“You said we were getting ice cream.”

“We are.”

“No, you are.”

The awkward position she has crouched herself into has her calves threatening to cramp up, but don’t worry about her, never about her, because all that matters is that Jiwoo got her damn ice cream cone. The two of them are sharing the safe space under a small circular table, with Jungeun trying her hardest to become one with the middle pole bolted to the ground to stay hidden and Jiwoo, well, Jiwoo would have stayed standing with no problem, enjoying her damn ice cream, if it weren't for Jungeun yanking her down with her.

Now, of course, her main reason for coming down to the parlour was to get some ice cream. Like Jiwoo had offered. But circumstances never play out well when Jiwoo suggests something, something Jungeun should have caught onto by now, but here she still is, folding into herself, as many others are, under a table. Ice cream-less, may she add.

“It’s not my fault you didn’t grab any when you had the chance.”

Baffled, is how Jungeun feels with how nonchalant Jiwoo is about the predicament they are in. Well, with how nonchalant Jiwoo is with just about anything.

“One: I didn’t have a chance. And two: you basically stole that.”

“Now, is me taking one cone and one scoop really that important when they’re literally being robbed right now?”

Jiwoo shrugs at her. A look of content with her choices and no care for the poor parlour in absolute shambles has Jungeun questioning her less than stand-up friend.

“What kind of Superhero in training are you?”

“A poor one.”

“I can see that.”

Jungeun knows Jiwoo is referring to her not so stellar bank account, but technicalities. Not only is the school going to have a go at them when they find out the both of them had snuck out, but now they’re stuck in the middle of a robbery with one of their students technically having robbed the store too of their products. She isn’t one for sticking to the rules and all, but this situation just isn’t looking up for them one bit.

“If you’re so cranky about it all then why don’t you stop them.”

“If you haven’t been paying attention in class,” when Jiwoo looks up at her with those big, bugged eyes of hers, Jungeun knew she shouldn’t have even brought up school as her go to of all angles, “we’re not allowed to use our powers outside of school grounds.”

“Well, if we weren’t supposed to then why were we born with them.”

Sometimes, most times, (all times) Jiwoo could be so infuriating. Because while she’s technically not wrong, she’s not right either. And that’s why Jungeun can’t fight with Jiwoo. Because she’d rather fight with a rock. Because maybe then she could just smack her head against it and end it all instead of getting angry with having no comebacks for her smart aleck friend.

“That’s what I thought. There’s only like,” Jiwoo glances around the store, counting up the ones clad in ski masks, “three of them. Too easy for you.”

“I’m not going to use my powers. I’m already on two strikes, thanks to someone.”

Jiwoo averts her eyes at the accusation and goes back to eating her ice cream in peace as if the cash register wasn’t being bashed in with a hammer right this second. “Fine. Let the poor mom-and-pop store be ransacked. Is that going to sit well with you, miss ‘we must protect the people’?”

If she didn’t know what Jiwoo’s powers were, then she would have guessed she was the master of guilt tripping. She uses it as if it is a power against Jungeun ninety-nine percent of the time anyways for it not to be one of her powers.

From her position, somehow ideally in the middle of the entire store, she could see the two elderly owners, cowering in the corner, the woman consoling her sobbing husband, as the ski mask goons bark orders at each other and tore the place to shreds. She counts the heads herself, observing the areas they were positioned in and her best options. With an exasperated sigh, because once again, Jiwoo won, she knocks the cone out of her hand just to feed her sadistic side that fed on bullying Jiwoo, before she got to work.

She targets the one with the automatic first, because he could do the most damage at this point. Making sure she knew the angle at which to come in, she waits for him to shift again before ing her right arm out. She opens the portal just in front of his neck, punching as hard as she could at his Adam’s apple, before using this opportunity to grab at the gun as he moves to grab at his injured neck. His wheezing fit garners the attention of his accomplices, giving her no time to pull the sling off from around his neck. With no time to waste, she yanks at the gun, pulling it through the portal before she closes it, cutting the sling with it, and opens up another one quickly at the man standing above the elderly owners, whacking the of the gun against his temple. When she zips her gaze to the last man, Mr. Hammer, at the registers, her new portal is already open, of the gun at the ready to hit, but is welcomed with him sprawled over the registers, the hammer he had been holding now hovering above him in the air.

Jiwoo appears in a blink with a satisfied grin, waving at her with hammer in hand. “Don’t forget about the one in the getaway van,” she points towards the window.

Jungeun ducks out from under the table and spots the van in question. Sitting up in alarm is the driver of the entire group, hastily pulling on his mask. Opening up a new portal, Jungeun makes this one big enough for her to see through it and for him to see her, before lifting up her arm and pointing the barrel of the gun at the last robber.

“Don’t even think about it.”

🍦🍦

“Don’t even think about it.”

Jiwoo drops her arms, her fake finger guns now grabbing at her jumper as she bursts into a fit of giggles again. Jungeun has heard her rendition of what she had said earlier for probably the hundredth time, and just as the first, this one’s terrible as well.

After the police got everything under control, even going as far as telling them that they’d be notifying the school about what they had done, the elderly couple had been adamant on not letting them leave without some ice cream as a thank you, as if Jiwoo didn’t already steal one to begin with and during the wait for the police. They began their descent back to school with free cones in hand, Jiwoo mimicking her throughout the entire way.

“Will you stop it already?”

“Why? Embarrassed by your catchphrase?”

Opening a small, low portal, Jungeun throws her foot out, tripping Jiwoo in her step. “That’s not my catchphrase.”

Barely catching herself and saving her cone, Jiwoo glares up at Jungeun who’s the smug one for once. “Hey! What was that for?”

“For making fun of me and getting me in this mess. Which reminds me, how did you know about the guy in the van?”

“What do you mean? I was staring right at him,” Jiwoo turns to look at a dog across the street.

“Yeah, but he didn’t have a mask on. He could have been any other guy sitting in his van.”

When Jiwoo misses the beat to answer, Jungeun knew. Oh, how dumb she felt for falling for another one of Jiwoo’s tricks!

“You did not!”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Who did you get to help you this time?”

“No one,” Jiwoo smiles at her, a phoney one if Jungeun knew phoney and Jiwoo was one big phoney trickster.

“Tell me.”

“I can’t tell you what there isn’t to be told.”

“Don’t play around with your words at me. Tell me who you persuaded to help you this time.”

When Jiwoo shrugs at her again, with that stupid eating grin of hers, Jungeun takes matters into her own hands and grabs at the girl’s cone. A stickler when it comes to her food, Jungeun had to get her where it hurts. Opening up a portal to the cliffside of their school grounds, Jungeun holds the cone just above it.

“Wanna tell me now?”

“Chaewon. It was Chaewon. Now, don’t do anything hasty, Jungie. Step away from the portal and give me back the hostage, unharmed.”

Rolling her eyes, because Jiwoo loves to get dramatic when it best suits her, Jungeun pulls her arm back and closes the portal. Returning the cone back, she’s left to wonder why she befriended this manipulator.

“You blackmailed a child.”

“She’s not a child.”

“She only joined the school a couple months ago."

“She’s literally a year younger than us.”

“Who barely has control of her powers.”

“Well, then, aren’t I helping by making her exercise said powers?”

And there she goes again. She isn’t wrong, but she wasn’t right either.

“How’d she even see this one coming?”

“We went out for ice cream in the morning. She dropped some change on the register and probably touched it when she went to pick it up,” Jiwoo shrugs at the not so clear memory.

“Do you eat every second of the day?”

“I got a mouth and stomach for a reason. Best to put them to use.”

The walk was quiet after that. There was no need to follow up on her interrogation. Jiwoo gets bored easily and Jungeun seems to be her favourite entertainment.

“I’m tired. Can’t you just open up a portal to the dormitory?

“No. I think we’ve used our powers enough today.”

“C’mon. You nearly threw my cone before through a portal, why not throw me through one back to my room?”

“Y’know I don’t like sending people, who aren’t me, through my portals. I’m still trying to get the hang of getting myself through it in one piece, let alone someone else.”

“Then come with me. It’ll only take a second.”

When Jiwoo starts her little tantrum, Jungeun lets the pros of portalling them back to school feed into her mind. It would be faster than walking back. A quick second compared to another ten minutes of walking. And better yet, Jiwoo would shut up for once. So, throwing caution to the wind, she glances around to make sure no one was particularly looking at them, then opens up a portal to Jiwoo’s room. Grabbing the girl, she makes sure to hold her in front of herself, just in case anything happens, and the portal prematurely closes, she could push Jiwoo through it.

Jiwoo squeals with glee, this being her first time through one of Jungeun’s portals, as they step through it and into her room.

“That was so cool!” We should do that more often!”

Someone clears their throat behind them and that shuts Jiwoo up quickly. She does have an innocent façade to uphold.

“Not only did you two sneak off school grounds during class time, but you had used your powers unauthorised in a citizen-citizen dangerous situation, and now, Ms. Kim, you’re using your abilities on another student without passing the grade allowing you to do so?”

At the overseer for their level’s reprimanding, Jungeun pinches Jiwoo who was now standing beside her. All three reasons for the scolding can be traced back to her. Great. Strike three. Here it comes.

“If I’m not mistaken, Ms. Kim, this seems to be your third strike. You know what that means.”

Staring at the outstretched palm of their overseer, Jungeun regretfully places her right wrist on it. She watches, with sorrow for herself, but anger for Jiwoo, as the hand on her wrist closes around on it, and as it opens, a red laser appears, encircling her wrist.

“You know the rules. First three strikes is three months of power suspensions unless needed for class, during class time only, or requested by your teacher to me specifically for out of class activities. As for you, Ms. Kim,” she diverts her attention to Jiwoo, “this is your first strike. Do not be like your friend here. We have a responsibility to uphold with our abilities, and being students, you are still learning how to use and control them. Not everything is simulated like it is here. Things can go wrong quickly, especially when you have no control over what you are doing. I hope this will be the last time I have tell you this.” She gives them both a stern look, waiting for either of them to argue back, before turning back to her. “When your three months is up, come to my office and I will remove your suspension. Let this be a lesson for the both of you.” And with that, she vanishes.

“Not even a thank you. How ungrateful.”

Jungeun stares down at her right wrist, the illuminating redness of her bind blinding her the more she stares at it. Having enough with being in Jiwoo’s presence, she tries to open a portal to leave, but nothing gets conjured. She tries again, even goes back to step one for beginners and starts circling motions with her arm, outlining a portal for it to appear. But nothing.

All Jiwoo's doing and her shenanigans and she gets stuck with the consequences? This is unfair by definition if she knew the word and being one of Jiwoo's close friends means she knew the word very personally.

“Oh. That doesn’t look too good.”

“You think so?!” Jungeun snaps at Jiwoo.

“Hey, don’t get snappy with me. I wasn’t the one that cuffed you.”

Not wanting to get into it right now, especially with her feelings all jumbled up, Jungeun goes for the manual way of things and steps around Jiwoo to get to the door. 

“I’ll buy you ice cream to make you feel better!”

“Don’t talk to me.”

Jungeun doesn’t stay any longer to see Jiwoo pout, but lingers enough as she rounds the door to flip her off.

a/n: hope ya'll enjoyed the shenanigans :)