Thud, thud, thud. The loud, eager footsteps echo throughout the house as the young boy hustles down the stairs. 

"Jaemin! How many times have I told you not to run down the stairs?"

Called one jumps the last 2 stairs and lands right in front of his mother, her arms are crossed in front of her chest and there is a stern look on her face. Despite her stance, Jaemin lands with a huge, goofy smile accompanying his excitement. 

"Sorry ma, I'm just too excited and I don't want to be late. You know how long I've been waiting for this."

He says and moves to the kitchen, quickly stealing a crunchy slice of bread with melted butter on it. His mother only sighs at her son's excitement. Another figure quickly appears next to her, giving her a slight startle.

"Don't forget your pass you forgetful doughnut.' the person says, tossing Jaemin's pass to him and adds "what would you do without me, I wonder." 

"Probably die I think. Thanks Lami! You are the best sister in the world!" comes the reply and he is gifted with Lami's adorable smile. He puts on his jacket, all the while holding the slice of bread in his mouth, and waves both his mother and sister goodbye. 

He can't quite explain it but even though he was full of energy there was a weird feeling lingering at the pit of his stomach. Like a really bad feeling eating away his brain really slowly. He tries to push it away, thinking that he waited one month for this day to come so he should be feeling over the roof, yet it's sitting comfortably at the back of his brain, stressing the out of him. 

Pretending that nothing is going on, he greets his best friend with a wide smile, getting mirrored in the process. 

"Yo! Ready to get your brains blown and pawn down noobs?!"

"Hey Renjun! Hell yeah I am!" the younger one replies as they exchange their signature handshake. The two have been friends since they can remember themselves, having created an friendship and a bond like no other. It's safe to say that they would both take a bullet for the other. A comfortable chat begins  between them as they make their way to the gameathlon. It's a promising day. 

"Damn, that was great, I can't wait for the next major update!", says the raven haired as they get off the bus. Jaemin smiles at his friend's excitement.

"Me too. I think we should invite Lami too next ti-". A loud noise cuts him off, making his body jump slightly and they all turn their heads to the direction of the source. It seems the cause is too far away for them to witness but their eyes are met with a tall line of dark, gray smoke, to which Jaemin's body reacts with a huge wave of goosebumps. Perhaps this is why he had such a bad feeling. He didn't know how immersed in the sight he was until his friend's voice snaps him back to reality.

"Come on, let's go. I don't want to know what that was, especially when we are so close to it. Let's hurry home."

"Yeah... Yeah, you're right..." he replies before sending one last glance at the intimidating smoke.

 

Several curses leave his lips when the front door is stuck- again, much to his dismay. One last hard push with his shoulder and the door finally opens for him to see his father standing in front of him with a pretty creepy smirk on his face. Jaemin can only grimace in disgust.

"God, why are you standing there like a e?"

"Hey! I'm not! I just heard you struggling wit the door so I came to help out but I was too late." His son looks at him with the most judgemental look possible.

"Aaand that's when you decided to impersonate mr. Harrington from across the street?" Jaemin must have said something wrong, he thinks, when his father gains a dangerously happy expression. He might even say he's a tad bit scared.

"Was I really that good?! Wow! Where is my oscar?"

"You know what? Forget I even asked or said anything in general. When did you get back anyway?" he asks while closing the door.

"A little bit after you left for that gameathlon. Was it fun?"

"Uh yeah, it was a lot of fun. Hey, did you hear anything about an explosion or a fire downtown?"

His father gives him a skeptical look. Was Jaemin in some sort of danger while he was downtown?

"No, I haven't heard anything. And the TV is broken as you remember so i haven't watched any news. Did you see or hear something?"

Should Jaemin share what he saw? His father was known for being very protective of his children. Even when Lami wanted to go to very educational camp they had to waste at least 2 weeks before persuading the older man. Better not tell the whole truth.

"I just saw smoke when I was trying to open the door so I was curious. It looked like it came from downtown."

"Smoke? I didn't see anything? Is it visible from the window?"

"I think so? The smoke reached pretty high up. Anyway, I'm going upstairs, got homework to do."

"Woah, woah. I've been gone for one whole week and you are running off like that? Where is my hug?"

The shorter stops at the bottom of the stairs, sighing at his father. It's not like Jaemin doesn't like being affectionate, if anything, it's his specialty.

"You are gone for a week and now you want a hug?"

"Jaemin, how many times do we have to go through this? This is my job, it's what it requires. Do you think I like staying away from you guys for so long?"

Feeling his buttons being pushed, the younger takes a deep breath and turns around, frustration evident all over his face.

"You don't even call! Ever!"

They stare at one another for a few seconds until Jaemin lets out another sigh and drags himself to his room. Don't get him wrong, he loves his father deeply. Surely not as much as his mother but close enough. It just really pisses him off when his father doesn't seem to care about their existence when he's on a business trip.

Playing some games would really help with his nerves but he wasn't lying when he said he has homework to do. So he does just that, starting a new game once he's done with his academic responsibilities and the clock soon reads 8pm when he finishes yet another game, just in time as his sister knocks on the door.

"Hey, I made some bread with peanut butter and jelly, thought you'd might want some." she rests the plate on Jaemin's desk and he thanks her before frowning at the loud voices coming from downstairs.

"Is something happening?"

"Nope, just dad trying to fix the tv. "Jaemin scoffs.

"Yeah, right. He couldn't fix it one week ago, what makes him think he can fix it now?"

"I don't know", she shrugs, "but mom and dad both complain about not being able to watch the news for so long."

"I meaaaan, if they had even a drop of knowledge about technology they could just read the news on the Internet but nooo, they both had to be stubborn."

Lami laughs at her brother and leaves the room before saying that she's going to watch the show, meaning, of course, her father. Jaemin takes a fair bite off the bread, humming in approval and turns to the monitor, getting ready for another game when he feels a sudden pain all over his whole abdomen. It takes the brrath right out of his lungs.

His hand flies to his chest as he gasps for air and he falls on the floor. The pain is too much, he can't even scream. He is somehow able to take quick breaths and he notices everything around him is turning blurry before a more intense wave of pain hits him hard and he opens his mouth to scream but nothing comes out. He endures it for a good 10 minutes and then it's all gone, leaving him curled up, trembling and panting on the floor.

He feels strange, his body feels strange and there is not enough oxygen in this room. He doesn't know how he managed to get his body to move, let alone support his own weight but before he knows it he's out of there, climbing down the stairs and rushing past his family. They all notice that there is something wrong with him. They talk to him, asking him if he's okay and what is wrong but it all falls silent on Jaemin's ears who just opens the door with ease and walks out, leaving it open.

His mother hurries to the door in an attempt to stop her son bht as soon as she arrives outside the younger is no where to be seen. Jaemin has already walked-ran 2 blocks further, he doesn't know where he's going, all he knows is that he needed to breathe. He is covered in sweat and not cause of the quick pace. Walking closer to the city's centre he's slowly starting to feel the pain coming back and he panics. He hastily makes a turn to a dark and very narrow alley, the kind that, if you value your life, would typically avoid.

It hits him like a shockwave and he falls on the ground once again. He knows it's dirty as hell but at the moment he feels like he's dying so he can't bring himself to care any further. Supporting himself on his palms, a sudden urge to vomit engulfs him, forcing a violent cough out of his lungs and Jaemin tastes metal. He already knows what it is when he spits on the cold pavement, eyes met with crimson liquid. The panicked expression turns into a confused frown and he goes into a coughing fit, the hand covering his mouth is being covered in his own blood. He doesn't know how long it lasted but judging from the extreme dizziness, Jaemin would have to guess enough to have lost critical amounts of blood. He is trying his best to support himself but the pain and dizziness are too much, it makes him feel weaker than ever. With one last whimper he crushes on the ground and blacks out.

"Am I going to die?"

 

A jolt runs through his body as Jaemin wakes up with a gasp and sits up, eyes wide and full of loss. He frowns. So he didn't die? What happened? How long has he been out? His parents- oh god, his parents. He's hurriedly searching his pockets for his phone. What time even is it? "!" he exclaims staring at his phone screen. The time is 11pm which means he's been out for at least a good 2 hours. It's a miracle no one robbed him or kidnapped him or in general notice him and call the police or an ambulance. Or both. Sure, he went all the way to the dead end and it is a pretty dark alley but still, what are the odds?

He quickly gets up and takes notice of the pretty big pool of blood beneath his shoes. He can't help but wonder how ge can be feeling this fine when he lost all this amount. He still feels rather weird but not like before. 'What even was that' he thinks, the darkness and intense smell of urine his only companions. Could it have been a kidney stone? Stomachache? Food poisoning? Only the last one could explain the blood but he should have vomited food as well. Plus, if it was such a severe case of food poisoning to involve blood then he probably shouldn't be alive right now. So what the hell happened to him?

Deciding to literally completely ignore the brutality of the incident, he fishes out a black mouth mask out of his pocket. Yes, very convenient for the situation. He's pretty sure he looks like a vampire that had his first dinner after 3 centuries. He takes the way home, choosing in the process not to tell his parents anything. What a more teenage thing to do after all, right? On his way home he stops at a kiosk to buy water and tissues, handing the money with his clean hand while hiding the other in his pocket. He cleans himself in a nearby part as thoroughly as he can, not forgetting his shoes.The rest of his clothes are intact somehow and Jaemin thinks this is probably both his worst yet luckiest day of his life.

Every person in the house turns to the door the moment the characteristic sound of keys breaks the silence. There are all kinds of of questions thrown at Jaemin's direction accompanied by tight hugs and he thinks that they might be exaggerating juuust slightly. It's not like he almost died or anything. Oh wait. He almost did.

"What happened? You looked so pale and you just left" his father asks and he breaks the hug and Jaemin has never seen him so concerned in his entire life.

"I thought about calling the police but your father said to do that after 4 hours would pass, saying you probably had a reason to leave. Thinking back at it now, I should have called when you hadn't ree hour later." She caresses her son's soft hair with both of her hands. "What the hell was that?".

The brunet stares at them nervously. "S-sorry, after we left the gameathlon we went to have pancakes and I left my phone there. I- I didn't want to tell you cause I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it, that's why I left so suddenly without saying anything. I remembered it out of the blue and I had to run in case the shop was closing soon."

Narrowing her eyes at the boy, his mother asks "And why did it take you so long?"

"And why weren't you answering our calls?", his father butts in while Lami just stood there, watching her brother being interrogated.

"I ran into Vernon and we hanged out and I lost track of time, I didn't pay attention to my phone, I had it on silent since we arrived at gameathlon". Now, Jaemin didn't even know he was such a good liar. He isn't one in general, he considered lies the worst unless they were used in order to protect someone. So seeing he is so good at telling them when he hasn't exactly ever lied in his life, he isn't sure whether he should feel proud or ashamed about it. It sure did come in handy however.

"Sorry for making you guys worry. I-it won't happen again, I promise."

The mother sighs. "It better not young man, you gave us such a fright", she says and pokes the latter's nose.

"For real though.", the oldest adds.

Jaemin mutters one last 'sorry' with a smile when realisation slaps him hard across the face. What if whatever ed him over is contagious? Taking a few quick steps towards the staircase, he smiles awkwardly at the 3 of them who only look at him curiously.

"I uh.. I'll go sleep now. I got really tired today so... yeah...  Okay, goodnight!", he runs upstairs, followed by Lami.

"Hey loser! Aren't you gonna kiss me goodnight?", she goes for a hug, causing Jaemin to push her and distance himself from his sister, leaving her completely confused.

"Ha... Not today Lami."

"But- "

" Jesus ing Christ, Lami! I said not today!"

The rise in his voice causes the smaller to flinch. This isn't like Jaemin at all. First of all, during all the years that Lami is breathing she has heard her brother curse a total of 4 times and never to family. Secondly, he has never raised his voice in anger, Jaemin is, after all, the calm kind of angry.

"What's happening now?", they hear their father ask in a very tired tone.

There is a short silence between them before the taller replies a short 'nothing' and enters his room, leaving his sister dumbfounded. Connecting his cold fingertips together in front of his mouth, he sinks on the floor against the door. It came out no where, he really didn't want to snap like that but he couldn't risk Lami's safety. To most, their relationship may seem weird since they are exceptionally close to each other, contrary to most boy-girl siblings,but to them, it's completely normal, it's how they have been their whole lives. Jaemin has always had a soft spot for the younger and he'd kill himself if he ended up being a cause of suffering for her.

Sitting up, a sudden pain in his chest strikes him, forcing him to stumble and support himself on the chair's back. It comes and goes and the intensity is quite something but definitely not even remotely close to what he experienced previously. It feels like there is a fire inside his upper abdomen, like he drank a whole bottle of absenth in one go, except 10 times worse. His face crunches up in pain bit he can take it, however, above all, he is utterly confused. He seemed to be perfectly fine just seconds ago. Wasn't what he went through supposed to have been it? So why is it hitting him again? His vision is starting to fade, his head is spinning and even his one-time experience is enough to know the outcome of the situation. Clumsy but hurried steps take him to his bed just in time when his legs give out and his body falls on the mattress. His mind follows suit and he blacks out for the second time, this time, thankfully, on top of his soft bed.

 

 

There is a lot of noise. Too much noise, too much light. Is someone knocking on the door? What day even is it? Is he still alive? Did he survive again? Why is it so difficult to open his eyes, his lids feel so heavy. Jaemin feels like he is in some state of nirvana, it's like everything is happening in slow motion. His weak palm caresses the sheets beneath him, as if trying to make sure that this is indeed reality. His name is being called by a soft yet eager voice and the same person is shaking him. Lami, he thinks. It takes him great effort but he finally manages to open his eyes, allowing the blinding light enter his pupils, a shaky breath betraying his struggle. The rest of his body doesn't follow his brain's commands when he tries to get it to move. Can he at least talk?

"Come on Jae! It's 7.30 already. Get. Up!", the younger says before she strikes a heavy blow on Jaemin's head with a pillow and the boy winces because his nape hurts like hell from laying on his stomach for so long. Managing to turn his head towards his sister, a quite painful action, he lifts his palm slightly.

"I get it, I get it.... Can you please leave now?" It comes out weaker than he had expected. He earns a dramatic eye roll.

"God, Jaemin, I can't believe you slept in your clothes. Yuck... ". Throwing the pillow on his head again, she stomps out of the room.

Feeling a little more capable after 2 minutes, the brunet slowly lifts his body from the bed and stands still, making sure his balance is trustworthy enough. He manages to get back into a somewhat normal pace quite fast and in 15 minutes later he has changed clothes entirely, brushed his teeth and finds himself downstairs, lacing his shoes. He's almost out of the house when his mother stops him.

"Jaemin, won't you eat anything before you go? It literally takes only 5 minutes."

"No, ma. I'm gonna run late."

"But Jaemin- "

"Bye mom." He replies sternly and shuts the door. She sighs, thinking that there is definitely something wrong with her son. Her thoughts are interrupted when she notices her daughter chilling on the sofa as she and her father celebrate the, finally, fixed tv. What a sight.

"Lami, why are you still here? Don't you have school?"

"We received a text this morning from the principal saying that Mr. Dowell called in sick so we'll go at 9."

"Well in that case would you mind bringing me your and your brother's laundry?"

Lami shrugs. "Sure."

When Lami enters Jaemin's room she starts gathering his dirty clothes but stops suddenly as she eyes his jacket, sitting untidily on the bed. She isn't sure if she is seeing right so she hesitantly takes the cloth and brings it closer to inspect it better. Her eyes widen in realisation and she bolts out of the room.

"Mom!"

Called one turns her head while preparing the washing machine.

"What's wrong?"

"There is something you need to see."

Taking it in her hands, she looks at the white part of the jacket carefully before her frown indicates her fear. Her daughter looks at her and she knows that they are thinking the same thing.

"Is this blood?" A question that both of them wished wasn't taking strolls in their mind but must be voiced, by Lami in this occasion, as they both stare at the dozen small and medium red dots decorating Jaemin's jacket. He probably had missed them in the middle of the darkness.

"EunJung! Come to the living room! It's an emergency!"

Sharing a quick look, they hurry downstairs to see the older standing in front of the tv, all alarmed and uneasy.

"Listen to this." He turns up the volume.

"- - We advise extreme caution as all those affected pose a threat to human life. It's nearly been a day since the first incident took place and by now thousands of people have been affected. The results are either death, in most cases, or less likely a bizarre acquisition of certain... abilities. So far there have been a lot of casualties. Symptoms vary from common flu-like symptoms to life threatening such as vomiting, even blood, extreme pain, seizures and so on. Till now the authorities don't know the cause but if you or someone you know is experiencing any of the symptoms please seek immediate help. This has been characterised by authorities a case of national pandemic emergency."

​​​​"Yunho. Call Jaemin. Now." EunJung tells her husband surprisingly calmly, never taking her eyes off the screen.

"The military will be conducting a thorough search in every school and university campus as all those affected range from ages of 15 to 25. The--"

​​​​​​Lami sits on the sofa in shock.

"What the hell?"

 

 

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

A/N: 

Probably the longest 1st chapter I've ever written and it was all written on my phone (I don't currently have my pc) so I don't know if the font is ok, if the spaces are ok. I wanted calibri font but i had to turn on code mode and it's too troublesome. Yes, this is BL fanfic, rest easy! I will check for mistakes once my pc is here. 

Peace!