Taekwoon was young when his father died, only five and a half. He remembered watching the news as they talked about the battle, his mother crying behind him while cursing the name of the other hero involved. He hadn’t understood until a few years later what had happened, he’d believed the news because he was supposed to. His mother was a reporter and she said so. Everyone believed the news.

Taekwoon was almost twelve when his mother finally told him the truth. He’d come home from school, asking for a hero action figure for his birthday. The hero was the same one involved in his dad’s accident. His mother had gotten so angry, yelling at him for several minutes before she broke down crying. It was then that she explained the truth to him. When he didn’t believe her, she showed him proof. She’d had access to the uncut footage of the fight and saved a copy before she quit her job. She just couldn’t work with people who lied about her husband’s death, who had no problem saying that it was a horrible accident to her face when they knew the truth.

He’d been so angry after that. The bright child he had been died and was replaced with a silent, angry person. Taekwoon had withdrawn into himself, let his hate for the world consume him until he was alone. Save for his mother, the only person who understood his feelings. She’d once tried to get him to open up more, tried to tell him that it wasn’t the fault of the people who believed the lie. Taekwoon hadn’t listened and in time she gave up and let him be.

--

“Hey,” one of his co-workers asked, “Jung, do you wanna go out for drinks with the rest of us?”

“I have plans with my mother,” Taekwoon lied, “thank you for the offer.”

“Maybe next time,” the other shrugged before leaving.

Taekwoon had gotten better about hiding his anger over the years, now he just appeared closed off. He was still angry, still hated the world with all his heart, but hiding it……it served him better. He needed a job after all. He needed to be able to work with people in order to keep that job. But that didn’t mean he had friends. He went out for drinks with co-workers every so often for the sake of appearance, but that was it.

Honestly, it made him feel a little sick to be around people like them. People who praised heroes and failed to see them for what they really were. Maybe his view was too harsh, he mother had once told him as much, but Taekwoon……..he’d thought that way for too long. He didn’t think he could ever change that part of himself.

--

Taekwoon held back a yawn as he opened an e-mail from his mother. She didn’t normally use e-mail, so he was rather curious. It couldn’t be anything too important though, she’d have called him if it were. Still, the idea of what she could have sent him kept him from going straight to bed like he’d originally planned.

Taekwoon opened the e-mail to find a link.

He clicked the link and it took him to a web site.

His eyes widened as his read.

He didn’t watch the news, couldn’t take their lies, so he’d never heard of the Twin Flames until that moment. As he read through the site, he felt…….words couldn’t describe how he felt. It was like…….like nothing he’d felt before. These people……they were doing exactly what he’d always wanted.

Taekwoon had packed up his things, taking only what was really important to him, and went to find them.

--

Taekwoon spent several months looking for the Twin Flames. Several times all he found was a dead end, but now……now he was looking at a run-down bar on the poorest side of the city. He hesitated entering the place, but decided that he had to see this through to the end. The Twin Flames had recently taken out the hero responsible for his father’s death, he had to find them and thank them. Maybe he’d even ask to join and they’d let him, but Taekwoon wanted to express his gratitude first and foremost.

“Can I help you?” the woman at the bar asked when he entered.

“I’m looking for someone,” Taekwoon replied, looking around at the mostly empty bar. The only people there were him, the woman, and two people tucked away in a dark corner.

“Oh?” the woman asked, frowning slightly, “who are you looking for?”

“The Twin Flames,” Taekwoon answered honestly. Something about the woman’s reaction told him she knew something, but she wouldn’t just tell him what she knew. He had to earn it.

“Why would you come looking for them here?” she pressed, “this isn’t exactly the first place you’d check for anyone, hero or villain.”

“I want to thank them,” Taekwoon said, “they avenged my dad and I need to thank them for that.”

“They avenged your dad, huh?” one of the people from the dark corner called out, “how did they do that?”

“The hero that they recently killed, “Taekwoon explained, “years ago he was fighting alongside my dad. He was a horrible hero, careless and foolish and selfish. He got my dad killed and he got away with it because he was more popular. My dad was a good man, he cared about saving people. He didn’t deserve to die like that.”

“Sounds like a pretty ty dude,” the other person spoke up, “and you wanna thank the Twin Flames for taking him out?”

“I also want to join them,” Taekwoon said, “What they’re doing……it’s the right thing. The hero system is broken, there’s so many fake heroes running around. And the media…….they have the guts to lie about it.”

“You know,” the first person spoke again, “there’s a lot of people who’ve come around here saying the same kind of stuff. What makes you different from them? Why would the Twin Flames want you to help them?”

“I don’t know,” Taekwoon sighed, “I honestly don’t expect them to actually take my offer, but…….but I have to try. After my dad died…….after my mom told me the truth about it…….I……..I……I just…..I got so angry with everything. I stopped talking to people, stopped caring about things. This…..this is the first time I’ve felt anything good in years.”

“I know how you feel,” the person said, carefully getting out of his seat to reveal himself as the older of the Twin Flames, “I’ve been where you were.”

“Really?” Taekwoon asked, more surprised to hear that someone had gone through what he had than the reveal of who he’d been talking to, “you…..you know what it’s like?”

“Our mom,” the younger Twin spoke up, getting up as well, “she was killed because of a hero. Hyuk was there when it happened. So…..yeah, he really knows.”

“You know,” Hyuk said, “once you join us, you can’t go back. You’ll be branded a villain and heroes will start hunting you like they hunt us.”

“I know,” Taekwoon nodded, “I don’t care. Joining you…..I’ll be helping prevent more kids from losing their parents, from feeling what I’ve felt.”

“I’m Han Sanghyuk,” Sanghyuk introduced himself with a smile, “and this is my little brother Jisung. You?”

“I’m Jung Taekwoon,” Taekwoon replied, taking the hand that Sanghyuk offered.

“Welcome to the family,” Sanghyuk said and Taekwoon couldn’t help but smile.

A/N: so I actually had a little trouble trying to figure out what Taekwoon’s power should be since I needed something that would help Sanghyuk and Jisung while also fitting Taekwoon. So first I looked at my other stories where Taekwoon had a power. In Childhood’s End I gave him fire and, I mean, I want his power to help Sanghyuk and Jisung. Adding more fire…….it doesn’t help them. In Trusting Demons he had heat and that’s too closely related to fire for my like. His power in Dark Lake didn’t feel like it would fit too well either. So I’d originally thought “give him water, that would help them. His water could help them control their fire. Like, he’d keep them from catching buildings on fire, allowing them to go all out on enemies.” But then I got to thinking…..isn’t that a little basic? So I went with ice! He can still help the Han bros by protecting buildings from their flames, and it fits Taekwoon better. Like, ice is cold until you warm it up and Taekwoon was all quiet and reserved, some would even say…..cold, when VIXX debuted but he’s warmed up since and become more open. And in this story, he's all cold until the Han bros warm him up.