Changbin watched the others as they sat around the dinner table, happily chatting about the day’s events. As he watched, he felt himself smiling softly at how happy his family was. This…..this was something he never thought he could have again. He’d really thought that he’d lost this when…….when that happened.

Changbin……..he used to have a brother. He’d had parents once, too. But a hero’s careless actions had taken his mother and father from him. That was probably the moment when his life turned down a very dark path. He and his brother had been taken in by their uncle who ordered them to keep quiet about what happened. The pair didn’t understand why, but twelve year-old Changbin was smart enough not to ask. Too see the look in his uncle’s eyes and know that he wouldn’t like the answer.

His brother was only ten and he didn’t share that wisdom. Eventually their uncle had gotten tired of his brother’s constant questions of why and explained everything to them. Changbin was right, he didn’t like the answer. Knowing the cold, hard truth of the world left him feeling empty and hopeless. It left his brother angry and filled him with a determination to fix things.

That determination, combined with his innocents, led him in a very wrong direction.

His brother went looking for others who wanted to change the world and in doing so he ended up finding a group of villains. These villains told him that they wanted to change things for the better. They said that they wanted to change the world and bring down the fake heroes. They said everything his brother wanted to hear and he asked to join them.

They lied.

They used his brother’s innocents and trusting nature against him.

Changbin had joined as well, foolishly thinking that he could protect his brother if things took a wrong turn.

They were both so very, very wrong.

Things were fine for a couple of years, but then they started taking a turn. It started small, a theft here and an assault there, but all too soon those little incidents turned into big ones and Changbin and his brother knew that these people weren’t what they’d claimed to be. But it was too late to get out and Changbin had no idea what he was going to do.

Things got worse when the leader tasked his brother with a very special job.

Changbin’s brother was ordered to kill someone. It was clear to anyone who knew his brother that he’d been set up to fail, that he wouldn’t be able to kill this person that their leader felt should die. Changbin had tried to step in, tried to offer himself up for the job, but he was rejected. The leader threatened to break him if he ever did something like that again.

His brother, naturally, failed to task he’d been given and Changbin……..he…….he……

He tried.

He tried to cover for his brother, going out and completing the job himself. He tried to hide his brother, sneaking him away to their uncle’s home that they hadn’t lived in since joining the villains. He tried to talk to his leader, persuade him to spare his brother’s life.

None of this worked.

His leader followed through on that promise of breaking him. He left Changbin laying in a pool of his own blood, in far too much pain to move and blacking out for minutes at a time. When he finally gathered the strength to leave, he dragged himself to his uncle’s house and found it set ablaze. He knew that his uncle and brother were inside. He knew that both were dead and that their ends did not come easily.

He ran after that.

Changbin spent the next couple of years trying to stay off the grid, trying to stay as far from heroes and villains as he could. He told himself that he didn’t care, that the world and society and the people in it meant nothing to him. He tried to be as cold and soulless as the shadows he controlled.

And then he heard about the Twin Flames.

At first, he was angry at them. Angry at what they claimed to stand for. They were lying, he knew it. He was convinced that they were just like them. Every time he heard about them finding a new ally he felt sick and his anger grew.

Why could no one else see how fake these Flame Twins were?

Why couldn’t everyone else see that they were like everyone else?

Fake.

So Changbin started looking into them, trying to dig up everything he could about these two people who claimed to want a better world. He couldn’t find out who they were exactly, there were far too many people with fire powers, and he also couldn’t find any proof that he was right. Everything he found just proved that they were what they said they were and Changbin just……he couldn’t believe it.

So he started following them, desperate to uncover the truth.

Instead all he found was a family.

He watched as Woojin and Chan went out grocery shopping, so sweetly domestic it could rot your teeth. As Wonsik went for walks in the nearby park to calm down when he was feeling stressed, Taekwoon and Hakyeon always nearby keeping an eye on him but also giving him the space he needed. As Hyunjin and Felix went on cute double dates with Jisung and Minho. As Hongbin returned home from school, someone always at the front doors waiting to welcome him home. As Jeongin dragged Sanghyuk out when he thought his leader and big brother needed some fresh air.

Eventually he realized that they weren’t fake, weren’t full of lies, they were telling the truth.

And that was when he walked into the bar and joined his new family.

“Bin?” Felix said, voice low so as not to attract the attention of the others, “you ok?”

“I’m alright,” Changbin smiled slightly, “just…..thinking about how grateful I am to be part of this family.”

“I’m happy you’re part of it, too,” Felix giggled happily, throwing his arms around the slightly older boy, “love you, Binnie.”

“Lix,” Hyunjin teased, “you cheater.”

“No,” Felix whined, faking a pout, “I’m not a cheater. I love Jinnie more than anyone.” He pulled away from Changbin and snuggled up against Hyunjin.

The rest of the table laughed at the couple’s playfulness and Changbin smiled, memories of his little brother filling his mind. Felix really did remind him so much of the brother he’d lost. It made him want to protect him, shield him from everything that could hurt him. Sure, Felix could take care of himself, but Changbin worried like any good big brother.

A/N: so I’d originally planned to keep Changbin’s past secret, right? The power of what you can imagine being so much better/worse then what I can write, ya know? But then………then and idea struck me and…….i think some of you might have an idea about where this is going. *evil laugh*. sorry for being MIA for a little longer then normal, recently started on my new meds and they're leaving me feelling pretty sleepy. which, i mean, is better then the last ones that hit me with every single side-effect on the box haha seem to be working other then the sleepy feeling tho, so *shrug* might be on the right track to finding something that works?