Joonmyun was tired, he decided, so very tired. He could hear his alarm ringing in the background but made no move to turn it off. Instead, he continued to stare at the decaying ceiling of his family’s old vacation home. Rolling over, he glanced out of the broken windows before finally turning his attention to phone. He silenced it in one swift movement before slowly rolling to a seated position, his hands dangling off his knees as he looked down at the mess of magazines and books on the table in front of him. Reaching out he trailed his fingers along the old sports magazines and architecture books before stopping on an old photo album. He looked at the faces of his parents, of faces he hadn’t seen in four years.

“I’m sorry Mom, Dad. I’m just so tired.” He whispered as his thumb brushed over the photograph. “You understand right? You understand. I’m all alone and I’m just… I’m just tried.”

He sighed and pulled the picture from it’s plastic sleeve before folding it in his pocket. Getting to his feet, he made his way outside, not bothering to put on a coat despite the chill that settled in his bones. He walked away from the house of his childhood, from the memories it held towards the abandoned building that stood on the next lot.

Climbing the familiar stairs, he steadfastly ignored the memories of laughter and excitement from exploring the ruins. Instead, he looked up towards the ceiling but already knew it would be too high to be of use to him.

The forest was his second destination, and the memories there were much harder to ignore. As he walked through the familiar trunks he could see in his minds eye his father chasing him through the bushes while his mother sketched designs for their home.

“Be careful he doesn’t fall!” She called out when Joonmyun almost crashed into a tree.

“Oh don’t fuss dear, you know our boy is special. A little fall won’t hurt him.”

Joonmyun shook his head and quickly made his way out of the forest as well. It was not suitable, not right, with all the pure memories there. His feet carried him back across the brittle grass field towards his home before he came to a stop, staring down at the steep drop in front of him.

“Of course it should be here. How fitting this is.” He muttered before sliding down into the basin of the empty swimming pool. The pool built specially for him, to let him play in the water away from prying eyes, despite the beach less than a kilometer away.

He settled down at the deep end of the pool, back pressed against the wall as he let his head fall forward, his chin hitting his chest. Closing his eyes, he brought forwards all the feeling he has been suppressing for the past four years. He released his anger, grief, bitterness and hopelessness, all of the pain tearing through him like a knife.

With the blood pounding in his ears, he could barely hear anything else, but he knew what was coming. Opening his eyes, he looked up at the monstrous wave he created bearing down upon him, a small smile on his lips. The smile was quickly wiped away as the wave smashed into him, throwing him against the bottom of the pool and replacing the air in his lungs with water. Eyes wide open, he watched as the leaves and sticks swirling around him slowly darkened as his vision faded and his body became numb. Closing his eyes, Joonmyun embraced the feeling of nothingness he had so desperately craved.

That feeling was quickly replaced as his eyes snapped open at the feeling of strong arms wrapping around his torso, and the water rushing around his body had suddenly switched to the sharpness of wind against his drenched skin. His lungs burned, weighed down by liquid that didn’t belong there. Retching, his body betrayed him as he hacked up what seemed like more water than could possibly fit inside his body. When he finally calmed down, he realized the arms from before were still firmly wrapped around him and he started struggling against the hold.

“What do you think you’re doing? Let go of me!” He rasped, peering up at the stranger through streaming eyes. As his vision came into focus he could just make out the strong jawline, furrowed brows and tousled hair of the man before he spoke.

“Is that any way to thank someone who just saved your life?” The man grumbled, peering down at Joonmyun.

“I didn’t ask to be saved,” Joonmyun spat, his legs flailing in mid air as he attempted to escape. “Put me down this instant!”

“I would if you stopped squirming.” He grunted as Joonmyun’s heel finally connected with his shin. “Landing’s a lot harder than taking off you know.”

“Landing, wha-?” Joonmyun trailed off as his vision finally cleared, giving him a good view of the man’s face for the first time. But more pressing than that, was the fact that the treetops behind them seemed to be level with their heads. Shifting his sight downwards, he screamed at the view of their feet dangling in mid-air, with the ground several kilometers below them. “Are you flying? How the hell can you fly? Oh my god what is going on, put me down I’m going to be sick I swear to-“

“Good lord, hold still man. Didn’t I tell you landing was harder than taking off? Do you want me to drop you?” He questioned as they jerked to a halt at Joonmyun’s struggling.

Joonmyun stilled and leveled a flat gaze at the man, “Well considering you’re the reason I’m still alive. I guess you could make it up to me by dropping me.” He flinched as his eyes darted to the ground below them. “Although falling to my death seems much less pleasant than drowning.”

The man stared at him with wide eyes before letting out a low curse. “I’m not going to drop you damn it, stop talking like that.”

“You never answered my question.” Joonmyun said. “How are you flying?”

 The man raised an eyebrow and answered, “I could be asking you the same thing. How can you create a wall of water out of thin air?”

Joonmyun’s jaw clenched as he looked away from the prying eyes and raised brow above him, refusing to answer. “Fine, let’s just get down.” He muttered. “Please?”

A grumble of agreement came from above and Joonmyun blanched as they restarted their slow and jerky decent towards the ground. His hands instinctively went up to hold onto the arms around his chest for support as he squeezed his eyes shut.

A few minutes into their decent, the mysterious man coughed awkwardly before speaking, “I’m Kris by the way.”

Joonmyun opened his eyes and looked up at the man who was pointedly looking off in the distance. He studied Kris’s facial features clearly this time. His light brown hair was tousled by the wind and his eyebrows were still furrowed in concentration. His eyes, nose and lips were perfectly proportioned to his face, and coupled with his strong jawline, Joonmyun could not help but think that Kris was unfairly handsome.

His train of thought came to a sudden halt as he felt his feet touch the floor with Kris stumbling behind him before releasing him from his hold. Joonmyun turned around to see Kris fully for the first time and felt a zing of annoyance pass through him at their obvious height difference. A couple seconds of awkward silence passed by before Joonmyun huffed.

“I’m not going to say thank you if that’s what you’re waiting for.”

Kris rolled his eyes. “I figured, I was actually waiting for your name. I told you mine, normally people respond with their own.”

Joonmyun pursed his lips before replying shortly. “Joonmyun. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He turned and started walking towards the house when Kris called out to him.

“Joonmyun are you still planning on killing yourself?” Joonmyun froze.

“I don’t see how that is any of your concern.” He said stiffly.

“I’m making it my concern.” Kris responded as he stepped towards him. “Why do you want to die so badly?”

Joonmyun saw red at the question. Whirling around he came face to face with the other man. “Why? You’re asking me why? Fine, I want to die because there is nothing here for me. I have nothing, I feel nothing. What is the point of living a life without anybody else? I’m such a freak that my own parents abandoned me. I. Have. Nothing. To. Live. For.” He spat.

Kris simply crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “You said you feel nothing, yet you seem like you’re feeling plenty right now.”

Joonmyun jerked as he realized the truth to Kris’s words. Ever since he met the man, he’s been feeling more emotions than he’s felt in years. He focused back on Kris as the man continued.

“What if you weren’t alone anymore? Think about it, I’ve got these... powers or whatever they are too. If you’re a freak then so am I. And if there are two of us, what is to say there aren’t more?”

Joonmyun blinked in astonishment. “Wha-“

Kris quickly stepped forward and placed his hands on his shoulders. “No, wait, I’m sure there are more of us. I’ve been traveling around since I discovered these powers looking for information. We aren’t alone.”

Openly gaping at the man now, Joonmyun’s mind was reeling. There were more people like him?

Kris gazed down at the smaller man with such intensity he couldn’t look away. “What do you say Joonmyun? Will you come with me to find them?”

Joonmyun gulped. He felt a fire in his belly, a desire to do something for the first time in years. “You’re sure that there are others? Really sure?”

Kris nodded firmly, “I’m positive.”

Joonmyun exhaled loudly before nodding back. “Ok, ok lets do this. But if you've gotten my hopes up for nothing, I swear I’ll kill you myself.”

Tension bled out of Kris’s frame as he removed his hands from Joonmyuns shoulder and ran his hand through his hair, laughing lightly.

“All right that seems fair. Now I think we should start again don’t you?” He grinned and stuck his hand out towards Joonmyun. “Hello, I’m Kris Wu and I can fly.”

Joonmyun laughed and shook the offered hand. “Hello Kris, I’m Kim Joonmyun and I can control water.”

Kris echoed his laugh. “Come on, lets get you into some dry clothes and we can figure out where we want to start our search.”

Kris turned and started leading Joonmyun towards the house, never letting his hand go.