friends, all six of them knowing two Avanti’s were odds you didn’t want to mess with. Heechul thought he heard one of the boys say, “Wonder what she’ll say about this,” but he brushed it off. They were already too far down the corridor to bother.
Heechul’s shoulders stiffened, and he turned around to reach for Taemin. Hankyung, Siwon, and Kangin looked away. Minho looked at the floor uncomfortably. His nose had stopped bleeding.
Taemin wasn’t looking at Heechul, or anyone for that matter. His black hair was mussed up, and his eye was showing signs of swelling. He had managed to wipe most of the blood off of his mouth, but his lips were cracked and red. He stared resolutely at the wall he had been pinned to only moments ago, his jaw set tersely. His eyes shone.
“Tae…”
“Forge-“ Taemin started to say, but he cut off when Heechul’s fingers dug into his shoulders. He looked at the floor, not wanting to let his older brother, his perfect brother, his popular brother, let him see the way he twisted his face, trying to choke back the tears in his eyes. Dammit. I can’t believe I’m about to cry at school. Pathetic.
“Hyung, I just want to forget about it, okay? So can you just-“
“Stupid, why didn’t you call for anyone?” Heechul said, trying to pretend nothing happened, that his brother hadn’t been pummeled for no reason in front of his eyes.
Taemin finally looked at him, openly, and Heechul was hit with how much older he looked than he could remember, how he seemed almost…adult.
“Would you have?”
Heechul’s mouth twitched resignedly, and he pulled Taemin towards him into a slight embrace. Taemin sincerely hoped no one had decided to start watching again.
“Yah, you hungry? Get cleaned up and come eat with us, okay? Bring Minho, too. It’s dinner time, little bro~” Heechul sang, adding a wink and a kiss at the end. If Taemin wanted to forget, then they would forget. Minho looked up at his name, glancing at Taemin to see if the offer would be accepted, already assuming that if Heechul asked, there wasn’t much discussion. Hankyung and Siwon followed after Heechul, and Kangin gave them both a gruff cuff on the back of the neck and a reassuring, manly sort of nod. (The pair hadn’t known Kangin for very long yet, but as soon as they had been introduced, Heechul had caroled that Kangin was to be Taemin’s papa bear. Kangin and Taemin had both sighed.)
As they made their way to the dining hall a few minutes later, after a pit stop by the boys bathroom, Heechul sauntered at the front of the pack, but something about his usual confident swagger was amiss. There was a worried tilt to his brows, and he looked around the hall as he entered. Five Acer thugs who wouldn’t have eve known Taemin…unless they had just been looking for random prey…
“Ugh, you don’t even deserve to be here”
Something about that statement was too personal for Heechul to just brush off, and it irked him. What did that boy mean? Why Taemin, why Minho? If they had only bumped into him, there would have been others around…Heechul felt uneasy. If he had come to the right conclusion, and he normally always did, then someone was really crossing the line. And if he was right, Taemin was in trouble. Heechul took a deep breath, and hoped to God he was wrong, for everyone’s sake. And especially for Taemin’s.
“Wonder what she’ll think about this…”
Because you don’t fuck with family.