06
Nothing's Over
--
Six
--
You searched for Junho after school that day. You’d heard that all of the SS usually stay for a bit after school where the rest of Class A was being trained to do some extra training with those who wanted it.
You peeked your head into the gymnasium to see Junhyung in the corner, a block of metal floating in front of him. The SS you remembered Junho mentioned named Doojoon was standing there in his uniform, bored expression on his face.
You looked around until you saw Junho sitting against the wall, watching in amusement as one of the SS’s spoke to a wall, thinking it was their trainee while he sat behind him, grinning.
“Junho!” you called as you ran over to him. Junhyung heard your voice and turned his head in surprise, almost dropping the metal block.
“Junhyung! Pay attention!”
--
Junho was only mildly surprised to see you. “Hello, my dear. What seems to be the problem?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were reporting the training sessions to The Commander?”
“Would it have made a difference if I did? Would you try less? Try harder?” You were silent as you stared at him.
“I heard you got promoted back to Class A again.” He watched your eyebrows furrow before pushing himself up into a standing position.
“It’s true, The Commander approached me and asked if I could train you. It seems like he still has a soft spot for you.” You were so confused. All the memories you had of him were terrifying.
“I think you can do it, especially if you keep progressing the way you are now. Did you ever figure out how to pull one word from the page?”
“No, I was trying during lunch then stuff happened.”
“Ah. Well. A hint for you: it’s all in what you see.” You blinked at his cryptic words before he grinned at you and ruffled your hair.
“Junhyung! What the hell?!” You heard a loud crash as something fell to the ground. Turning around, you saw the metal cube not so cube shaped anymore, crumpled on the ground.
“Jesus, kid. You’re going to kill me someday,” Doojoon said, rubbing the back of his neck.
--
Your mom was a little bit less than pleased when you told her what happened after school. Junhyung and Sunggyu followed you home after school, both too worried to give each other angry looks.
After you finished telling your parents about what happened, you finally learned where your short temper came from: both of your parents.
“I’m going to have a talk with the school about this. This is ridiculous!” Your mom ranted on and on while your dad pulled out his phone and started to dial a few numbers. Even Junhyung and Sunggyu were talking between themselves, talking about how you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself and such.
As the noise built up in the house, your irritation level increased. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or maybe it was just the shock of everything that happened that day, or maybe it was because you found out people have so little faith in your abilities. Either way, you exploded.
“Shut up! Just shut up! I can take care of myself, I don’t need to rely on ANYONE else for protection. I don’t ask you to hover over me, I don’t ask you to scare people away for me,” you said, jabbing your finger at Junhyung’s chest before jabbing a finger at Sunggyu.
“When was the last time you even saw my powers? Huh? When was the last time you asked me how MY training was going instead of ing about yours all the time? I get it. You guys are real Class A, and I’m just some Class A wannabe with some strange, useless power, right? You keep telling me not to listen to what people say around me, but I never thought that ‘those people’ would include you too!” You let out a scream of frustration and stomped your way up the stairs before slamming your door shut and locking it.
Your parents, Junhyung, and Sunggyu looked around at each other until your words sank in, making them feel a little bit guilty.
“You haven’t asked her about training either?” your dad asked, looking over to your mom. Your mom shook her head slowly before looking over to Junhyung. He shook his head too and looked over to Sunggyu. Sunggyu blinked a few times before lowering his head guiltily.
--
You your angry music loudly, blasting it over the speakers in your room. You wanted to punch something, throw things around. Unfortunately, everything in your room was breakable except for your pillows. You sat on your bed and punched your pillow in your lap until you were tired.
And just like that, your anger turned to sadness. It was bad enough that your school thought you were useless, but when the people around you didn’t care either, it made your mood drop exponentially.
You stared at your book bag on the floor, papers spilled out onto the floor. The paper with ‘pen’ and ‘pencil’ written in Junho’s neat handwriting was on top. You stood up, dropping your pillow to the floor before bending over and picking it up.
“It’s all in what you see,” you said to yourself, repeating Junho’s cryptic words from earlier that afternoon. You stared at the paper, thinking about all the different things it could mean.
You stared at the word ‘pen’ for a second before concentrating your energy. The paper started to quiver, but stilled soon after. You frowned and dropped the paper in frustration, grabbing a real pen from your bag.
Then something hit you. You held the pen up in your hand and stared at it. Maybe you had to visualize the pen. You threw the pen onto your bed and picked up the piece of paper again. You let out a breath and tried to visualize the pen from the paper and not the pencil. And a second later, the pen popped out from the page, an exact replica of the one you just threw on your bed.
Curious, you put it back to the page and imagined a different pen, the one Sunggyu was using to draw with you during lunch one day. You pulled the pen from the page again, squealing with joy when it was the same exact pen Sunggyu was using.
--
Dinner was quiet. You finally turned off your music and came out, but you still weren’t very happy. Sunggyu stayed for dinner for once, while Junhyung left earlier. You stared resolutely at your plate and ate silently. You were pretty tired and hungry from training, but you wanted to hurry up and finish eating to work some more in your room.
“So... how has training been going for you?” Sunggyu asked tentatively. You chewed your food a few more times before swallowing.
“Fine.” You took another bite and swallowed quickly before pushing your chair out and putting your empty your empty plate in the sink.
“I’m finished,” you said before heading towards your room.
“Don’t you want dessert, honey? There’s strawberry ice cream in the fridge,” your mom said, giving you an apprehensive look.
“No. I’m fine.” Your parents frowned as your door closed behind you again.
“She never gives up strawberry ice cream,” your mom said. Sunggyu looked up over to your bedroom door and sighed.
“So I have a question for you, Sunggyu. And I’d like for you to answer me honestly.” Sunggyu turned back around and gulped at your dad before nodding.
“You and my daughter... are a thing?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you two done anything...” he waved his hand around, to tell Sunggyu to fill in the blank. Sunggyu blinked at him in confusion until it dawned on him.
“OH. Oh no, no. Nothing like that,” he said, shaking his head.
“I see... You know that she and Junhyung have known each other for a very long time?” Now, Sunggyu was confused again.
“Yes... She mentioned that they’ve been best friends for most of their lives.”
“Good. I just wanted to make sure you know that Junhyung’s not going down without a fight.”
--
Your jog in the morning with Sunggyu was quieter than usual. He was sure you were still mad at him.
“Please don’t be mad at me. It’s not that I don’t care! I just... didn’t think to ask you about your training. I’m kind of new to this having a girlfriend thing,” he said as the two of your returned to your house from your jog.
You laughed patting him on the cheek. “I’m not mad anymore. I was just a little bit frustrated yesterday, but I’m over it today,” you said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.
“I’ll see you at school in a bit.” You waved to him and headed inside to get ready for school.
Sunggyu watched you leave with a sigh before bringing his hand up to his cheek. He was a lucky guy, and he would be damned if he let Junhyung take you away from him.
--
“Here.” You stared at the eyeglass case Junhyung held out to you.
“Uh. What’s this?” you asked, taking it from him and opening it up.
“A pair of glasses that I don’t think would look ugly on you.” You picked up the glasses and looked through the lenses before looking away quickly.
“Junhyung, are these prescription?”
“Yeah. I had a pair of your old glasses and had the guy measure them and make you new ones.” Junhyung spending money on you was something you were used to, but not spending that much money. He didn’t mind buying snacks or candy, but anything over that, he told you to buy yourself.
“Thanks, I really appreciate it,” you said slowly. He took your book bag before heading towards the door.
“Wait. Why do you have a pair of my old glasses?”
--
There were whispers all around the courtyard as soon as you stepped through the gates, making you sigh. It was Grade Six all over again. The big difference was, you weren’t hiding your head in shame.
“Sunggyu, I need to talk to you,” Junhyung said as soon as he handed you your book bag. Sunggyu gave him a wary glance until Woohyun pushed him forward. Junhyung handed you your bag and gave you an actual kiss on your forehead before grabbing Sunggyu and dragging him away.
Woohyun laughed, covering his mouth as Sunggyu glared at Junhyung, who just glared back at him.
“What in the world?” you asked, looking completely confused.
“Junhyung wants to give him the talk about you, among other things. Threaten his life if something happens to you, you know. The usual things Junhyung usually does.” You rolled your eyes and sighed.
“I would probably survive better in the wilderness than they could,” you said. Woohyun raised his eyebrows at you curiously until you looked into his eyes.
“Wow. That’s. A lot. Who taught you all of that survival stuff anyway?” Woohyun asked, his eyes still staring into yours as he looked through all the information you presented to him. You shut your mind off to him abruptly and looked down at your feet.
“The Commander,” you said quietly.
--
“No, I’m not trading groups with you,” Sunggyu said, absolute in his answer. “You’re not the only one who wants to protect her.”
Junhyung sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Don’t be so difficult.”
“You’re not the only one who can protect her either! Even if she needed protecting! I’m sure she can take care of herself, you just won’t let her.” Junhyung gave Sunggyu a cold hard stare.
“I know more things about her than you do. Don’t act like just because the two of you are dating, you know everything about her. Yes, I know you’re dating.” Junhyung sighed again.
“I’m saying just give her a chance. She’s not weak. She punched me the other day, and I have bruises.” Junhyung scoffed at him.
“Maybe you’re just weak.”
“I could blow you up if I wanted to.”
“Right, I forgot.”
--
You proudly showed Junho your discoveries last night after you two warmed up. He nodded in approval. Your progress with your powers was starting to astound him.
“So, what do I get?” Junho winced a little bit. So you did remember that he promised you something if you figured it out on your own, even if he gave you a hint.
“Here.” He fished a small jewelry box from his pocket and handed it to you. You raised an eyebrow at him before taking it from him.
“You like strawberries right?” he asked as you opened it up. There was a little set of strawberry earrings with a matching necklace inside.
“Uh... Yeah. I love strawberries, how did you know?” Junho scratched the back of his head. There was something familiar with the way he was standing, you just couldn’t put your finger on it.
“I asked Junhyung. Just in case you figured it out.”
“What if I didn’t?” you asked.
“Come on. You’re pretty smart, give yourself some more credit. I was pretty sure you would. And well, if you didn’t, I probably would’ve showed you and given it to you anyway.”
“Thanks,” you said, staring at him suspiciously.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” He wiped at his mouth then dabbed at his forehead, making you laugh. Why did he seem so familiar?
“No, you just... Are you sure you’ve never studied at the Academy before? You look really familiar.”
“No. I haven’t,” he said quickly. “Let’s get on with training now. I think you’re ready to upgrade from the sand bag to a moving target.” He held up his fists and took a stance.
“I warn you, though. I’m good.”
--
You groaned in class, holding your arm. You managed to land a few hits on Junho here and there, but he did a majority of the hit landing. At the end of practice, he got a bit too into it and hit your arm pretty hard in a sensitive spot.
He apologized profusely and wrapped it up for you, looking extremely guilty. It didn’t hurt that bad, and but you were a little bit disappointed that he was pulling his punches with you, even if it was the first time you two sparred.
“What happened to your arm?” Sunggyu asked as he sat down beside you for lunch.
“Training,” you said lightly.
“She was fighting with her SS, and he pretty much kicked her ,” Woohyun said, taking a bite of his food.
“That doesn’t mean I still can’t kick your ,” you said, practically growling at him.
“Oh. Fiesty.” Woohyun grinned at you and pretended to bite at you.
“Woohyun. Seriously.”
“Sorry.” He grinned at you again before turning back to your food. As annoying as he was, Woohyun was starting to grow on you for some reason.
Hoya pulled a chair out next to you and sat down with a sigh.
“When are we going to start team training?” he asked, closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair.
“Survival course testing is a few months from now. SS are supposed to give a brief overview of what to expect during the second half of training today.” You reached over with two fingers and started to massage one side of Hoya’s head.
He grinned, eyes still closed and massaged the other side at the same time.
“How exciting,” Woohyun said with almost no enthusiasm, dabbing at his mouth with his napkin before throwing it down on his tray.
“I’ll let Dongwoo and them know. Should we all meet after school or something? Get to know each other better, a little bonding time? Not for me of course, all I have to do is look into your heads, and I know everything.”
“Everything?” Sunggyu asked, turning to Woohyun.
“Everything,” Woohyun repeated before laughing at him. “What? Don’t want me telling people your deepest darkest secrets? Like how you still sleep with a teddy bear? Oops. My bad.” Sunggyu let out a deep sigh. You laughed and hugged his arm.
“It’s okay. I still sleep with one too.” You pressed a kiss to his jaw and smiled at him.
“See, Sunggyu? I’m just helping you. Alright! We’re all meeting after school, at the fountain next to the courtyard! Be there or be square.” He made a square shape with his hands before getting up and leaving.
Hoya finally opened his eyes to stare after Woohyun.
“For a mind reader, he’s an idiot.”
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