The school bell rang to indicate break time for the children. Young tots squealed and jumped off their seats, running off toward the playground provided at the school yard to play with their peers.

Xiumin was among the last few to run out of his classroom. Once he was through the doors, he frantically looked around, searching for someone in particular. His eyes scanned through the crowd of little children, and the occasional supervising teacher, until he finally spotted the figure and he ran as fast as his tiny legs could carry him.

"Papa! Papa!" he squealed, his arms immediately wrapping around his target's legs once he reached the other. The adult chuckled then bent down to the child's level just as Xiumin let go of his limbs.

"Yes, Xiuminnie?" Luhan smiled fondly, brushing his fingers through the child's short strands. The child giggled and grinned as if he received the largest lollipop in existence.

"I can make ice!" Xiumin exclaimed with his arms up in the air for exaggeration. The older blinked in surprise then a chuckle rolled out of his lips again.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Xiumin will show papa!" then the child sprinted back into his classroom to grab the fishbowl he was holding earlier. Not about a minute later, he was seen stumbling back towards Luhan with the said fish bowl in his hands, the water inside dangerously threatening to spill. Even from afar, Luhan could see the lone fish inside the bowl rocking back and forth. The poor thing must've probably gone extremely dizzy, unaware of what's rocking its world.

"Careful with that, Xiumin-ah," the adult warned when Xiumin was within earshot. The little tot ed the fishbowl into Luhan's arms with a huge smile on his face, his eyes nearly disappearing. Confused, the older questioned, "What would you like to show me?"

Without a verbal reply, Xiumin carefully placed a palm onto the glass surface of the fishbowl. Nothing happened at first but, as Xiumin concentrated his full attention onto the water, the bowl slowly started to feel cold to the touch. With wide eyes, Luhan watched as the water transitioned from warm liquid to freezing cold ice, this time encasing the goldfish to a still. Luhan knew, though, that the goldfish was alive and well, despite being frozen in place.

"Xiumin!" Luhan breathed out, clearly at a loss for words. His son was an Evolved, which was very unexpected. The young boy's act attracted a few of the children within close range, their faces showing surprise and excitement as they crowded around the pair.

"See that, papa?" Xiumin brightened, looking proud of what he could now do. Even though his palm was still on the frozen glass surface, he didn't seem fazed by how cold the bowl felt.

"Whoa! Did you do that, Xiumin?" one little girl, Yujin was her name from what Luhan could remember, asked in awe. Her eyes seemed to lighten in amazement as she stared at the small, chubby-cheeked boy. Said boy grinned proudly and nodded like a bobble-head.

The children surrounding them breathed out their amazement and wonder, talking about how cool Xiumin's powers were.

Luhan was still shocked. He really didn't expect this. Even though he was surprised, he was happy, too. What a coincidence it was for his son to be an Evolved as well.

Finally smiling with pride for his son, he reaches up to mess the boy's hair, receiving giggles of joy, "Papa! My hair!" Xiumin squealed then grinned.

The adult grinned then motioned to the fishbowl, saying, "Now, free the little goldfish. He's trapped!"

Xiumin blinked. He definitely knew how to make ice from water, but could he also do the opposite? Biting his lip, he stared down at the frozen goldfish, which eyes seemed to be looking right back at him.

He was determined to try it, at least.

The boy breathed in a long breath, suddenly looking serious and his attitude seeming older than his age. He placed his palms onto the surface of the glass bowl and then closed his eyes, concentrating onto the bowl.

Xiumin felt a strange, unfamiliar entity flowing through him; it felt like some sort of energy was swimming through his body and concentrating onto his hands. However, being only a small child, he only knew so much of the world for now and so, he decided to call the weird but invigorating feeling as Mist, because it felt like the cool mist from their backyard sprinkler during a hot, summer's day. As his body tinkled with Mist, he concentrated his mind and imagined the fishbowl to thaw. He was new to all this 'power stuff', but if it helped in any way, it wouldn't hurt to imagine what he wanted to do.

The fishbowl in Luhan's and Xiumin's hands began to thaw and, eventually, the goldfish was able to swim around inside it's little tank again. Luhan watched as the ice melted back into clear liquid water. It was an understatement to say that he was proud of his little boy, for he knew that Xiumin only discovered his powers recently, yet he could already do a lot with his newfound ability.

"You did it, Xiumin-ah," Luhan praised with a warm smile. The called boy opened his eyes and lit up at the sight of the thawed fishbowl.

"I can't wait to show appa!" he exclaimed with a wide grin. Chuckling, Luhan ruffled the boy's hair once more before giving the fishbowl back and instructing him to return the class pet where he found it. The boy ran off with the children, who witnessed the 'magic', flanking him.

After a few hours, school ended for the day and it was time to go home. Luhan packed his things into his case, said his goodbyes to his fellow teaching staff, and went to pick up his son to go home. Xiumin was already waiting for him at the school's front doors, shifting his weight back-and-forth on his heels and toes and humming the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Or was it the alphabet? Luhan couldn't tell because the tunes of both songs were exactly the same.

"Hey, buddy! Let's go home, hmm?" Luhan smiled fondly towards his son, who smiled brightly upon seeing his parent. The little boy nodded eagerly and held his papa's hand as they walked through the school gates and out to the sidewalk.

The school wasn't far from their home. It was easily accessible by car but it wasn't hard to walk to from their house, either. Luhan sometimes drove but he preferred to walk with his son so they could spend this time to be together. Besides, it's good exercise.

Within 10 minutes, the pair arrived home. They slipped off their shoes once Luhan keyed the door open. As he closed the front door behind them, Luhan habitually called out, "We're home!"

"Welcome home," a voice replied back. Goodness, today was full of surprises. Luhan didn't expect his partner to be home early. To prove his presence, the said partner appeared at the hallway from the dining room doorway. He sported a satisfied smile on his face which was between a grimace and a small smile, something that Luhan's gotten used to and eventually learned to love.

"Appa!" Xiumin exclaimed and ran for his other father, enveloping the other man into a tight hug. "Appa's home early!"

"Yes, I am," Luhan's partner chuckled, planting a quick kiss on the little boy's forehead. He then looked up and met Luhan's eyes, smiling that same strange but kind-of-cute smile. He earned a satisfied grin in return. He bent down to Xiumin's level, "Appa bought some of your favorite steam buns for you. They're from your favorite shop, too."

Xiumin's eyes grew wide as saucers, "Really?"

"Yes, really. They're on the table," Xiumin's appa smiled then told him to run off to have his snack. Quick as lightning, Xiumin bolted into the dining room, squealing in delight at the sight of his favorite snack. Once alone, the man averted his attention to Luhan, who chuckled as they strode across the hallway to meet each other halfway.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself," Luhan grinned as he hugged his partner tight, "Quick shift today, Sehun?"

"Yeah. Not much happening in the office so I decided to come home," Sehun explained then briefly kissed his Luhan on his lips, "How was work?"

"Good. The kids had a coloring competition today," Luhan replied, taking note of Sehun's strangely messed-up brown locks. He combs his fingers through it while laughing, "Why is your hair like that?"

"Like what?" Sehun questioned, his eyes averting up in an effort to look at his tufts. He combed his own fingers through his hair, too, smiling a little at seeing how happy his partner was.

"It's so messy! What did you do? Run a marathon?" Luhan laughed harder, covering his mouth with a hand out of habit.

"Heyyy," Sehun whined and earned a cheeky grin from the other.

Their little tot then started to bounce back to where the couple was, grinning from ear-to-ear with stuffed cheeks and a half-eaten bun in one hand. Xiumin called as best as he could with a stuffed mouth, "Appa! Appa!" Little bits of the bun he was eating pelted off his mouth and onto the floor, but he didn't notice or even care since he had something more important to tell his appa anyway.

"Xiuminnie, don't talk with your mouth full," Luhan scolded in a light tone, actually finding the kid extremely adorable. In response, Xiumin nodded his head and proceeded to swallow the lump of food in his mouth quickly.

Once done, he grinned again, flashing his teeth this time, then said, "Appa! I can make ice!"

"Ice?" Sehun asked aloud, looking towards Luhan to understand on what their child meant.

"Oh," Luhan snapped his fingers, "Yeah! Xiumin has powers, Hunnie! He can freeze water into ice and vice versa," and he smiled proudly. If he were a chicken or a mother duck, Luhan would be fluffing his feathers out proudly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah! Yeah! I'll show appa, too!" and, having forgotten the half-eaten steamed bun on his hand despite holding it, he ran inside the dining area. The couple followed suit, catching sight of their child carefully pouring a glass of water for himself. Afterwards, the child picked up the glass with both hands and walked back to stand in front of Sehun.

Sehun knelt to have a better look and to be at his child's level. With a smile, he murmured loud enough for the only family he's got, "Let's see what you can do."

Smiling, himself, Xiumin closed his eyes and imagined the water in the glass freezing into ice. He also called upon Mist, his now newfound friend which he had within him, to help. In a faster response than Luhan had seen back in school, the water froze into ice and Sehun widened his eyes at the sight. So It was true — his son was an Evolved!

Xiumin opened his eyes, having felt that he was done, and squealed in delight at what he'd been able to do yet again, "See that, appa? It's cool, right?"

Sehun was at a lost for words, but his half-smile and half-amazed expression said it all. Luhan stood behind his partner, smiling just as proud.

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Good day!

Well, I originally planned to post this chapter yesterday, but things arose and I was unable to.

Anyway, thank you to those who have already subscribed, despite the horrible prologue! I appreciate the support so very muchos ^^)/ If you have any friends who you think might like a story like this one, please share this to them!

Also, don't forget to comment! I would love some thoughts on the progression ♥

Adieu!

date published: May 4, 2016