Eleven

Between Wind and Water
Please Subscribe to read the full chapter

 

 

Daeun didn’t go home that night, opting to stay at the Safe House with Jooheon instead. Apparently, that was where he had been sleeping ever since he officially joined their group. Of course, she didn’t actually inform any of the boys about this, knowing that most of them would be worried or think it inappropriate, and that Jooheon would rather die than spend the night with her as company. So naturally, she did the most responsible thing when lying to all of your friends and sneaking behind their back, and that was pretend to leave and head home, wait up on the scaffolding until she was sure everyone else was gone, their destination their small shared apartment nearby (there wasn’t enough room for Jooheon, and he insisted he didn’t want to stay with the others anyway), and then quietly jumped down and tiptoed back inside. Feeling like a smooth ninja in a spy movie, she was just about to congratulate herself, when a voice made her freeze.

“What the hell are you doing back here, Nam?”

Cursing up a storm in her head, Daeun slowly turned to reveal Jooheon’s sourpuss expression and crossed arms. So, she got caught- that was fine, it just meant her career as a spy was doomed. For now, Runner would have to do. Besides, this saved her the trouble of finding him or waking him up if he had already gone to sleep, so maybe this was for the best.

"Just the person I was looking for," Daeun grinned, straightening up to her full height from her crouched position and brushing off her failure as if it had never happened. "Wanna play nurse with me for a while?" she asked, titling her head to the side, hands on her hips. Jooheon could do nothing but scoff, not even sure if she was being serious or not.

"What-"

"Sorry," Daeun interrupted as she snatched his arm and dragged him to the couch, ignoring his protests and winces and not sounding very apologetic at all, "but you don't actually have a choice." She pushed him back onto the stiff couch cushions with little sympathy for his injuries, though her gaze did soften a little at his hiss of pain. "Stay here."

She headed towards the little cubby where she knew from experience Kihyun kept their very rough make-shift first aid kit. Of course, the said male that was their practicing medic had already checked him out, but Nam Daeun was nothing if not stubborn, and a part of her still felt responsible for the brat that called her by her last name only, so a second round of playing doctor wouldn't cause too much trouble. Plus, it would hopefully make the conversation she wanted to have a little less awkward- at the very least, it gave them something else to focus on instead of each other.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Jooheon questioned when he saw her return with the red toolbox sized case in hand.

"For the most part," she shrugged as an answer. "I mean, you were my first experience with a gunshot wound, but the rest I've dealt with before."

At that, he immediately shut his mouth and let her do what she wanted. He forced himself to bite back the retort on the tip of his tongue, and turned his head away to avoid meeting her gaze. "Whatever, Nam."

"That's not what you were saying before," she muttered under her breath- though still loud enough for him to hear, since that was her goal after all-, trying to hide her smile.

"What?"

"That whole thing in the alley," she prompted, gesturing with her head and hands as she finally opened the box to touch up the work Kihyun had previously done hours earlier. "I may be called oblivious by some of the others, but I'm not deaf, Mr. Tsundere," she teased. Then she narrowed her eyes and deepened her voice, trying to do various impressions of him, like when he had helped her in the gang fight or told off Wonho, as well as his quiet admission as she helped him back to the Safe House.

"Sh-shut up, Nam!" He flustered, kicking her lightly with his foot. Naturally, she just laughed and let herself fall backwards, pleased with his red face and getting him to loosen up without bribing him with food. He was always so closed off, but since the party the other night, he had been even worse. However, maybe he was finally starting to open up. One step forward with Jooheon, three steps backwards with Wonho. Well, Daeun thought absently, it was a work in progress.

"Come on, Lee. I know it wasn't dead on, but cut me some slack- it's hard to get your eyes that small."

"Yah!"

"Okay, okay," she smiled, holding her hands up in the classic surrender pose. "But really, it's about time you started appreciating me. I saved your life after all, and so far, all you've done is make fun of me. Talk about ungrateful. I'm glad you've finally come around."

"Tch, you're not exactly the gracious guardian angel you make yourself out to be," he huffed quietly. At least now he wasn't trying to deny it anymore. Definitely progress.

"Sorry, what was that?" Daeun smirked, pressing down hard on one of his cuts with a peroxide soaked paper towel as she started her administrations.

"," he yelped, shooting her a glare.

"That's what I thought."

It was silent for a minute, but it was comfortable, like the ones she shared with Minwoo when they were just hanging out and wasting time together at his place back when they were high school and nothing more than your average teenage delinquents. Since then, they mostly only saw each other at his parties or their short take out dinner dates when they both happened to be free, and their statuses had been raised from troublemakers to Runner and graffiti Artist. Although with all the gang business she seemed to be being dragged into through association with her ex-Heavy groupmates, perhaps she really was only a hop, skip, and a jump away from landing herself in prison like her dear childhood friend seemed to be worried about. That was a problem to think about at another time though, so she pushed her amused and faintly nostalgic thoughts away.

"Who was he?" she asked with what would have been forced casualness had she been anyone else- but she was Daeun, and that meant she could just ask prying questions like that as though she were talking about something far simpler and less invasive, like the weather. Because of her tone, the statement was left purposefully vague, but it didn’t matter, because the sentence needed no further explanation anyway- Jooheon knew exactly who she was talking about and what she was getting at.

Maybe it was his own rebellious streak that urged him to prove Wonho’s words from earlier wrong, or maybe it was that the argument from before had been a sort of wakeup call for him, but Jooheon found that he didn’t mind Daeun asking about his past. Even more surprising, he also didn’t mind telling her about it either. By Wonho’s standards, that made him pathetic- Jooheon had always been a little pathetic though, it was in his nature, and if giving into that pathetic nature meant he’d finally have a friend, even if like Wonho said they could never understand him completely, then maybe it was worth it. He laughed, the sound feebly hollow and bitter, but also warmer than she had expected it to be, and Daeun stopped for a moment to look at him as if he had lost his mind. He couldn’t help it though, thinking about it all was just too ridiculous- Daeun was the perfect definition of trouble; she was a whirlwind that had taken his life by storm. She saved him. She introduced him to a group of people that could potentially be his new friends and family. She stood up for him. She messed with him and . She was annoying beyond belief and would probably be the death of him, ironically enough. Yet, all of that was what made her Nam Daeun, the good and the bad. Maybe that made his good and bad okay too; maybe it was fine because that’s what made him Lee Jooheon. God, now he just sounded sappy.

“He was a former member of the gang I used to be a part of,” he said once he quit laughing, finally answering her question with a drawn out sigh. "It's not like I have a sob story about why I joined a gang or anything- I just wanted the extra cash, and I guess you could say I did it to rebel."

"Rebel against what?"

"Don't know.” He shrugged, but winced a second later as it hurt his sore muscles and the disinfectant she was rubbing over his wounds stung even more as the motion caused the paper to accidently glide against his skin in unpleasant ways. " School was boring. College wasn't for me. I didn't really have any friends. I couldn't keep a job, though that was mostly because I didn't want one."

Restless.

He doesn't have to say it, but the word is hanging in the air as well as all that he has left unspoken. He didn't want normal- didn't want boring. Rebellion. Thrill. They're two words for the same thing spurred on by the same emotion.

Restless.

It's something Daeun can relate to- after all, her motives are practically the same as his. Minwoo was restless, so he started running around the city at night and spray painting the walls as a form of self-expression. Jooheon was restless, so he joined a gang to be like those rough, but romanticized anti-heroes in movies and books. Daeun was restless, so when adventure finally came knocking on her door, she easily accepted and welcomed it, leaping without even the thought of looking where s

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter
Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
_forsythia_
Bonus scenes finally posted and Between Wind and Water is finally over!
(Ps. Seriously though, Wonho needs to stop stripping and stuff. Like, can Starship please give him actual clothes for once so we can all stop having heart attacks? Thanks.)
Once again, thank you all for reading!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
sharrix_fang
#1
Chapter 23: This story is awesomeeee!!! At first, when I read the summary, i thought it would be a serious gang fic that was what you have planned in the first place but in the end, its a story about being rebellious, danger, restless, simple and of course, running. I felt that this is a much nicer fic than a gang fic tbh. In addition, Im impressed with all the phrases that you have come out for the fic, runners, artist, heavy, etc, its damn cool!! Its not easy to find a monsta x fic furthermore, an nice fic. Just being curious here, may I know what wonho actually did that makes him have to leave the gang so badly? Anyway, I have enjoyed through the fic. Thanks for writing such an amazing story!!!
HanInYoo
#2
Chapter 23: I AM SO GLAD THAT I FOUND THIS STORY!!!!! I finish this in 4 days! And how I am so happy about it! Its very hard to find a proper Monsta X story you know ㅠㅠ and seeing this and even reading it made it better!! Thanks for the WONDERFUL STORY!! And altho you wont be updating special chapter for the moment but I would like to hear the story on why Wonho suddenly wants to run away from their former gang. Because Hyunwoo says its not his story to tell, I would like to hear the story from Wonho himself. What did he do so badly that he wanted to finally run away with Hyunwoo. And if he tell that story, I wish Daeun doesnt hate him ><
PhinkLipsThick
#3
Chapter 2: I can say that I am not a big fan of gang-themed stories but this one has a big POTENTIAL. I am loving how the story flows. I also like your writing style. Kudos to that. But the chapters are really really long so I hope that you can trim that down in your next masterpiece. Great Job!
xxEXATOxx #4
Chapter 18: omg I seriously love wonho. the ship is sailing
xxEXATOxx #5
Chapter 15: omg yes yes yes. I'm so happy~
xxEXATOxx #6
Chapter 5: I just realized jooheon hasn't really showed up much in the sorry yet...but then again I'm still in the very beginning lol
xxEXATOxx #7
Chapter 1: oh my gosh, first chapter and I already love it.
WasaBiBobby93 #8
Chapter 1: Woah...this is already amazing!
Kimtara08
#9
Chapter 23: Awesome story. Loved it :) :)
denisskye
#10
Chapter 23: So my JooheonxDaeun ship almost sailed when I thought that it was all in my mind HAHAHA srsly, thank you for putting that in. But don't worry, I still love Wonho for Daeun ;) It's great to actually meet the rest of Minwoo's gang, too (tbh I was really waiting for a boyfriend member appearance and yayy it happened!)
Also, I am seriously tempted to list down all the nicknames you have Hyungwon in this story. Some of them are just so adorable~
So, I guess the bonus scenes are finally the end of this whole thing, and thank you for adding them! Good luck on your other stories, I'll be reading them soon <3