The alarm jerks him awake, screeching loudly and piercing through his drowsiness. Kyungsoo groans into his pillow, not quite ready to leave the warmth and comfort of his sheets just yet. He grapples for his phone vibrating on the nightstand, jabbing at the screen until he finally manages to turn it off. Just a few more minutes.

The second alarm goes off moments later; Kyungsoo had set up the back up alarm the night before, knowing himself well enough. Sighing, he kicks off the sheets, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and hisses at the cold floor under his bare feet when he pads over to the bathroom. The quick shower is enough to wake him up properly, clearing away the remaining dredges of drowsiness.

Kyungsoo hears movement around the house, a sign that the others have begun to wake up too, getting ready for work. Picking out a shirt, Kyungsoo slips into it and works a clean pair of slacks on, struggling with the belt buckle as he walks out of his bedroom.

He crosses the narrow hallway, heading for the closed door on the other end. The room is still dark when he lets himself in, beelining for the curtains and promptly ripping them open.

“Wake up, or you’ll be late,” he says firmly, turning to rip the duvet off of Jongin’s body, and chuckles when he curls up into a shivering ball in response. He mumbles something about getting up soon, waving him off blindly, keeping his eyes squeezed shut against the morning sunlight. Kyungsoo hasn’t even stepped away yet and Jongin’s already dozed off again in seconds. Such a deep sleeper. It's becoming a problem when he sleeps through his alarms countless times.

Shrugging, Kyungsoo taps his heel against the tile under his shoe, sending a series of light tremors through the floor right under the bed frame. A few seconds is all it takes before Jongin yelps, leaping off the bed and glaring at Kyungsoo over his shoulder grumpily before diving into the bathroom. Smiling fondly, Kyungsoo leaves him to it, making his way downstairs where the smell of breakfast being made is wafting through the house.

Downstairs is a lot more noisy, a flurry of activity with everyone rushing around to get dressed and ready for work. There’s doors being wrenched open and slamming shut with people dashing in and out of the bathrooms. Kyungsoo struggles with the latch of his wristwatch as he walks into the kitchen, politely refusing the slice of bread Chanyeol toasts with his palms. He just barely dodges the purse and ring of keys that come flying, nearly smacking into his face. Soojung inclines her head apologetically, stuffing them into her bag hurriedly and flicks her finger, whisking a glass into his hand from the cabinet he was headed for right behind her.

The room gets progressively more crammed with people when Junmyeon sweeps in, crooking his finger to fill the coffee pot with boiling water in one smooth movement. He fills Kyungsoo’s glass up with cold water while he’s at it, taking his share of his coffee from the pot swiftly and leaving the rest for him.

Kyungsoo pulls out his thermos, filling it up to the brim. It’ll run out before the morning even hits 10 anyway. His hand jerks unsteadily in his haste, accidentally spilling some all over the kitchen counter. Kyungsoo grits his teeth, well on his way to running late at this rate, still needing to brush his teeth and fix his hair.

Joohyun comes up to the counter and nudges him aside, offering to take over with a damp cloth to clean up the mess. Her body shimmers for a split second before she duplicates herself and her double goes on with her own morning routine, shooting out another copy of herself to fix Seulgi’s botched up attempt at the ascot around her neck.

Kyungsoo calls out his thanks, rushing to get the rest of his things ready before making for the door to leave. He’s barely set one foot outside when his phone dies, completely out of battery.

“,” he hisses, frustrated. He forgot to charge it through the night.  Marching back inside, he scans through the bustle of people. There’s no time to go back up to his room and rifle through the mess in his room for the charger. “Jongdae!”

He looks around, finally spotting him peering down over the banisters from the first floor, mouth still foamy with toothpaste.

“‘Sup?”

Kyungsoo shakes his phone in the air pointedly, feeling desperate. Soojung walks past, trying to brush her hair up into a neat ponytail. A quick nod of her head sends the phone flying out of Kyungsoo’s hand and up towards Jongdae where he catches it deftly.

Kyungsoo nods after her, endlessly grateful at the stream of helpfulness on such a busy morning. He checks his watch again, waiting for Jongdae to spark his phone battery up to full charge in his palm before running to catch it safely when Jongdae drops it back into his hands.

“Thanks!” He calls out, slipping it into his pocket and rushing out the door again.

He sets off at a brisk pace, hoping to make it to the subway station to catch it in time. The morning air outside is cool and fresh against his face, helping to wake him up properly. Mornings at the house are always like this. The place is big enough to house all of them, as many as there are of them, but things always tend to get a little hectic. Still, after so many years of living together they’ve managed to sync up together, adapting to fit into their own tailored system. It gets easier to make it work even when things get chaotic. Junmyeon’s worked hard to make sure they can all live comfortably together, more like a family than anything else.  

He catches the subway just in time, swinging inside right before the doors slide shut. It's already packed with people, shuffling around uncomfortably and jostling each other to keep their balance. Kyungsoo sticks to the side, holding onto the pole by the doors. His stop isn't far, only a fifteen minute ride from home.

The building's central heating feels like a warm embrace when Kyungsoo steps inside, nodding at the usual security guards as he heads up to his floor in the elevator. He makes it into the office just before it hits 8am.

It's deadline week so the office is already bustling with activity, rushing to get work done. Kyungsoo beelines straight for his desk cubicle, setting his bag down on the floor and booting up his computer. He pulls his drawing tablet out from his drawer, plugging it in and twirling the pen around his fingers while his desktop loads.

There are at least ten new emails in his inbox, most of them citing 'URGENT' in the subject line. Sighing, Kyungsoo opens the first one, wanting to get at least half of the graphics done before lunch break.

"Morning, Kyungsoo!"

Jaehwan's voice is as loud and cheerful as always, far too chipper this early in the morning before anyone's had any coffee yet.

Kyungsoo nods back at him, offering a small wave of acknowledgement being gluing his eyes back to the screen. He tunes out the sounds of Jaehwan settling into the cubicle beside his, humming under his breath as he sets up for the day. It works out fine until Jaehwan gets up again, leaning over the cubicle barrier to stare at him.

"So. Had a fun weekend?" he asks, cupping his chin in his palm attentively.

"Watched a movie," Kyungsoo answers shortly, focusing on the canvas he's pulled up on his screen to get started on the design.

Jaehwan snorts, sliding off the barrier idly. "Sounds wild."

Kyungsoo gets no warning before Jaehwan's ruffling his hair, though he shouldn't have expected anything less from him at this point. Swatting him away grumpily, Kyungsoo smooths his hair back down, narrowing his eyes after Jaehwan as he walks away snickering.

"Hey," he calls out then, just before Jaehwan disappears into the office kitchen. He pulls a small package out of his drawer, wrapped up sloppily in glossy paper. Jaehwan waits by the doorway expectantly, taken by surprise when Kyungsoo tosses it at him but catches it deftly.

"Happy birthday."

Jaehwan’s entire face lights up, and Kyungsoo only half regrets it when he leaps on him, trapping Kyungsoo in a choke hold hug. He's lucky Jaehwan can't see his face from this angle, fighting not to smile despite himself. The hug stretches on a few seconds longer until Kyungsoo shrugs him off again, muttering about the deadlines he needs focus on, all due by 5pm. He stares at the emails gloomily; it’s going to be a long day.

He manages to get through the first batch before Yoo Jihwan, the executive producer from the department below calls them down for the weekly debriefing meeting, wanting progress reports on sales and statistics. Kyungsoo has had to work closely with Jihwan a couple of times in the past on a big team project for one of their newest clients. There’s nothing more irritatingly unpleasant than trying to work with an arrogant, domineering prick who refuses to cooperate with his own employees. Sadly, he’s in a position of too much power for anyone to actually stand up and say anything. That, and the fact that his father is one of the main shareholders of their entire firm.

He’s no different today, picking one of the editors as his new victim for the day, belittling him and his efforts in an attempt to humiliate him in front of everyone else. Kyungsoo grits his teeth, thanking his lucky stars that his department boss and direct superior, Lee Kwangsoo, is actually a decent person.

The meeting finally ends after a long, painful hour in the room with him and everyone scrambles to gather their things and leave. Kyungsoo makes for the door too but someone sticks their foot out, tripping him up and tipping his papers right out of his hands. He looks up just in time to catch Jitae sneering at him over his shoulder, after deliberately trampling all over his papers with his polished leather shoes.

He should have known. Jitae has been bitter about Kyungsoo getting promoted to head of design over him since it happened months ago. It was a bigger slap in the face when Mr. Lee refused his shameless bribe, calling him out for being the rich brat that he is, using his CEO dad’s money instead of actually working for his place here. His father is the only reason he got the job in the first place. Kyungsoo had bought Mr. Lee the most expensive bottle of wine he could afford just for that.

“How many times have I told you to just call me hyung,” Mr. Lee had chuckled when Kyungsoo bowed down low in gratitude at the promotion.

“And I swear this isn’t favoritism or any of that,” he’d added as an afterthought, eyeing him pointedly. He’d known about Kyungsoo’s ability the moment he walked into the office for his interview. It’s part of Kwangsoo’s own ability to see the shift in the aura around people like him.

“You’ve always done good work here; you’ve earned this.”

Kyungsoo had nodded earnestly, caught somewhere between disbelief and wonder at having landed such a fantastic boss. He hadn’t been this lucky in any of his previous work places.

“Little stain,”Jaehwan scowls after Jitae coldly, bending down to help Kyungsoo gather his stuff. “You’d think we’re back in highschool.”  

Kyungsoo sighs, rolling his eyes in agreement. He grabs Jaehwan by the elbow, warning him not to get fired up over it and just leave it be. Jitae isn’t even worth the time of day, no matter how infuriating he may be. He’s always been a douche to Kyungsoo, even since before the promotion. He’s not even sure where this grudge ever arose from, considering the possibility that Jitae might actually know about Kyungsoo’s earth control before shaking the thought out of his head a second later. There’s no way.

His neck is stiff and his wrist is aching by the time lunch break rolls around. Stretching his arms up over his head, Kyungsoo groans when the bones in his back crack loudly after being hunched over his tablet for so long. Jaehwan drags him off to lunch with him before he can object, slinging an arm around his shoulders idly as they head down to the cafeteria.

Kyungsoo picks the table closest to the wall, pulling his packed bread and apple out from his bag while Jaehwan heads over to the food counter to buy his meal. There’s a big screen TV set on the news channel, broadcasting live from another area in Seoul. The news anchor is standing in front of a mountain of rubble; the charred remnants of a building that went up in flames only a few hours earlier. There are lines of words spray painted onto the broken blocks of stone, just legible enough for Kyungsoo to recognize. He feels sick to his stomach. The volume is set too low for him to hear what the news anchor is saying clearly but the captions below her on the screen are more than enough to gather what happened.

The hate crimes have been getting progressively worse these days, growing more violent than they’ve ever been towards people with abilities. People like him. Kyungsoo sits quietly, averting his eyes from the screen when they roll into a montage of gory crime scenes from previous hate attacks these past few months alone, spiking a rise in the murder rate.

Their existence is no secret; not anymore. The public is well aware that they walk among people with special abilities. The more exposed their presence became, the more activists and hate groups began to spawn everywhere, turning people against them with lies and twisted words. Their influence on the masses spread like wildfire, swallowing up anything they threw at them.

The public wants them out of their city, out of the country even. ‘Leeches’ they’ve started calling them. Segregated to one single place all together, far away from everyone else who isn’t like them. There’s been scores of riots and protests in the streets, reaching out to the government to do something. It does nothing more than amp up the extremists into violence.

They’re never going to change; they’ll never understand. The only ones that don’t hate them are afraid of them instead, fearful of what can’t be reasonably explained, like they’re some sort of epidemic disease. Most times, fear is no better than hostility. Either way, it erases their entire humanity as a person, reducing them to something less than what they are.

The only option left for them is to keep to the shadows, hiding their abilities from anyone who isn’t like them. Kyungsoo stares down at his hands, wondering for the thousandth time about what it would be like to live a life where the entire essence of who he is weren’t constantly stifled and snuffed out.

Back home is the only real taste of freedom he ever really gets, dropping the facade he’s forced to parade around in public. That’s precisely the reason Junmyeon opened the house to them in the first place, welcoming anyone who needed a place like that that they couldn’t find anywhere else. It’s something Kyungsoo will be eternally grateful to him for, for giving him a sanctuary, a home and a family.

Jaehwan’s food tray clunks on the metal table, snapping Kyungsoo out of his brooding. He picks up his forgotten sandwich, taking a huge bite from it and munching slowly.

“God, I’m starving,” Jaehwan whines, his stomach grumbling loudly right on cue. He looks around warily, glancing over his shoulder before pressing his finger to the chocolate chip muffin sitting on his tray. Kyungsoo watches the treat vibrate under his touch before the muffin duplicates itself, producing an identical copy of itself. Jaehwan pushes the second one towards Kyungsoo with a grin, taking a bite from his own.

“You need to be more careful with that,” Kyungsoo mutters quietly, feeling the familiar bubble of anxiety rise in his chest when the fear of being exposed in public surges. They’re lucky they’ve got a corner seat by the wall, facing away from the TV screen where everyone’s attention is focused. Anyone could catch them out here.

“Relax, no one saw us,” Jaehwan waves him off but he looks apologetic, well aware of the consequences if they were to be caught.

Kyungsoo exhales, trying to ease the tense knot in his shoulders. He can’t blame Jaehwan for this when he’s used his own abilities in public areas himself. It comes Instinctively, like second nature; an indisputable part of who he is that he can’t tamp down as easily as he needs to when he’s out in the open. It’s all he can do to be constantly wary of onlookers but he’s never been one to hold back completely, sometimes acting out in frustration for having to hide at all.

He takes the muffin, nodding gratefully and reaching over to squeeze the back of Jaehwan’s neck, pleased at the smile that stretches back across his lips.

Jaehwan heads off on an errand once they’re done and Kyungsoo excuses himself to the bathroom, slipping into one of the stalls in the empty room.

He’s about to unlock the door when he’s done but he pauses, feeling the ground vibrate faintly beneath his soles, sensing the earth’s vibrations shooting tingles all the way up to the tips of his fingers. The calm, flowing thrum of the ground he usually feels is disrupted when the pressure builds; someone’s coming.

It’s a familiar weight, pressing down on the vibrations on the ground out in a pattern Kyungsoo recognizes without even needing to see, hearing the bathroom door push open when two sets of footsteps walk in. It’s Jihwan, accompanied by someone Kyungsoo doesn’t recognize. He takes his hand off the lock, standing behind the closed door quietly in hopes of waiting them out, preferring to avoid having to face him altogether.

“If you ask me, we should just round them all up and shoot them, execution style. Wipe them all out in one go,” he hears Jihwan bite out, continuing on the line of conversation he was having before they came in.

Kyungsoo frowns, confused but the other man who’s with Jihwan laughs, turning the faucet on to wash his hands.

“I’d volunteer for that,” he says. “This country has turned into one giant cluster of disease with these vermin, living in our streets, stealing our jobs. Bet you anything they mind control their way into all this .”

It clicks then that they’re talking about people like Kyungsoo, regurgitating the same hate speech he overhears from passersby around him, blaring out on the media, splashed all over the internet no matter where he looks.

Kyungsoo clenches his fists, biting down on his lip hard enough to draw blood and fights with himself to keep silent.

They shut the water off when they’re done, and finally make their way out of the bathroom, letting the door swing shut behind them. Kyungsoo closes his eyes and inhales deeply, waiting until the vibrations in the ground have stopped, a sign that they’re far away enough for him to emerge from the stall.

Kyungsoo stares at his reflection in the mirror over the sink, eying the hard lines deepening across his face, contouring the frown tugging at his eyebrows. Dipping his hands into the stream of water, he splashes some onto his face, trying to settle the anger boiling up in his stomach.

They’re just regular people, just like everyone else. Kyungsoo grips the marble edge of the sink tightly in frustration, bitterly resentful that they’re automatically cast out to be some sort of demon. What they’re born with has no bearing on how they’ll act on it. Having enhanced abilities doesn’t mean they’re made to hurt people just because they can. There are the bad nuts, the nefarious ones, those who take advantage of what they’ve got to hurt, maybe kill; but then, people hurt and kill each other just fine without abilities every other day. No one riots in the streets, vying for the eradication of all of mankind over that.  

Sighing, he lets his breath out in a long exhale through his teeth, turning to the familiar humming vibrations resonating in the ground to soothe him. It makes him feel safe, the way it anchors him down and centers him.

Crumpling the paper towel in his hands, Kyungsoo tosses it in the trash and walks out of the bathroom, ready to get back to the office and throw himself back into his work.

He walks straight into someone’s back the moment he steps outside, tripping over the back of their shoes. Kyungsoo freezes for a moment before he recognizes Ryeowook, from the marketing department, immediately relaxing in relief.

“Kyungsoo! Just the man I was looking for,” Ryeowook greets him cheerfully, falling into step with him as they head back upstairs to their department.

“The Nam billboard firm just called, they’ve pushed their deadline up a few hours,” he goes on. “I know it’s short notice but do you think you can have the batch of graphics ready in an hour or so?”

Up close, Kyungsoo notices how frazzled Ryeowook looks, evidently dealing with a lot on his plate. The pleading look in his eyes to match completes the picture of desperation.

“I’ll get it done.”

“God, thank you!” Ryeowook exhales in relief, offering him a tired smile. “Lunch is on me tomorrow, okay?”

He claps Kyungsoo on the back gratefully, waving as they part ways to their separate department offices. Kyungsoo smiles after him. It’s been a while since he’s grabbed lunch with him, these past few weeks being too busy to sync up their lunch breaks together properly.

Ryeowook still doesn’t know about what Kyungsoo can do though. He almost feels guilty for keeping it from him, but Ryeowook had been quick to befriend him so easily when Kyungsoo first got here; he just doesn’t want to think about risking it all and ruining everything if he were to tell him. Just this once, Kyungsoo would rather turn a blind eye, preferring not to know where Ryeowook stands on the issue, afraid he won’t like what he finds out.

It’s late when he finally crawls out of the office, having had to stay after hours to pitch in and ease his team’s workload to finish on time. Kyungsoo nearly misses his stop after dozing off on the subway, only waking up when his head smacks against the window.

The streets are dark when he walks out of the station, lit up by the dim streetlights. He tugs his coat collar closer to his neck, shivering in the cold wind.

Glancing at his watch, he picks up the pace, not wanting to be late. Jongin and Jongdae are waiting on him to watch the season finale of Daredevil together; plus - take-out is on him tonight after losing the rock paper scissors game they’d used to decide who was paying.

Kyungsoo is only a few blocks away from home but the hairs on the back of his neck start rising just as he crosses the playground, suddenly feeling apprehensive. Slowing to a stop, he lets the ground resonate through him but he can’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

It penetrates his senses a split second later, feeling something piercing through the air. Kyungsoo whips around and flicks a hand up in front of his face just in time to stop a large, jagged rock from smashing into his skull. Gasping shakily, Kyungsoo stares at the rock suspended in the air in front of him, held up with the force of his energy. It takes a moment before he realizes what he’s done, dropping his hand in shock and letting the rock fall to the ground.

His chest squeezes tightly, feeling the panic rising in his throat. Kyungsoo whirls around searching the area but there’s no one there, no one he can see. He can’t even feel anyone’s presence anywhere nearby around him, the ground’s vibrations offering him nothing more than quiet emptiness. He needs to get out of here.

He barely makes it another step when a sharp prickle stabs into the side of his neck painfully. Kyungsoo tries to bring his hand up but his arm is suddenly too heavy, his knees wobbling when he tries to take another step, buckling under his weight. His vision starts to swim, the ground swinging up to meet him as he collapses. It’s hard to keep his eyes open no matter how hard Kyungsoo tries. His tongue is going numb too, unable to even shout or scream for help. The ground’s vibrations grow more dull and muted until Kyungsoo can’t feel those either. The blackness closes in on him with every slow blink until he succumbs to it and passes out completely.

Consciousness seeps through his senses at an excruciatingly slow pace, like he’s being weighed down underwater, struggling to swim up and break through. It comes to him in bits and pieces, his ears popping first before the feeling starts coming back to his fingers and he manages to crack his eyes open.

Groaning, he squints at the harsh lights glaring over him, pushing himself upright and waiting for the burgeoning headache behind his eyes to ease up. He considers lying back down but the mattress is too lumpy. Kyungsoo’s eyes snap wide open; this isn’t his bed. He whirls around, taking in the grimy walls closing him in; a bare, windowless room that he’s never seen before.

“Oh good, you're finally awake.”

Kyungsoo startles, so disoriented he hadn’t even noticed the man lying on a mattress like his across the room.

“Kyungsoo, right?” He asks, sitting up cross-legged. “I’m Baekhyun.”

The memories come flooding back; the rock he’d stopped in the air, the sharp pain in his neck and blacking out straight after.

“Where am I?” Kyungsoo growls shakily, his voice cracking from misuse. “What the hell is this place?”

“This?” The man, Baekhyun, glances around grimly. “Well, it’s not hell. But it might as well be.”