⇉ the one where violence is the answer.
part thirty-nine
Faster than she can blink, Chenle has beamed them into her dorm.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Juno says, trying to steady herself from the familiar dizzy spell that overtakes her once they've entered her room. "Does it ever affect you?" she questions the orange-haired boy.
"At first, but now I'm used to it." His eyes flicker between them, and he steps back. "You guys obviously need to talk, so yeah. I'm out."
His abrupt exit is followed with the kind of awkward silence Juno hates. She pauses to pick up Shawty, who'd excitedly bounded over to them the second they'd arrived, burying her face in her fur before finally lifting her eyes to meet Jeno's. "What's up? Did you want to talk?"
He scratches the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Yeah, I do. Are you okay, though?"
"Just a headache," she hums.
"Oh." Jeno steels himself. There couldn't be a worse possible time to tell her what he's about to, but he knows he'll just continue putting it off if he doesn't do so right now. He breaches the subject tentatively, not enthusiastic about making things any more embarrassing than they need to be. "We've been weird lately, haven't we?"
Juno inclines her head in agreement. "We have." Her eyes drift back to the kitten in her arms. "It's been awkward ever since..." She trails off. From his expression, however, he understands exactly what she means.
"It has, even though we both said we would just forget it ever happened," he continues, catching his bottom lip between his teeth.
"But that's the thing, Jeno." She's finally able to hold his gaze. "I couldn't pretend nothing happened. Because no matter how much you wanted to act like it didn't, it did change something." Juno shrugs. "And I liked you at the time, so it kind of... f*cked me over when you said it was a mistake. Because it wasn't, at least not for me."
His eyes widen at her words. But then anxiety rises in his stomach when he registers her use of the past tense.
"I avoided you because I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, but that didn't go over splendidly," Juno maunders. "Maybe I should've just told you how I felt and got it over with. I didn't realize how much I liked being your friend until we almost weren't. But I promise I'm getting over my feelings."
That's not what he was expecting. "Juno," he begins, running his tongue over his lips. "I do like you."
"Yeah, platonically. I get it, really. Just... don't be weird anymore. I appreciate you letting me down slowly, but you don't have to worry about..." She gestures between them. "About whatever this is. We're friends, and I'm going to stay friends with you. I can."
"But I-"
"Really, my feelings are practically gone," she hurries to say. "So we can move on, for real this time." She finally takes a breath, only then realizing that she interrupted him. "Sorry, you were saying something?"
Jeno swallows his words down. They're meaningless now. It's all just so frustrating. They had so many chances, so many opportunities to communicate properly. But those came, and they eventually went.
Maybe it's just not meant to happen.
"No, I agree," he says, but refuses to look at her. "We can just erase everything and... go back to normal."
Juno smiles thinly. "Okay. Great."
"Yeah."
Determined to break the awkwardness, Juno suddenly tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck in a light embrace. "So. Friends?"
"Of course." He hugs her back and plasters on a smile. "I missed you."
"Me too. Let's never do that again." His heart fractures a little at that, but then she presses her lips to his cheek and it leaps embarrassingly. "Okay, loser. Now leave." She pushes him away playfully. "Get to class."
"Fine, fine, I'm going." Jeno leans down to pet Shawty. "See you later?"
"Yes. Oh, also," she calls, and he turns back. "I was thinking we could probably stop our training."
Jeno's brow wrinkles, blindsided. "What? How come?"
"Just..." Juno fiddles with her fingers. "You've helped me a lot. I don't really need to do any extra from now on. Did I tell you about the psychokinesis thing?"
"We haven't been telling each other much of anything lately," he points out, tone unreadable.
"You're right. I'll fill you in later."
"Okay, I'm leaving. Get some rest, alright?" Juno hums in response, and then he's gone.
She glances down at the kitten once the door's shut. "That went well, didn't it?"
Shawty just cocks her head to the side with an unimpressed look, like she's very much calling Juno out on her bullshit.
▸
Later the next week, in Korean class, Haechan is spoiling for a fight.
Like right now. Juno is writing, minding her own business, when a voice comes from over her shoulder. "Your essay's shit," he comments.
Juno glowers at him, quickly covering her notebook. "You are shit," is her lame response.
"Leave her alone, Hyuck," Jeno calls from his desk where he and Jaemin have been gossiping about whatever instead of drafting the essays they've been assigned to. Juno looks over at him and they exchange a smile, having found their footing with each other again. Almost.
"Yeah, let's see what you wrote." Mark gets up and walks to Haechan's desk, picking up his paper. They've been asked to write about a memorable event in their lives, one that had a large impact on them as a person. "My memorable event was the Saturday night that I decided to watch Train to Busan," Mark begins, reading aloud in a nasally voice. "That movie forever changed my life because-"
Everyone dissolves into chuckles, and Haechan rushes over to snatch the book from Mark's fingers before he can continue. "Uh, privacy?!"
"No, keep going. I want to hear the rest of it," Renjun calls from his own desk, where he's been dutifully writing his paper. Then he yawns, stretching, and walks over to perch on top of Juno's desk. "What are you writing about?"
"I'm writing about the time I found a dead girl in the hallway," she answers with zero hesitation. He blinks at her. She blinks right back.
Renjun inclines his head. "Definitely memorable," he quips. "Let's hope you're better at essays than you are at Biology."
"Screw off," she scoffs, but he just laughs and leaves. Despite his teasing, however, Juno's grades actually are higher than they've ever been. She's not sure what to attribute that to. Perhaps it's the mental illness.
Later, after she's written down a little more, Haechan returns. "Still shit," he singsongs, evidently working hard at pissing her off.
"I forgot to thank you," Juno says instead.
Haechan blinks dumbly. "Huh?"
"For that night," she reiterates. "When I got wasted. Thanks for taking care of my drunk ass. You didn't really have to." She shrugs. "And I was actually able fall asleep in your bed, so thank you. It was nice of you to do that for me."
Haechan's lips are parted, still taken aback. Then he mumbles, "Well, it wasn't really for you, I just would've felt guilty if I left you there-"
"Okay, I take it all back," Juno scowls. "Asshole."
"Kidding," he amends quickly. "you're welcome, Sherry."
She cocks a brow at him. "Sherry?"
He smirks. "What do you think got you so drunk?"
"Like, vodka or something?"
"Nope. You were stubborn about sherry. For someone who barely drinks, your alcoholic tastes are quite sophisticated." He eyes her. "And then you named the bottle Winey."
She scoffs. "I did no such thing."
"Please." Haechan sassily rolls his eyes at her. "And you know what else you did?" Suddenly, he leans in closer. Juno immediately reels back, but she can only move so far, and soon their faces are mere inches apart. His mouth curls into a smirk. "Juno. Do I make you nervous?"
"No, you make me nauseous," she sneers once she's gotten over her surprise, and places a hand on his face to harshly push him away. But a feeling of déjà vu rises up in her chest. "What is wrong with you?"
Haechan shrugs and steps away, turning so his ruddy cheeks aren't visible. "I wanted payback," he says.
"For what?" Her face scrunches, then she shakes her head. "Never mind, I don't care. Go away."
"What are you guys doing?" Jeno and Jaemin have paused their conversation and are looking over at the two, brows raised. She wonders how much of that they saw.
"Nothing," Juno answers quickly. "Don't talk to me," she tells Haechan. "Weirdo."
He rolls his eyes, but leaves her alone for the rest of the class.
▸
She's thinking again.
There's only a few minutes left of lunch, and Juno has just been wandering around the school by herself. Thinking seems to be all she does these days, and today is no exception. Her brain is so full that all the worries end up just blurring together into one knotted mess.
And that's when she hears it. A whimper, maybe a soft sob? She's not sure what the sound is, but it's distressing enough for her to turn onto the corridor to check it out.
It's irrational, but part of her is almost expecting another dead body. Or maybe that's not irrational at all.
There ends up being no corpse in sight, thank goodness. But Juno isn't convinced that what she's seeing right now is necessarily any better. The scene is familiar, one she's definitely witnessed before: a group of kids stand crowded around a lone figure on the floor. Their taunts, jeers, kicks, and the balled-up frame of whoever they're harassing is enough to make her see red.
"What the hell do you fuckers think you're doing?" The words burst from her lips in a malevolent hiss.
The kids seem surprised for a moment. A cursory glance at them tells Juno that they're younger, perhaps in Chenle and Jisung's level. But then the boy who appears to be the ringleader sneers. "Stay out of this, Senior. We have unfinished business to deal with."
Juno doesn't acknowledge his words. She pushes her way to the front and extends a hand to the person on the floor, a boy whose cheek is swollen and face bruised from the beating he's taken. He just stares at her outstretched hand for a moment, hesitant and distrustful, before finally taking it and standing up. Juno's face is impassive. "What did you do to them?" she asks. "Why are they hurting you?"
"I forgot to fetch them snacks," he answers, cowed as his eyes fix on the floor.
Her jaw clenches as she jerks her head sharply to the side. "Leave."
The younger boy doesn't need to be told twice.
"Excuse me, ahjumma," the so-called leader speaks again, using the term for an older lady in an attempt to rile her up. Juno doesn't respond to his insolence. "Who the fuck do you think you are? None of this concerns you!"
"Doesn't it?" Juno steps closer. "I don't know, there's just something about babbling idiots trying to throw their weight around that irks me."
"Who are you calling idiots?" A girl steps forward, raising a brow with much attitude.
"You. I'm calling you idiots. Or did you not understand?" Juno heaves an exaggerated sigh. "And get rid of that stupid eyebrow slit, it looks ridiculous." It's actually a little attractive, but she's not about to say that. "If it's supposed to make you seem scarier, it's not working. And wear your shirt properly, for God's sake." She shakes her head, enjoying this. "Stop with the wannabe-thug business and go study."
"Hey! Who do you think you are?!" the leader roars. He throws a sloppy punch. Juno dodges it.
"Hey, what was that?" She gives him a disapproving look. "Have physicals taught you nothing? You were bullying a poor kid and you can't even throw a proper punch?"
They all come at her, and for a moment, she completely blanches. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to provoke these kids. They might be younger, but they've got numbers and anger on their side.
But... these brats do need to be taught a lesson. Maybe they'll understand the error of their ways if their own medicine is doled out to them. If it's her that needs to teach them the said lesson, so be it. And if it's violence that's the answer, why should she hold back?
Also there is a part of her that's itching for a fight, even if she isn't ready to admit that to herself.
Juno shuts her eyes, waiting for the impact that never comes. After a moment, she slowly wrenches one eye open. Some of the kids have been flung at the walls, fallen and groaning in pain.
Oh right, she can do the mind thing now.
And so, with a cockiness reminiscent of Haechan, Juno clasps both hands behind her back. A small smirk dances on her lips. "Is that all you got?" she jeers. "Come on, don't let this ahjumma beat you to a pulp." The kids growl indignantly, and soon more punches and kicks are being thrown in her direction.
But not a single one of them land.
Without lifting a finger, she not only blocks their attacks but turns it back on them. Soon the kids are accidentally laying punches on each other that were originally meant to be for her, tripping over their feet for no apparent reason, or just falling. Some are smarter and stop attacking, nursing their bruises instead. But those who continue don't for much longer. They lie in pain on the floor, griping about their injuries. "Anyone else?" she asks.
Nobody comes forward.
All of a sudden, one by one, they kneel, bowing to the floor. Juno's eyes grow wide. She's not the one making them do this. They're prostrating on the ground to her voluntarily. "Get up!" she barks, uncomfortable. "What are you lunatics doing?"
"We apologize. Noona." The leader hangs his head. The rest of them echo his sentiments, like some sort of cult.
"What's your name?" Juno demands, voice shaky, still freaked out.
"Me?" He runs a parched tongue over his lips. "Choi Byung-Ho, noona."
"Okay, Byung-Ho," Juno begins, narrowing her eyes at him. "I expect that you will keep your little group out of trouble from now on? I will never see or hear anything like this ever again?"
Byung-Ho nods rapidly. "Yes, noona."
"Do I have your word?"
"Yes." The rest repeat after him.
"God, will you stop that?" Juno steps back. "I hope you learned your lesson. Now get the fuck up."
They do, bowing as they leave. "Bye, noona! See you around!"
Juno watches them go, a tiny smile playing on her lips as she starts walking away. Those kids will be okay, hopefully. She didn't hurt any of them too badly. But then her smile drops as she looks down, turning her hands over as she examines them.
Because for a second there, she could've hurt them. She would've hurt them. What was happening? Why did she feel both her mind and body changing as each day rolled by? Why did she suddenly have more than one ability, and why were they both so strong?
What exactly is she capable of?
Juno has no idea. And that scares her more than anything.
note:
editing this on my phone and one time Renjun's name autocorrected to "rebound" like what exactly are you tryna tell me