Do Kyungsoo clenched his fists tightly as he glowered at his prey.

He was known in Yeongnam High as the absolute fighter, one who never gave up no matter what challenge was thrown at him. He took all competition and training seriously, resulting to how good he now was. Kyungsoo was feared, and he took pride in that.

“Are we going to fight or what?” Tao taunted, raising a brow. He stood in the middle of the mat with folded arms, waiting for the older boy to attack.

“Oh, Huang ZiTao. You act like that now but once I finish you up, you’ll be crying for me to stop and beg for mercy,” he said, circling around the boy. “You think you got what it takes, huh? You think you got it?”

Tao rolled his eyes. “Let me guess. You got that from a movie? ‘Cause really, how cheesy can you be?” he snorted. “Can we get this over with? This match will never happen if you keep on with your little skit.”

“You cocky little prick,” he hissed. “Wait ‘till I’m done with you. I think you forgot about the fact that I’m ten times stronger now than I already am.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now stop staring at me like you’re gonna have me for dinner.”

Tao smirked. Kyungsoo’s eye twitched.

“Maybe I will,” he muttered under his breath before charging towards him.

Tao chuckled as he watched Kyungsoo advance. It was just so amusing to mess with the boy. He knew what Kyungsoo could do to him, but sometimes his hot-headedness got the better of him which makes it so much easier for Tao to not take him seriously.

Like now, for instance.

Tao intently stared back at Kyungsoo, his range of hearing becoming sensitive once again. He heard the rapid breaths of his opponent. The clashing of fist to skin as Chanyeol and Kai sparred in the other mat. Xiumin’s whining. Kris’ silent whispers of protest. The whiff of wind as it collided with the glass windows. The hums of the security cameras.

Then everything stilled.

ZiTao laughed, propping a lazy hand on his waist. He did it. Time control.

He examined Kyungsoo’s frozen form, his face inches from his. With much amusement, he pushed Kyungsoo’s forehead with his index finger, sending the boy falling to his back.

Tao carefully placed his foot on top of his opponent’s chest. Once he was all set, he snapped his fingers and everything returned to normal.

Tao gazed down teasingly at Kyungsoo. “Well, well, well, D.O. How’s the weather down there?”

The other boy’s eyes widened as he looked around his surroundings. “What the–wasn’t I just attacking you?” he asked, genuinely bewildered.

Tao shrugged. “I don’t know. Last time I checked, I was kicking your .”

“What!?” he yelled. “I don’t remember! Someone like you could never beat someone like–wait a second. Did you use your power?”

He feigned innocence. “Huh? How can you say that?”

“You ing bastard! You used your power! You stopped time!” Kyungsoo exclaimed. “You little snake! How can you do that when we were having a match! This is a battle of strength, not magical powers and get your foot off me!”

“You say that but you threatened me about being a lot stronger now than before. So we’re pretty much even, Kyungsooie,” he cooed, backing away from the boy.

“You unfair son of a ! I’ll kill you!

From several feet away, Hyerin clutched her head. “Can anyone please tell D.O. to shut up? There are other people training here, too!” she complained.

Sehun chuckled. “With those two, that’s pretty much impossible,” he said, wiping the sweat from the side of his face. “You ready?”

Hyerin huffed, positioning her fists in front of her. “Yeah.”

Sehun charged towards her, aiming a punch to her face that she easily dodged. He kept on attacking and attacking while she countered all of his hits.

Hyerin grabbed his forearm and twisted it, making the boy bend in pain. Seeing this as an advantage, she wrapped an arm around his neck, successfully choking him. Sehun tried to pry her hands off of him, but his strength was draining out and it was getting difficult to breathe. Going forth with his last resort, he jabbed an elbow to her stomach. She let go.

“Time out!” Hyerin groaned, clutching her stomach. “I thought you said no hurting each other this time!”

“But you twisted my arm! And you were choking me to death!” Sehun pouted, walking back to the girl who was now curling into a ball.

“But that wasn’t even anything severe, stupid! Hitting me on the stomach was freaking painful, mind you!” she said, glaring up at the boy. 

He helped her stand up, still frowning at her. “It hurt a lot, you know!” He stuck his tongue out.

“You big baby.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll be back. I’m just gonna go get something to drink.”

Hyerin tiredly made her way to the corner of the room where a cooler full of energy drinks and water were found. She grabbed a bottle and downed it in a few gulps.

A few days ago, Hyerin imagined her weekend to be spent with Jonghyun, probably go to the mall or have a quick trip to the movies with him. What she was doing today was completely different from that.

It was Sunday and instead of lying comfortably in bed, she spent the day sparring inside M-LX’s training center with twelve schoolmates who, out of the blue, became experts in fighting. Since this morning, she had been having matches after matches with all of them to which she either lost or won. She would have beaten all their butts if only they didn’t go through that experiment with her father.

She lazily tossed the empty bottle to the nearest trashcan. Turning on her heels, she didn’t notice Lay walking towards her direction, making her stupidly bump into him.

Lay firmly held her elbow to keep her in place.

“Oh, sorry,” she said, pulling her arm back. “I wasn’t looking. I guess I’m just tired from all the fighting.”

He raised a brow, folding his arms. “Obviously. You’ve been sparring since we got here and you haven’t stopped.”

“How’d you know that?”

“If it isn’t already a given, were actually in the same room where I can see what you and everyone else is doing.”

She scoffed. “You are such a smartass.”

“I always have been.”

Hyerin sighed. She suddenly remembered their conversation from back when she was convincing him to meet her up. She didn’t show it, but she was really bothered by the way Lay acted around her. Although it was short-lived, she really did have a great time with him back when they were kids.

Biting the insides of her cheek, she glanced up at the boy. He was looking at her blankly.

Building up her confidence, she asked, “What went wrong, Lay?”

“With what?”

“Why did we drift apart from each other? We used to have lots of fun,” she continued, eyes softening as she remembered trading her dad’s vintage baseball cards for his toys. “What happened?”

Lay’s eyes gave away nothing. He looked so mature and composed now, in contrast to the overly cheerful boy she once knew.

“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “We were too different. We just grew apart.”

Hyerin nodded in understanding. “Okay. But can we possibly-” she paused. “Can we possibly bring it back?” she asked. She never once wanted to admit it, but she really did miss him.

Unsurprisingly, he was still looking at her with the same emptiness. She wondered if he practiced that in the mirror. She was sure the old Lay would have.

“You haven’t taken care of that,” he said, pointedly looking at her bruise.

“It’ll heal naturally.”

He took a step forward, tilting her chin to the side as he examined her cheek. He brushed his free hand gently over the bruise as unusual warmth tickled the side of her face.

He let go of her. “Better.”

She reached up to touch her cheek. She didn’t feel any pain. The bruise was gone.

Hyerin turned to Lay, almost forgetting that he had the power of healing. “Oh. Right,” she mumbled, smiling a little. “Thanks.”

“Yes we can.”

Hyerin’s brows furrowed. “We can what?”

“Bring it back,” he said, walking past her. “Weren’t you asking about it?”

It took a moment, but Hyerin grinned unknowingly once she finally understood. It was okay to bring it back. It was okay to be friends again.

“Thanks, Lay!” she called after him before heading back towards the training area.

- - -

 “Okay,” Agent M started, writing notes on his clipboard. “So from our session today, only Kris, Baekhyun and Sehun haven’t adapted to their powers yet and the others are fine right?”

They nodded.

“But all twelve of you have already gained other advancements like strength, am I right?”

They nodded again.

“Great, then we’ll wrap it up for today! I’ll see you all again tomorrow,” he said, as the others sighed of relief.

“God, was that a tiring first day of training,” Xiumin said, wrapping a towel around his neck.

“But man, was that awesome or what!? I didn’t even know I could fight like that!” Chanyeol said, placing an arm around Hyerin. She shrugged it off.

“It really is amazing,” Suho said. “It’s like our bodies are so familiar with such flexible movements.”

“It truly is. More side effects will come, including some minor grogginess in a few days. Also, your physical appearance will enhance, too. No drastic changes, but don’t be surprised if you get compliments from people about how you look,” Myungjae chuckled. “That’s all there is for today. Hyerin, you did a pretty good job yourself, too.”

“Heck yeah, she did. She was literally kicking my ,” Sehun said, to which a few of them laughed.

“Not really,” Kyungsoo mumbled under his breath. Hyerin arched a brow at this. “Not the best I’ve seen from a girl.”

She scoffed. “I can say the same for you, you misogynistic .”

“Yeah, well I was going easy on you.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t the other way around?”

“Alright, that’s enough, you two,” Myungjae said, laughing uneasily. “Blow off that steam for tomorrow instead, alright?” he said, placing a firm hand on his daughter’s shoulder as a sign for her to stop.

As Agent M continued to talk about their training, Hyerin glared daggers at Kyungsoo.

In return, he gave her a dirty scowl before looking away.