"After that, I had to survive the streets on my own. I had some cash, but because I didn't have my band, I couldn't go to any of the convenience stores. It got to the point that I was nearly dying of thirst when I came across someone trying to mug a girl, and they had a knife.
"I didn't even think before I stepped in to stop him. After that, I was in a clear enough state of mind to know that I messed up using my gift in front of people. Thankfully, though, rather than being scared of me, the woman thanked me by buying me food and water," Jisung informed Minho, continuing his story.
"I became a sort of vigilante soon after, helping wherever I could. Most of the other poor and homeless on the streets were just glad someone was helping them when the rest of the city had forsaken them, so to thank me, they helped me in all the little ways they could. It didn't take long for the IPBA to start putting in a lot of effort and resources to capture me in order to prevent me from 'giving other Gifteds ideas about playing hero', but I was too fast for them. They couldn't ever find where I was hiding because I would run all over the city, creating false trails, before I ever went back to my little temporary home inside an abandoned shop," Jisung paused his story and let out a half laugh.
"That's why I sure as hell was surprised when I returned one day to find Chan just casually sitting in my armchair that was falling apart. Still not quite sure how he managed to find me when an entire agency of people couldn't, but after he saw the IPBA giving me so much attention and he had looked into my story, he really wanted me at the academy. Over the years, I've learned not to question things like this with Chan. He is just a genius, gifts aside. When Chan hyung really wants something, he is a whole other person. He always finds a way."
"I've only known you all two days and I can already tell just how good a leader he is," Minho said, speaking for the first time since his story began now that Jisung had finished.
"Yeah, a great leader and a great friend. He really helped me refocus all my pent up emotions when I came to the academy."
"I still can't entirely believe that a place like the academy exists. Why does JYP care enough about Gifteds to make us a safe haven? Normies doing anything for Gifteds without it being in their own interest just doesn't add up to me."
"You really don't like Normies do you?"
"Do I have to? No Normie ever showed me kindness as I was growing up except two people, but they just turned on me, too, in the end," Minho replied to Jisung's question with a bitterness to his words.
"Well, I think Normies aren't all bad. My parents were Normies, and they loved me regardless. And for JYP, I don't know the full story since only a few at the academy do, but Chan once said something about him falling in love with a Gifted girl. Something happened to her, I'm not sure exactly what, but after that, he swore to himself that he would pave a path to give Gifteds the proper chance to make their lives worth something, in an environment where we were free to use our gifts. Free to be special. Just like my mother had wanted."
As Jisung spoke about his mother's final words again, he seemed to become a bit emotional, so Minho placed a hand over his knee and squeezed it to reassure the younger.
"Isn't JYP like old, though...?" Minho questioned eventually after processing the story. The first Gifteds started being born in 1992 which he was sure was long after JYP had been born.
"Yeah... I choose not to think about that too much," Jisung said in response. They both nervously laughed together for a moment. "So... what about you? What was keeping you up? Tell me your story, Lee Minho."
"There isn't much to tell, to be honest."
"What are you talking about? There is obviously a story behind all of your Normie opinions. You literally just mentioned something about two Normies betraying you. Not to mention what was keeping you up when we first started this conversation. I showed you mine, so you show me yours. Spill the tea," ranted Jisung as he poked Minho's arm whilst the older laughed.
"Fine, fine. You win. However, I feel like my childhood is so contradictory to yours that I almost feel awkward to share it now."
"Why?" Jisung began to ask before possibilities rolled through his head. "Oh no, were your parents abusive or something because you were Gifted? Changbin and Felix's parents were like that."
"No, they weren't abusive, they didn't even have the guts to live with a monster like me. I was also older when I had my examination done because I didn't gain my gifts until I was five years old, so I remember it decently well, too," Minho began to explain in a monotone voice. " It was just as awful for me as it was for you except at the end of it, my parents never bothered to pick me up. They just disappeared into thin air, running away from their problem."
"That's terrible. Did no one bother to track them down?"
"They did. The IPBA agents at the examination center weren't too surprised when they didn't show up since apparently it happens enough to be considered 'normal', but they always track the parents down. It usually just leads to abusive upbringings, but I guess that isn't the IPBA's problem. The thing is, though, they could never find my parents. Guess they were good at running."
"So what happened to you?"
"Ended up in the foster system, jumped from home to home, no one ever wanting to deal with me long enough to find a true home. The other Normie kids in the homes would always bully and beat me up too, so I eventually taught myself how to defend myself, hence the amazing martial art skills," Minho's tone briefly changed to a sarcastic bragging as he hyped his fighting abilities and wiggled his eyebrows in a comedic way. This caused Jisung to smile despite the severity of what Minho was actually saying. "Whenever I eventually fought back and injured another kid too bad, they would kick me out and send me to the next one."
"Wow. I didn't realize," Jisung began to say, slightly regretting trying to nitpick his hatred of Normies.
"It's okay. You didn't know."
From Minho's story, it seemed like he had never been happy in his life, but Jisung had previously thought he had the face of someone who was happy once but then lost it all. Just like himself. He had always thought he was good at reading people, so he checked by asking, "Were you ever happy?"
Minho sighed, regretting reliving this part of his story the most. "I guess you could say I was. When I had just turned fourteen, I was placed with a foster family that was only looking to take care of one foster kid and were okay with that child being Gifted. They were good to me, nice to me even. They would take me out to do things on their own money, would stand up for me when I got in trouble at school, would hug me and touch me like I wasn't some unnatural monster. They treated me like their own son."
"So you did find loving parents."
"I thought I had. That's why I was so happy when they said they wanted to adopt me a year later. I finally had a home," Minho paused, not quite sure how much of the next part he was willing to share. Should he reveal that he was missing five years of his memory? Could he mention Cerberus? Could he tell them that someone wanted him dead? "That's why I was crushed when I found out they actually weren't nice to me because they actually liked me. They just adopted me for the money they could make by selling a Gifted to human traffickers. The next five years were just shitty until BTS managed to save me from it all." He half lied.
"You were trafficked?" Jisung said utterly surprised. He hadn't expected that from the boy. "That is fucked up. And believe me, I would know. Me, Chan, and Changbin helped save Woojin from traffickers back when we were allowed to only do intel missions as our mini team, 3racha. We were the ones who figured out where the ring's operations were so that Twice was able to free everyone." Jisung shivered at the ghastly memory he had of people treating other people like show dogs. He didn't even want to imagine how they had treated Minho, knowing that his gift of healing would've been in high demand. "When they freed Woojin, he had lost all of his senses since he was forced to remain in animal forms for so long. He wouldn't return to his human form, and acted like a wild animal, like he had forgotten how to be human. Twice, which is another team from the academy, by the way, sedated him and took him back to the academy so that we could help him. Chan was the only one that managed to go near Woojin, though, since Chan hyung could talk to him. It took a while, but he eventually got Woojin to return to human form and from there he helped Woojin to regain his humanity. Like I said before, when Chan wants something, he gets it."
"Wow, I never would have guessed that Woojin went through something like that. He seems really put together to me, especially when it comes to looking after you guys."
"Ha, yeah. Woojin hyung is like our dad. I guess having younger brothers to look after him helped him a lot, plus ever since he and Chan got together, Woojin has been the happiest, most confident person ever."
"Wait, they're a couple?" Minho asked. He wasn't totally surprised, he just wasn't expecting it to actually be true.
"Well, technically neither of them will admit it, but the rest of us aren't blind," Jisung side whispered to Minho. "They are totally dating."
"Huh, that's nice that they found each other. Their gifts even kind of compliment each other. Woojin can turn into animals and Chan can speak with animals. Fitting."
They both became quiet. Everything was silent except for the sound of the semi-truck moving and a few snores coming from various people spread around the trailer. Now that they had said everything aloud, the emotional rollercoaster began to cause sleep take over both Minho and Jisung's minds. Jisung slowly let his body relax, his head finding its way to resting on Minho's shoulder. When had they become this comfortable together?
Another minute passed, and Minho was about to nod off just leaning against the wall when Jisung briefly spoke again, "I know we just met, but it feels like we've known each other forever. Even though most things in our lives up to this point have actually sucked, at least it brought all nine of us together. I like our team as nine."
Minho didn't verbally respond because he was frankly too sleepy to, but he heard and took everything Jisung had said to heart. 'All nine of us'. After a brief, unseen smile at the younger's words, Minho leaned his head on top of Jisung's head in acknowledgment.
'I'm an us now,' Minho thought to himself. He liked the sound of that.
*********
Ayyeeee,
This chapter marks the end of the first 'part' of the story (I'm not gonna separate the parts or anything, just letting you know kinda where we at and how long this fic will end up being).
There are gonna be about four parts (really more like arcs if ya know the anime lingo) in total sooo yea! A forth of the way through. Im excited hehe ^.^
Anywaysssss, more insight into peoples! Yay!
Q: What is your favorite snow cone flavor?
A mix of strawberry and orange flavoring I would have to say. I lot of the time snow cone places have like specialty flavors that I try out too, but you can never no wrong with strawberries and oranges together.
Ugh, I work at a smoothie place, and I use to make this smoothie all the time that was strawberries, orange, and peaches. It was sooooo good, but then we got rid of orange and I was all sad :'(
Thank youuuuuuuu my wonderful readers!
~Shadow