The layout of the house was that there were two living rooms but only one entrance, which was located in the other living room. As he trailed behind Junhui, Minghao tried to take in his surroundings. If he had to guess, Minghao believed that it was originally two apartments but they had removed the shared wall to make it into a single, large apartment. How else would one apartment fit twelve boys?

Where did they even get money to do that? Minghao wondered to himself as Junhui and he hurried down the hallway.

Despite having eleven other people living in the same house, it wasn’t particularly difficult for Junhui to sneak out with Minghao. In fact, the two of them didn’t even bump into anyone except for a close shave with a sleepy short guy who was too sleepy to notice them.

Minghao didn’t want to admit it to anyone but he may or may not have blushed when Junhui had quickly pulled him close to his chest when they ducked round a corner to avoid being seen. The heat in his cheeks were most likely due to them sneaking out or something — anything but the close physical contact with the older boy.

“That’s Jihoon.” Junhui had informed him in a low whisper when the short boy had disappeared into the kitchen. Then he had frowned slightly before asking, “are you alright? You’re kind of red in the face.”

“Nothing.” Minghao had hastily replied before urging Junhui, “let’s go before they realize we’re gone.”

Within seconds, Junhui had successfully led Minghao out of the house and into the elevator. It was only when they were inside the elevator did Junhui finally let out a sigh of relief.

Junhui leaned against the metal wall before notifying Minghao, “I’m going to bring you to a few streets away from our house where there’s a payphone. Call your parents quickly and if we’re lucky, we’ll return before anyone noticed that we went out.”

“Okay,” Minghao nodded his head eagerly before asking, “is there anything I should or should not say?”

“Obviously, don’t tell them the location of the safehouse.” Junhui ordered , as the elevator stopped at the ground floor and the doors opened. They hurried onto the streets and Minghao noticed that the sky was starting to become a pale pink.

“I won’t.” Minghao promised with genuine sincerity as he kept up with Junhui’s brisk pace. A thought occurred to Minghao and he suggested, “should I pretend that I ran away or something? I mean, it’s not exactly an uncommon thing nowadays, is it?”

Junhui looked at Minghao in a new light as he admitted. “That’s not a bad idea. I didn’t know you had it in you, kid.”

“Kid?” Minghao squawked indignantly, face now turning red for an entirely different reason from before. “Excuse you but I’m not a kid. I even graduated from high school already.”

Junhui didn’t look impressed. “So did I. How old are you?” He asked absentmindedly as they came to a stop in front of a traffic light.

“I’m a 97 liner.” Minghao answered pompously, subconsciously standing straighter to make the height difference between less prominent.

Junhui raised a surprised eyebrow as he confessed. “I thought you were a 98 liner. You look younger than you really are.”

“Well, how old are you?” Minghao retorted in annoyance.  

“I’m a year older than you.” Junhui responded as the green light appeared.

They started to cross the street as Minghao pointed out, miffed. “That’s not even a large age difference and you’re calling me a kid? What is that Chan boy then? A festus?” The boy whom he had first saw that day suddenly popped up in his mind.

“Chan’s a 99 liner and okay, I admit that the age difference isn’t that big,” Junhui acknowledged, and Minghao beamed at the recognition, before adding with a mischievous smile, “but you’re still a kid to me.”

“Hey!” Minghao yelped, offended, but Junhui only ruffled his hair playfully. An easy silence reigned between them until the younger boy spoke up.

“So, what’s up with Seungcheol hyung, anyways?” Minghao quizzed, a bit curious by how heated the leader had seemed earlier. He struggled to find the correct adjective to describe Seungcheol. “He’s so — I don’t know — uptight about the whole calling my parents matter?”

Junhui kept quiet for a moment and Minghao waited impatiently for his answer. A heartbeat passed before Junhui slowly answered, his words mindful and careful. “Seungcheol hyung’s just protective of us, I suppose. He was once captured by the organization and he doesn’t want any of us to suffer from the same treatment.”

“How did he escaped?” Minghao pressed on, intrigued by the leader’s history.

“Seungcheol hyung doesn’t like to talk about it,” Junhui began cautiously, as if him telling Minghao was some sort of betrayal to Seungcheol, “but he once told us that he escaped because someone lost control of his superpower.”

“And?” Minghao prompted curiously, leaning in closer to Junhui.

“That person kind of just destroyed the facility.” Junhui finished simply and Minghao’s jaw dropped in shock.

“That’s crazy! What kind of superpower was that?” Minghao gaped, bewildered and amazed at the same time. Junhui couldn’t help but chuckle at his pronounced reaction. “So that’s how Seungcheol hyung escaped? All alone?”

Junhui nodded, going on. “He escaped from the facility and was by himself for a while until he found Jihoon, the guy we saw just now.”

“He found Jihoon?” Minghao reiterated, somewhat baffled by Junhui’s choice of words. Then, something Jisoo remarked earlier clicked and he guessed. “Is Seungcheol hyung’s superpower related to finding people?”

“His superpower is power detection.” Junhui affirmed before abruptly grabbing Minghao’s arm to steer him in another direction and Minghao averted his face to hide his reddening cheeks. “He basically detects whether people have superpowers and then he takes care of them, helps them, protects them from the organization.”

“Oh.” Minghao muttered, feeling ashamed of his thoughts of Seungcheol now. The older boy may have been uptight and strict about Minghao not calling his parents but now that he was aware of what Seungcheol had went through, Minghao understood that it was all for his — and the others’ — own good.

As if he knew what Minghao was thinking, Junhui quietly stated, “Seungcheol hyung has made it his life's mission to stop the organization from capturing anyone else.”

“I know now.” Minghao expressed, sulking slightly at the older boy’s tone. “But those men from that day, they were from the organization, weren’t they?”

“You’re right.” Junhui informed the younger boy. “They were only working for the organization as henchmen but they hate us. I don’t know why but they just hate us.”

Minghao remembered the harsh words and repulsive aura from those henchmen and nodded in agreement. “Maybe it’s because we’re different from them. Maybe because we’re freaks.” He murmured softly, more to himself than to anyone else.

At that, Junhui turned to look at Minghao intently, some worry and uneasiness in his eyes. “We’re not freaks. We’re just people with special abilities but we’re not freaks.” He insisted but Minghao wasn’t really listening.

“How did they find you?” Minghao asked instead, changing the subject.

Junhui looked away, making a face. “I slipped up. I let them saw me.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Minghao frowned, not understanding how the other boy had ‘slipped up’. “Did they know you from before?”

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