AU where Baekhyun has light powers. Word count: 2780.

“Mom, I’m going out. I’ll be back soon…… I guess.” Baekhyun says before leaving the house.

His mother shows no interest as he closes the door. She finds more interest in materialistic, inanimate objects than her own son. It is his eighteenth birthday, yet it feels like any ordinary day. All he wants for his birthday, is time by himself away from his mother.

He walks down an empty road, sighing as he takes in his surroundings. He finds solace in his loneliness, and he would much rather be alone than be around other people. In school, he only has a handful of friends. Everyone else was too scared to approach him because of his cold demeanor. His father left when he was 5, and his mother remarried twice ever since. His past took a toll on him, and he finds it hard to trust anyone or communicate unless it was really needed. He strives for minimal interaction with the people around him.

At eighteen, he was pretty much independent. He worked part-time at a café after school, and paid for his own necessities. Despite coming from a rich household, he would rather earn his way through life than live off the money that his mother provided him monthly, since his mother did not care about what he did or how he was coping. It was almost as though she was not there. She was like a ghost in his life.

When he was born, the light source from his incubator in the hospital malfunctioned, causing the machine to act up. Abnormal levels of light were exposed to him, and his cells began to develop differently. The hospital did not inform his mother of the incident, and quickly buried the incident to prevent it from spreading. At twelve years old, he started to notice small balls of light that developed from his palms. He was frightened by the power he possessed. All he wanted was to be normal. For years, he tried his best to hide that power. He feared that people would find out about his power and what he could do with it. He did not want to be labelled as a monster. He did not want to be taken advantage of either.

As he walks down the road, he notices an unlit lamppost. With a flick of his wrist, a ball of light shot upwards towards the lamppost and lit it up again. A small smile of satisfaction forms on his lips as he whistles, but a feeling of insecurity creeps in as he begins to wonder what he is capable of.

Suddenly, he hears a loud bang and a cry that follows right after. Baekhyun runs to wherever he heard the sound come from. He finds himself at a small alleyway and sees a girl being harassed by a group of tall, large men.

“Hey,” Baekhyun yells, “Pick on someone your own size!”

The men laugh and shake their heads.

“Oh please, you’re too weak for us.” One of them laughs.

Baekhyun keeps silent. Maybe they are right.

“I’m too weak? Well, we’ll see about that.”

He holds out his palms and watches as balls of light began to form, quickly throwing them at the men.

The men were badly injured and quickly retaliated, threatened by what he could do.

“Y-you’re a monster!” One of them yells, quickly getting up after to run away along with the rest of them.

Despite the feeling of insecurity creeping up on him again, he quickly makes his way to the girl, who is slouched against the wall in exhaustion.

“Are you okay?” He asks.

The girl shakes her head.

“N-no…” She replies.

Baekhyun frowns before lifting her up, slipping an arm around her as he led her back to his house. By then, his mother was already fast asleep. He sits the girl down on the dining room chair carefully before going to the kitchen to get the first aid kit. When he gets back, he begins to dress her wounds.

“So……. What’s your name?” He asks, as he dabbed the solution onto one of her wounds carefully. She hisses in pain and shuts her eyes.

“Taeyeon.” She manages to say.

Baekhyun smiles up at her before finishing up, carefully dressing the last wound on her hand.

“Well, Taeyeon. It’s nice to meet you. You can sleep on my bed tonight, I’ll sleep on the floor,” Is all he says, before guiding her into his room and making her comfortable on his soft bed.

They talk all night, getting to know each other more. He finds it comfortable to be around her and opens up to her easily. She on the other-hand, finds it safe to be in his presence despite just meeting him. He gives off a caring aura, something that she rarely experiences since she was so distant from her family. She never knew what care felt before this. He learns that she was just like him, alone and independent. They come from similar backgrounds; broken and neglected.

The next few months passed by swiftly, and the two kept in constant contact. Months then turned into years. All this while, they met up often and became closer. They formed a bond that was unbreakable. He does not hide his power away from her, but he avoids using it around her. She understands that he wants to be normal, and does not question him and encourages him. She helps him to feel normal.

3 years later

Lecture has just ended, and Taeyeon is wandering around the garden of her university as she waits for someone.

“Taeng!” She hears a familiar voice yell for her. She turns around, a wide smile forming on her lips as she sees the figure getting closer.

“Baek!” She yells back excitedly, rushing over to the boy.

Baekhyun grins as he watches her small figure running towards him.

“Hi,” She chuckles, at the same time trying to catch her breath, bangs messy from the wind. Baekhyun laughs and reaches out to comb her bangs down slightly with his fingers, resting them onto her forehead gently. Her heart begins to beat at an accelerated pace, a soft blush painting her cheeks.

“Can we go for ice-cream?” She asks, looking up at him.

“I can never say no, can I?”

“And do you know what she did? She deleted off everything that I wrote! I mean – sure you can disagree on my work, but to delete off everything without consulting me!?” Taeyeon complains, chucking a spoonful of ice-cream into out of anger.

“Woah, woah! Slow down, darling. You’re going to choke on your ice-cream at this rate,” Baekhyun chastises, cleaning the corner of with a napkin. Still overwhelmed by agitation due to a groupmate of hers, she can barely register what the boy has just done, or the endearment that she was just called.

“But still! Isn’t it basic manners to consult someone first before touching their work? What the hell! She is the worst groupmate I’ve ever dealt with!” Taeyeon whines.

Baekhyun emits a soft chuckle as he reaches out to pat her head in an attempt to calm her down.

“Next time, just delete her work without consulting