Sehun had everything he needed, a comfortable home, and parents who took good care of him. The only thing was, they weren’t really his parents. 

They lived in a small house near the sea far away from civilization, a refuge, a place his “parents” had taken him to keep him safe.

This couple had been looking for Sehun. They knew all about his unnatural power over wind, and where Sehun had apparently come from: Exoplanet. The existence of himself and the other gifted people of this planet had been kept a secret, guarded through generations of this couple’s family as they waited for the nine inhabitants of Exoplanet to arrive on Earth.

Sehun was too young to comprehend all this however, they simply explained to Sehun that he was living at this house near the sea to keep him safe. Normal people might get frightened by his powers.

Sehun loved them like parents regardless of their reasons for taking care of him, it was the closest thing he had to a real family. He was delighted to spend his days with them, playing in the ocean and enjoying his daily lessons. At night they would read him stories and tuck him into bed, just like real parents. Everything was perfect in Sehun’s little world.

But that perfection was ruined when his father ree day from a long trip. As Sehun went running to greet him, he stopped in his tracks at an unwelcome sight. Standing beside his father was a young boy. Sehun’s mother smiled and knelt down beside him, she his hair gently before looking over at Sehun.

“You have a new friend.”

Sehun’s face must have looked rather upset, because his parents both started to convince him this was a good thing.

“Everything is fine Sehun, don’t worry. This is Baekhyun, he’s just like you. He has the power over light.”

After explaining to Sehun both his parents turned to the young boy.

“Baekhyun, this is Sehun. He has the power over wind. I know you two are going to get along wonderfully.”

Sehun couldn’t disagree more, he sneered at the young boy behind his parents back and then proceeded to run upstairs in a fit before slamming his door.

His parents tried their best to make them get along, but Sehun didn’t want anything to do with Baekhyun. Especially now that Baekhyun was hogging most of his parents time. Sehun would sit in his room and pout as they gave Baekhyun the extra attention he needed to adjust to his new home.

Sehun hardly spoke to Baekhyun, unless it was some kind of negative comment. He was never too harsh, after all he was a good child at heart. The jealousy of sharing his parents with Baekhyun had just consumed him. He didn’t want anyone else to intrude in his perfect world.

“What can the power of light even do?” Sehun asked Baekhyun one day as they were forced to spend time with each other at the beach.

Baekhyun’s lips turned into a pout, he was used to Sehun’s negative attitude towards him by now, but it still upset him.

“I make balls of light.”

“That’s it?”

Baekhyun put his hands on his hips in defense.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool actually. I never get afraid of the dark. I can go potty all by myself at night.”

Sehun threw a small pebble into the water.

“I guess so.”

Sehun, despite his negative attitude, was actually beginning to like Baekhyun. Baekhyun was such a happy and warm person, it was hard to keep on pretending he didn’t like him. He had spied on his parents while they spent time with Baekhyun. He had seen Baekhyun’s infectious smile, it made Sehun smile in return without even realizing it. He had heard Baekhyun’s adorable laughter, and at night, on the other side of the wall, Sehun could hear Baekhyun’s soft quiet voice as he sang himself to sleep. Sehun looked forward to his singing every night, it was almost impossible for him to fall asleep without it now.

However, Sehun was stubborn, he wouldn’t allow his pride to slip. He wouldn’t even admit to himself that he was starting to like Baekhyun. If his parents ever saw them happily playing together, Sehun would just die.

Sehun kept up his deception of disliking Baekhyun for a good long year, and during that time he only grew to like Baekhyun more and more. Baekhyun however, was becoming accustom to ignoring Sehun, they spent less and less time together, despite their parents wishes, and learned to get along with Sehun by not communicating at all.

Life continued this way, until the man looking after them disappeared on another trip. Sehun knew all too well what this meant, but this time, his feelings were a little different. Sehun wasn’t worried about sharing his parents with this new “friend”, Sehun was worried about Baekhyun. Baekhyun would have someone else to play with, someone to actually talk to. 

Sehun watched from his window as he saw his father’s car pull up to their house. He heard his mother’s voice call to them from downstairs, telling them in excitement that their father was home. It was so fast, much faster than last time. Sehun stubbornly stayed on his bed as he listened to Baekhyun’s excited footsteps run downstairs. 

“This is Chanyeol.” Sehun heard his mother explain to Baekhyun. “He has the power over fire.”

“Wow!” Baekhyun happily answered in excitement. “Is he going to stay here too?”

“Yes! He’s a new friend of yours.”

“Yay!”

Sehun took a deep breath as he curled up his legs to hold them close to his chest. He hated it. He hated it so much.

“Sehun!” His mother called to him, “Come down here!”

Sehun reluctantly went downstairs after a short moment of fuming. As much as he hated the situation, he didn’t want to be rebellious towards his parents. Sehun stood at the end of the stairs as he looked over at the new face. The boy was tall, even taller than Sehun, who was rather tall for his age. Baekhyun was happily standing next to Chanyeol smiling, Sehun spent a moment staring at Baekhyun with a heavy heart.

A goofy smile appeared on Chanyeol’s face as he looked over at Sehun.

“Hi!”

Sehun didn’t answer, he just glared at him.

“He’s a little shy.” Sehun’s mother tried to explain in an attempt to make the situation look better.

Baekhyun giggled and whispered to Chanyeol, “Sehun doesn’t like other people.”

Chanyeol laughed a little with Baekhyun and Sehun’s glare became even more fierce. After showing Chanyeol around the house, the couple let Sehun and Baekhyun take Chanyeol down to the beach. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were getting along quite well, smiling and laughing about the smallest things as Sehun trailed behind them. Sehun was done with this. That’s when he did the only thing he could think of, try to make Chanyeol hate Baekhyun. Sehun shoved himself in-between them as he looked up at the taller boy.

“You shouldn’t talk to Baekhyun, he’s…he’s a big crybaby.” Sehun stuttered as he tried to come up with something bad to say about Baekhyun.

Baekhyun looked at Sehun and a pout formed on his lips. Chanyeol stared down at Sehun in surprise, not sure what to say.

“He still has to use his powers at night so he can go potty.” Sehun added.

Sehun heard a tiny whimper behind him as Baekhyun began to cry.

“You’re such a meanie Sehun!”

Those words echoed in Sehun’s mind as he tried to fall asleep that night. Chanyeol had ended up scolding Sehun and running after Baekhyun once he ran away in tears. This moment only ended up bringing them closer, and cementing the idea in Chanyeol’s mind that Baekhyun was a friend, and Sehun was not.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun played together at the beach a lot, and Sehun ended up watching them from the kitchen, wishing he was the one splashing Baekhyun with water.

“Why don’t you go play with them?” His mother asked in the sweetest tone she could.

Sehun snorted, “I don’t like Chanyeol.”

His mother was surprised Sehun didn’t list Baekhyun along with Chanyeol, she had come to believe that Sehun disliked both of them.

“He’s a nice kid, I’m sure you’d get along with him if you just gave him a chance.”

“I don’t want to.” Sehun snorted again as he stood up from the table and went upstairs.

As Baekhyun grew a little older, thanks to Sehun’s mockery, he tried to go the bathroom at night without using his light power. It was terrifying. He clung to the walls the entire time as he inched along in the darkness. Sehun saw Baekhyun doing this once as he came out to go to the bathroom himself. He felt badly about it, but he wouldn’t apologize, his pride wouldn’t let him. Instead he decided to do something for Baekhyun without him knowing.

The following night, as Baekhyun stepped out into the hallway, walking funny because he had held his pee in too long out of fear, was surprised to find a flashlight sitting on the ground near his door. It was already on and illuminating the hallway for him. Baekhyun smiled brightly, he assumed the lady taking care of them had done this. Sehun watched Baekhyun from a crack in his door as he quickly ran into the bathroom. Sehun smiled to himself, pleased with helping.

Eventually Sehun convinced his mother to get a nightlight, telling her that Baekhyun was a big scary cat at night. Sehun got a small thrill out of secretly helping Baekhyun, and decided to look out for more things he could possibly do for him. He liked the idea of no one knowing, it finally allowed him to vent his feelings without revealing himself.

Upon careful observation, Sehun discovered that Baekhyun was very fond of flowers. Sehun moved around the yard like it was some kind of secret mission and picked a flower for him. Then he proceeded to sneak into Baekhyun’s room in a similar fashion, placing the flower on Baekhyun’s pillow. Sehun spied on Baekhyun that night as his mother tucked Baekhyun into bed. Baekhyun smiled when he noticed the small flower and asked where it came from. She had no idea, and assumed it must have been from her husband.

Sehun smiled to himself, once again proud of his stealth gift. He couldn’t get enough of it, that wonderful smile on Baekhyun’s face. After looking for more ways to help Baekhyun, he learned during breakfast that Baekhyun’s favorite food was strawberries. That entire day Sehun spent outside picking strawberries. His hands were stained red from them, and he desperately tried to wash off the evidence. When no one was in the kitchen, Sehun snuck inside with his large bowl, placing it on the counter. The next day Baekhyun was happy to eat as many strawberries as he wanted, and Sehun smiled to himself as he watched him eat them.

——————————

Along with their daily lessons, the couple had begun training the children to better harness their powers. It was decided it was a good time when Chanyeol almost burnt the house down.

“Once you are properly able to control your powers, there should only be one thing that will make you lose control.”

“What’s that?” Baekhyun asked as he was playing with the grass. He didn’t take these lessons too seriously, considering his power wasn’t really a danger to anyone.

“Love. Love is the one emotion that will make it impossible for you to fully control your element.”

“Why only love? Chanyeol asked.

“Because love is the one emotion you have no control over. You can choose to be angry, you can choose to be sad. Even if you don’t want to fall in love, it doesn’t matter, it will happen. Your emotions have a strong effect on your powers. Anger will fuel your power to be stronger, sadness will deplete your power, happiness will clear your mind and make your power easier to control. But when it comes to the heart, when you love someone, even if you tried, there is no way to control that feeling.”

They were a little too young to understand this concept at the moment, but there would come a time when Baekhyun would fully understand what this meant.

——————————

It wasn’t long before more faces started appearing at their house, and the list of Baekhyun’s friends became larger. However, their house didn’t have enough space for all of them to have their own room, and it came time for everyone to decide on a roommate. Sehun was horrified, it seems he would have to take his stubborn pride down a notch.

Sehun was walking to his parents room when he overheard Junmyeon and Baekhyun speaking to each other. Sehun popped his head around the corner to watch them.

“Why don’t we share a room?”

Baekhyun smiled, “I’ll have to think about it, Jongin already asked me.”

Sehun took a deep breath as he stared at Baekhyun. They were teenagers now, and Baekhyun had only continued to grow more and more beautiful. Sehun admired his soft features with an aching heart.

“Well you better make up your mind fast, I feel bad for whoever has to share with Sehun.” Junmyeon laughed.

Baekhyun also laughed, “Yeah, that would be miserable.”

Sehun’s heart felt a sharp pain. He watched them for a moment more before he walked off again towards his parents room with a determined expression.

“I want to share a room with Baekhyun.” Sehun mustered the courage to tell his mother as she combed her hair in the mirror.

His mother turned to look at him in surprise. She knew Sehun’s stubborn pride very well, and realized how difficult this must have been for him to say.

“Please.” Sehun added after a deep breath.

She smiled at him sweetly as she put down her comb, “All right.”

For the first time in many years, his mother witnessed a genuine smile appear on Sehun’s face.

“Thank you.”

She knew Sehun would never ask Baekhyun to share a room with him himself, and she also knew it would take some serious bribing to get Baekhyun to do so, but she was determined to get Sehun what he wanted.

So, with the bribe of a brand new phone, Baekhyun reluctantly packed his things and moved into Sehun’s room. Sehun sat on his bed and leaned against the wall trying to pretend he was on his phone as Baekhyun unpacked his things, every so often stealing a glance at Baekhyun and smiling to himself.

More beds had been purchased to accommodate everyone, and the majority of Sehun’s room had been taken up by two small beds. After turning off the light, Baekhyun crawled into his own bed without saying a word to Sehun. In the darkness, Sehun laid on his side and stared over at Baekhyun. They laid for a long time before Sehun finally spoke.

“You’re not singing.”

Baekhyun was surprised, and his face turned red in embarrassment.

“…You’ve…heard me?”

Sehun knocked his hand on the wall next to his bed.

“Your old room is right here. I heard you sing every night.”

Baekhyun buried his face in the sheets, “You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”

Sehun stared at him for a moment with a sad expression. He striped away a little more of his pride as he mustered the courage to finally compliment him, “I’m not teasing you. I like your singing.”

A small breeze blew through the room, the cold air caused Baekhyun to shiver.

Baekhyun made a small laugh of disbelief, “Yeah right, you just want me to sing so you can laugh at me.”

Sehun took a deep breath, “I like it. I can’t sleep without it.”

Another gust of wind blew around Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun laughed again as he pulled the sheets closer around his face, “Goodnight Sehun.”

Sehun didn’t fall asleep until the early morning. Baekhyun woke up before him and quickly got ready to leave the room so he could spend the least amount of time with Sehun as possible. When Sehun finally woke up and went downstairs, only his parents were there.

“Where is everyone?” Sehun asked curiously.

“Oh, they went out, they wanted to have a picnic. It’s a nice day today, you should join them.” His mother responded.

Sehun did his best to make it seem like he didn’t care as he ate his breakfast quietly.

“By the way, they should be coming home today.”

Sehun looked up at her in surprise, “Dad finally found him?”

“Yes, please try to act nice to him.”

Sehun ignored her as he continued eating. His parents had explained to everyone by now about their past, that they came from another planet, that there were nine of them in total, each with their own unique power.

After slowly finishing his breakfast he went upstairs. Sehun spent his day alone in his room, wasting his time playing on his phone, thinking of what Baekhyun might be doing right now. Finally he heard the front door open, his father was home. Sehun made his way downstairs and stood in front of the doorway. It had been a long time since he greeted someone at the door all by himself, everyone else was usually there to do all the talking.

“This is Yixing.” His father introduced him.

Yixing stepped towards Sehun and bowed, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Sehun looked down at him, without anyone else there, there was no need to be stubborn. Sehun bowed in return.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

His mother smiled at him and patted his back, “Why don’t you help him find the other boys?”

Sehun paused for a moment before agreeing. He lead Yixing outside and started to look around for everyone. Suddenly they heard screaming. Sehun spotted everyone standing on top of one of the nearby cliffs, they were all kneeling looking over the edge.

“Baekhyun, are you all right?!!” Chanyeol yelled.

Sehun looked below the cliff and spotted a ti