"Sehun! Can you take this customer? My hands are full!" A coworker yells out.

"Sure," Sehun calls back. He puts his cleaning supplies back to the closet and heads to the front. He's been keeping himself busy with work and his hobby; coming in during the mornings and leaving at night. Developing and taking photos during his free time and weekends. The events of last week, however, still fresh in his mind. It scared him. It scared him so bad, he hasn't taken any pauses when walking home. Not even to take photos. "Table for one…” Sehun stops when he sees how different and handsome this man is. With medium brown hair; a hint of orange as well. This man wears a charming smile. He blushes and clears his throat. “Just one?”

The man smirks and fixes his trench coat. “One’s fine, thanks.”

He laughs nervously as he leads the man to a booth seat and sets a menu down. “I um...Sorry for staring, sir.”

“Don’t you worry about it,” He laughs as he slides into his seat. “Trust me, I get it a lot.”

Sehun smiles now too and nods. He fishes for a set of silverware from his apron and puts it down on the table. “Can I get you a drink to get you started?”

“Just coffee will do,” He hums as he looks at the menu.

Sehun bows respectfully. “I’ll bring you your drink soon.” He heads to the counter and pulls a cup out, frilling it to the brim. He glances over at the stranger and takes a deep breath.

“Holy crap, Sehun!” His coworker from the other night giggles and grabs onto his arm. “It’s not that cute guy from last night but score!”

“Huh?” Sehun sets the coffee pot down and scoffs. ‘Yeah, I guess he’s pretty hot.

“You should write your number down on a napkin or something!”

Sehun shakes his head, finding it too cheesy. "Right," Sehun scoffs. He grabs the coffee, hurrying over to the man’s table. "Sorry for the wait," he sets it down before he pulls his notepad out. He looks at the charming man. “Are you ready or do you need a minute-” Sehun is interrupted by the stranger accidentally slides the glass off the table. The next few seconds feel like slow-motion for Sehun. He watches the cup as it falls, extending his hand out as he tries to catch it. A gentle wind wraps around his hand. He watches wide-eyed as the cup floats in the air. Sehun suddenly steps back, letting it crash to the floor. He gasps and grabs onto one of the other tables to stop himself from falling as well.

"O-oh..." Sehun laughs nervously. “Oh my god!” But when Sehun looks up at the man, he’s still smiling; like he’s not upset.

“Oh,” He chuckles. “How interesting...”

"I’m so sorry! I...I'm so clumsy," Sehun quickly grabs the broom, beginning to sweep it up. "I-I'll get you another coffee.”

"No," He says. "It's alright, I’m not thirsty anyway." He gets up and sets down a couple of dollar bills before leaving without another word. Sehun slowly stands up, broom still in hand. He looks down at the cup, his heart beating fast.

"What...just happened?"

Sehun is slow to lock up the restaurant, the events of earlier still on his mind. The way the glass hovered- the water seemed to almost stand still, letting the soft wind flow. Was he the one that did that? And why did those people suddenly leave? They must have been freaked out and just wanted to go.  "Sehun, thanks for doing this," The manager asks as she looks for her car keys.

“Literally no one else is willing to stay this late.”

"It's no problem," Sehun smiles. "I'll see you tomorrow, ma’am." He bows and watches her leave. He waves to her as she gets into her car and drives off. He sighs and turns, resting his head on the doors. He tries to clear his thoughts before he makes the walk home. He holds his hand up and stares at it. Did he really do that? There weren't any windows open, no doors opening at that time. Even if there was...the air felt like his. Like it belonged to him and came from his body.

Sehun sighs and turns, gasping loudly when two men stand behind him. “Oh!” He stares at them with wide-eyes. He remembers ones of the men being the one from earlier, who spilled his coffee. Another man stands beside him, with short, messy brown hair and a vacant expression.

“This him, Heechul?”

“That’s him, Kyuhyun; isn’t he adorable?”

“I see,” Kyuhyun slowly nods and Sehun frowns.

“M-magic?” Sehun looks between them. “What’s magic?”

Heechul sighs and crosses his arms. “Oh, this is adorable- he used magic and he doesn’t even know it.”

Sehun nervously backs up when Kyuhyun takes a step closer towards him. “W-what do you want? M-money? I..I don’t have much but-”

“Do I look like I need any money?” He asks.

Sehun clears his throat. “N-no but uh...I...I don’t like to just assume…”

Kyuhyun observes the boy carefully. “If you don’t know what magic is, how come you used it earlier?”

Sehun looks at his hands. So it's true. He did do that. "So it’s true...but...how did I..do that?" he asks, his voice shaking. "D-do you two know something about it?"

“Aw,” The other man sighs. “Look how scared he is,” He takes a step closer and grabs Sehun’s hand, pulling him closer. “You don’t know how much power you really hold inside, do you?”

Sehun widens his eyes as he stares into Heechul’s eyes. “Power?”

Heechul’s grin slowly widens. “Oh yeah, and if you come with us, we’ll take you to someone who can help you harness that power- make it yours.”

“I could learn how to control that?”

“Of course,” Kyuhyun’s lips lift up to what seems to be a slight smirk. He goes over to the wall near the double doors and puts his hand on it. Sehun lets out a gasp when the man pulls back a huge, rock-like spike pulls out. “This is my ability...earth.”

“H-how’d you do that?!”

Heechul wraps an arm around Sehun’s shoulder. “Come with us kid, and we’ll introduce you to our leader.”

“What if he’s with Suho?” Kyuhyun asks and Heechul scoffs.

“We’d know if they got a new member, Kyu- and they don’t have any of those new dumb necklaces, right? Not like our tattoos.” The two men stare at him as if they wait for his answer. Sehun looks at them for a long moment, processing everything. He looks back down at his hands one more time. What potential did he have? Magic? Who is Suho?  He has no idea what any of these things mean but something tells him he'll never know if he never goes with them. What's the worse that can happen? They kill him? Sehun frowns at that.

"Alright," Sehun nods hesitantly "I-I'll go."

Sehun feels nervous as he sits in the backseat of Heechul’s black cars. He’s never been in such a nice car before; with black leather seats and an amazing stereo. But that’s the least of his worries right now. For all he knows, they could be kidnapping him. When they seem to finally arrive, they park outside of a huge, five-story building. It looks close to a warehouse, but not quite. He stares at its stone exterior in awe, barely noticing when Heechul opens his door and helps him out. The two men lead him into the front double doors and down a long hallway.

“Do you guys live here?” Sehun asks.

“Some of us do,” Kyuhyun admits. “Only if we don’t have anywhere else to live.”

“Wow,” Sehun smiles as he looks around. Several boys linger as they talk, stopping when they see the three of them. Some of the boys stare in curiosity before he’s pulled out of view and brought up some stairs. A boy with short, blonde hair suddenly stops in front of them, a hand on his hips.

“Heechul, Kyuhyun! What were you thinking, bringing him here?” He scolds. “What if he’s one of Suho’s men?!”

“Oh, for ’s sake,” Heechul scoffs. He grabs Sehun’s face with his ring-clad fingers. “Look at this sweet face. Have you seen him before? Anywhere around Suho at all?” When the blonde boy shakes his head, Heechul lets go. “Eunhyuk, really. I’m not ing new at this.”

Eunhyuk stares at Heechul for a moment before turns away, into a room and slams the door behind him. Heechul shakes his head and puts his hand on Sehun’s back, leading him forward again. “Um...who is Suho?”

“Siwon will answer your questions,” Kyuhyun replies instead as they step in front of a door at the end of yet another hallway. The walls are a nice, blue color and the floors seem to be made of marble. It’s quite nice compared to its exterior. Not wanting to annoy these people, he saves his questions. They both usher Sehun into a large room, a tall man with short, brown hair sits on a black leather chair behind a desk. He slowly stands and motions.

“This is…?” Heechul and Kyuhyun both nod. “Leave us,” He instructs. With a bow of their head, the two men leave without a word, leaving Sehun alone with this stranger. He almost misses the warmth Heechul seems to weirdly provide. “I’m glad you came, Sehun.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Heechul told me after he saw it on your work uniform,” The man smiles now as well and motions to a chair in front of the desk. “Please, take a seat.”

Sehun does as he says and looks around the room. It’s filled with bookshelves and paintings but not much aside from that. It all seems to be more decor than actual function; like all he uses in this room is his desk and the bookshelves. “My name is Siwon,” He introduces as he takes a seat. He hands Sehun a bottle of water, without asking if he were thirsty first. He looks at it in surprise.

“How’d you know I was thirsty?”

Siwon just smiles and leans back, crossing his leg. “Stop looking so nervous. You’re safe here.”

“Right,” Sehun swallows hard. “W-what is this place?”

Siwon hums as he looks out the window briefly. “A sanctuary, I suppose; a place we can train our abilities.”

"What?" Sehun looks at Siwon again. "Ability?"

“Magic, actually,” Siwon chuckles. “Which Heechul tells me you have a little yourself.”

“At the restaurant…”

“Wind magic..” Siwon looks extremely pleased by this. “Excellent. That’s a strong power you have.” Sehun frowns when he remembers that man he followed that night and how he was followed home.

“Oh...I think I accidentally followed one of your men a week ago or so…”

“Really?”

“Um…” Sehun nods as he digs through his pockets, searching for something. When he finds the picture of the stranger, he hands it to him. “He has abilities too, right? That's why I couldn’t follow him?”

Siwon’s chuckle is deep and throaty as he sets it down. “Yes, you’re right; but he’s not one of ours. He’s...an enemy, Sehun.”

Sehun widens his eyes. “Enemy?!”

“His name is Kim Jongin, or Kai, as they call him; he can teleport. He works for my brother, Junmyeon. Or, Suho, as he calls himself now…” He pauses. “I’m trying to take their group down.”

Sehun shifts around uncomfortably. “How...how come?” Siwon stands as he goes to the window. He folds his hands behind his back after motioning. He shyly joins the tall man, looking out as well. He stares at some strange boys training outside. So many different abilities. Flight, telekinesis. He stares at Heechul, gasping in awe at his fire that he manifests. “Oh my god,” He smiles. “They all can just do that? That easily?”

Siwon nods. “Yes,” He says. “And you can too, if you join us. All you have to do is help us take Suho and his boys down.”

“What’d they do? Are they bad?” Sehun looks up at him and he smiles sadly.

“When my brother and I were children...our parents were killed,” He admits.”By a magic user.” Sehun puts his hands to his mouth.”All my brother did was just...stand there. He didn’t do a thing…”

“How...how could he just stand there?”

“I don’t know,” Siwon lets out a sigh and closes his eyes like he’s pained just by the memory. Sehun frowns, suddenly wanting to help them. “And now he has these...boys with their own magic. He’s trying to take us all down, to kill us.” Siwon leads Sehun back to the desk and pulls out a small book. He opens to a bookmarked page and shows it to him. “We took down three of our men...not before they badly hurt some of our own, though.”

“They’re trying to kill you?” Sehun stares down at pictures of three boys. “They followed me home…”

“I see…” Siwon frowns. “How low of them...to go after a man who  can’t even use his magic.”

“W-what?”

Siwon turns to Sehun and stares down at him, grabbing his shoulders. “Think about it, it’s obvious,” He says. “They wanted to kill you before you could truly learn to harness your abilities. “Sehun swallows hard. The idea that he could have died that night makes him scared. “But I can make sure you’re protected, Sehun. I can help you, help you fuel yourself and to grow strong.”

“To grow strong…”

“So you can help my boys and me,” Siwon encourages. “And yourself. Heechul will come to fetch you every day- so you’re safe; protected.”

Sehun slowly rubs his own arms and nervously looks down at the book. They look kind of scary. He shivers and hugs his body, remembering the ice that followed him so closely. He never wants to feel that fear again. “When do I start?”

------------------------

What would have happened if Siwon found Sehun first.