“I can't do this..” Myungsoo gave up, it was useless. He was never going to be able to control his powers. He let himself slide down the cold concrete wall, collapsing on the floor, completely spent, both physically and mentally.

“Yes, you can. Try again.” a voice over the intercom tried to convince him. There was no bodyless voice going to tell him what to do. It wasn't in here, risking its own life for a stupid evaluation. He didn't need an evaluation. He already knew it was useless. It was only getting worse. He had almost killed a person yesterday. He was probably going to spend the rest of his life locked up like this, in an empty cell where he couldn't make any more mistakes. He looked at the gray wall in front of him, feeling like it was closing in on him. Was the room getting smaller? This wasn't a school, this was a prison!

“Try again.” the voice repeated, but he didn't budge. He didn't care what would become of him. It was all over anyway. There was no use fighting it.

When he showed no sign of giving in, the door of the cell opened.

“You'll never get the hang of it if you don't try.” a concerned woman raised her eyebrow at him. Myungsoo simply shrugged. She didn't understand how it felt to be so out of control. She didn't understand any of it. He felt so lost. So alone. He never asked for any of this!

Myungsoo flung the door to the staircase open. Finally, an escape from those endless tests that couldn't tell him anything he didn't already know. He was screwed. Broken. Damaged goods. Somebody should just get it over with and throw him away. That would be easier on everyone.

Frustrated, he kicked the lowest step of the stairs.

“What did the step ever do to you?” he heard a boy chuckle. He looked up to see him sitting at the top of the flight of stairs he was attacking.

“What did it ever do for me?” Myungsoo grinned, trying to master the art of comebacks. The guy laughed. He had a nice laugh. It was light and cheerful, and made you want to join in.

“I haven't seen you around before, are you new?” the boy continued with curious eyes. Myungsoo nodded. He was starting to feel a bit shy. That was one handsome stair protector.

“What's your power?” he kept digging. Myungsoo shrugged, embarrassed to tell him that what he had could barely qualify as a power.

“I'm Woohyun. I'm an aeromancer. I can bend the air at will and ride the winds, sky is the limit!” the guy proclaimed.

“Wow.” Myungsoo was genuinely impressed.

“So.. what's yours?” Woohyun asked eagerly, clearly expecting there to be an exchange of information, since he shared his, it was only fair that Myungsoo would divulge his secret too.

“Dunno.. doesn't really work right...” Myungsoo could feel his cheeks starting to burn.

“Show me.” Woohyun urged him, excitement lighting his eyes.

“No. It's too dangerous.” he apologized.

“Huh. Some other time then.” Woohyun waved as he jogged past him and out the door. Myungsoo didn't know why, but he felt better after their interaction, lighter somehow. Maybe he had changed the air pressure or something.

In fact, he felt so much better, that he could see a tiny hole through the dark black clouds surrounding his head. A tiny spark of hope ignited in his chest. Maybe he should try again. After all, giving up would gain him nothing.

After what felt like hours of walking, he finally stopped to catch his breath. He had waded through a forest on the school grounds in order to find a spot that was totally secluded, completely void of people. This would do nicely. He was standing in a small clearing in the middle of nowhere. He couldn't hear the hustle and bustle of the everyday school day anymore. It was so quiet, he could almost hear his own heart beating. It was beating too fast. He wasn't sure if it was his embarrassingly low stamina, or his nerves. Probably a mix of the two.

Okay! Time to get started.

He looked around for a good object to focus on, but there was nothing there except for a few fallen leaves, a couple of pebbles and a huge rock. The leaves looked harmless enough, though he had learned not to underestimate the destructive power of objects when they were under his control. Although it usually felt like they were controlling him and not the other way around.

He took a deep breath and focused on a half-wilted leaf. At first nothing happened. Then, out of nowhere, it flew up in the air and was swept away with the wind. He looked around to see if Woohyun was somewhere lurking about but there was no one there. He was alone. Granted, the wind didn't really need Woohyun’s help to move a single leaf. Maybe it had just been the wind. He couldn't be sure. He moved his focus on to the pebbles. They were more dangerous, having the power to poke someone’s eye out, and the only eyes present were his own, so he'd rather avoid that particular outcome, but they were something the wind couldn't take credit for.

He took another deep breath.

“Come on pebbles, dance!” he commanded, holding his hand out like he was a character in a superhero movie. He started to feel a bit silly, but he decided just to go with it.

And it worked!

Not only did the pebbles levitate, but they were dancing! Or well, moving in circles around each other in mid air. Close enough. He wasn't sure pebbles had a deeper sense of choreography than that.

Amazed and satisfied, he released the pebbles like a puppet master releasing his puppets at the end of a show. Thank you and goodnight! Only, there was no audience. The first time he nailed it, and there was nobody here to see it. It was enough that he himself had seen it. He could do it, whatever it was that he had done.

He was about to head back, when his eyes caught a glimpse of the big rock that was just sitting there, minding its own business, for who knew how many centuries. ‘No, quit while you're ahead' a voice in his brain advised him. But he was on a high, his fingertips itching for another rush. If he could do pebbles, why should a rock be any different? His hand shot out theatrically, pointed at the giant rock that was half-embedded in the ground.

“Fly!” he instructed it, trying to channel all his energy through his hand.

His heart skipped a beat when the rock started struggling to get out of its earthy imprisonment. He held his breath, focusing on a single spot at the top of the rock.

“Up!” he shouted, pearls of cold sweat trickling down his forehead, a couple of drops landing right in his eyes, but he fought to keep them open.

And then it happened. There was an ominous cracking sound like a chunk of wood being broken, probably a tree root tentacle, as the rock cut itself loose and shot high up in the air. It was like an iceberg, only 10% of the rock had been visible. It was huge!

Myungsoo was thrilled. He did that! And not by accident, he purposefully did that!

“Woohoo!!” he excitedly shouted at the top of his lungs and laughed out loud. But then he noticed a shadow around the tip of his shoes. It was growing bigger each second. He gasped and looked up. He had forgotten the most fundamental rule of physics. What goes up, must come down again. Oh, no! He froze. The mountain of solid rock was headed right for him, and fast. There was no time to react. He was done for. This was it, the end of his inconsequential life.

He always thought his brain would show a greatest hits clip from his life at the moment of death, but it was just blank. There were no greatest hits, there were barely any mediocre hits to speak of. He had never done anything brave or amazing. He had never been anywhere exotic or adventurous. Heck, he had never even fallen in love. The only thing he had worthwhile was Sungyeol, and he really was sorry for having to leave without so much as a goodbye. He was going to miss him, wherever he was going.

Scared to the core, truly not wanting to die, he closed his eyes and waited to see what heaven looked like. Before discovering what so many people had spent their whole lives searching for, Myungsoo was hit by a truck, or at least that was what it felt like. No, not from above, but from the side. He hit the ground, hard. Everything ached. He coughed and tried to open his eyes. There was something on top of him.

“Wow, that was close!” Dongwoo spat out a couple of leaves and smiled, even though he was clearly in pain. It was the boy from the principal's office, the one who got hit, the one he didn't get a chance to apologize properly to at the hospital, the one he had nearly killed. What was he doing here?

“You... again?” he stammered, in shock.

“We’ve gotta stop meeting like this.” Dongwoo giggled, grinning like an idiot.

“Man, it took me so long to find you.” He added out of breath, shaking his head.

“You were looking for me? You were…following me?” Myungsoo wrinkled his eyebrows, not liking where this was going. Did he blame him for what happened? Was he seeking revenge?

“Uuuhm… you could say that.” Dongwoo chuckled, before adding “Hey, I never did get your name. Mine's Dongwoo.”.

“Heh, I know.” He replied absentminded, for he was focusing on what was happening elsewhere, around the buttock region, to be precise.

“Wait, how do you know?” Dongwoo said surprised, seemingly not too bothered about just how tight they were smooshed together on the ground.

“Hospital name tag. I'm Myungsoo. But ehm… you kind of.. uh… have your… your hand on my .” He complained in the most courteous manner he could possibly think of.

He could not believe what happened next. Before removing his hand as asked, there was actual… cupping.

“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Dongwoo grinned, giggling like a schoolgirl.

“What?” Myungsoo was outraged, harshly pushing him off him, coughing as he tried to sit upright. His whole side burned. Still, it was better than being dead. That guy had really saved his life, he thought, as he saw the crater the rock had created on impact. That could have been him. What luck that this weirdo had been stalking him. But that didn't give him the right to just go ahead and grab his…

“How about we meet sometime on purpose?” Dongwoo gave him a wink and a wide smile.

“Huh?” Myungsoo could not keep up with how random this guy was. Was he threatening him? Calling him out for a duel or something?

“A date, silly!” Dongwoo's cheeks slightly reddened as he bit his lip shyly.