This chapter is backstory on how Minseok and Yixing met and got together.

 

Chapter 2

When Minseok was first introduced to Yixing, Yixing was living in a safe house in the middle of nowhere. It was quite the trip to meet him, the first time Minseok had ever seen so many men in suits and sunglasses at once. It was like a scene out of an action movie, but it made Minseok feel sick to his stomach. They got in a car with windows tinted so dark that Minseok couldn’t see out of them. He’d clung to his mother’s hand so hard his knuckles went white.

“Is this absolutely necessary?” She’d asked the men. “My son is not a terrorist, and neither am I.”

“Protocol, ma’am,” one man answered. “Our first priority is Yixing.”

The mysterious Yixing. All Minseok knew about him was his name, and that for some reason he and Minseok were supposed to meet. His mother had been very excited about the whole thing, and Minseok had been excited too, until now.

He tugged his mother down so he could whisper in her ear. “Mom, can we go home?”

She kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair. “It’s a little late for that my love, but don’t worry, it’ll get better soon. You’ll get to go on an airplane! Aren’t you excited?”

Minseok shook his head.

“You will be,” his mother said. “As soon as you see Yixing you’ll be so happy that you went through with this.”

Minseok was getting the distinct impression that his mother did nothing but lie to him. He didn’t think he’d be happy to meet Yixing, just like he didn’t believe that he didn’t have a father.

For as long as Minseok could remember, it had just been him and his mother. He didn’t think much of it until he stared school and realized that nearly every other child had a father, or if they didn’t have one any more then they has pictures of him, and knew who he was. Minseok didn’t even have a picture.

He was five years old when he finally asked. “Mom, where is my dad?”

She’d been washing dishes, and she turned off the water, dried her hands and knelt down to his eye level. She was smiling, and she held his hands when she spoke.

“Honey, you don’t have a daddy. I had you all by myself.”

Minseok frowned and shook his head. “No you didn’t, at school my teachers say that everyone has to have a dad. Only Jesus didn’t have one.”

 “Your teachers don’t know everything,” She said. “There are some things that are true, but people don’t believe in them, because it’s easier not to.”

“How is it easier?” Minseok demanded, “And what does it have to do with me having a dad?”

She let go of his hands to rub her forehead. “Historically, a lot of people were born without fathers. But people choose not to believe it. I know this is hard to understand, but I’m telling the truth. You don’t have a father.”

Minseok didn’t believe her. He continued to not believe her about many things. Like the fact that Yixing was going to somehow be worth all this trouble. He was only seven, Minseok was eight. Eight year olds did not play with seven year olds.

Minseok thought about this in the car, but the thought flew out of his mind when the car finally stopped and he was allowed to get out. They were at an airport, but it wasn’t like on TV when people had to wait on line to get on their plane. The plane was right in front of the car, and the men in suits were leading them up a flight of stairs and right into the plane.

“What about security?” Minseok asked.

“Too many variables,” One man said, and Minseok’s mother glared at him.

“Can you speak like a human to a child?” She snapped. She then picked Minseok up and whisked him on to the plane. She didn’t speak again until she had strapped Minseok into his seat and taken several deep breaths.

“We can’t go through security, because someone might…” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Minseok, Yixing is a lot like you. He’s very special, and it’s important that he be protected, because a lot of people want to hurt him.”

“Hurt him?” Minseok echoed. “You told me he was just a kid. And how is he special? How am I special?”

“It has to do with…you not having a father,” She said. “Yixing needs a friend like that.”

“Why?” Minseok asked, but his mother ignored him.

“We need to keep Yixing’s location a secret. Nobody can know that we’re going to see him, because they might try to follow us. We’re perfectly safe now, we just need to be careful.”

Minseok gaped at his mother. “What are you talking about?! Mom, you’re scaring me!”

The plane started to move, and Minseok struggled with his seat belt. “I wanna go home! Make the plane stop, let me off!”

But of course, the plane did not stop. Minseok spent the majority of the flight slumped low in his seat, crying quietly. His mother tried to calm him down, but he pushed her away. He was angry with her, and upset at himself for being mad at her. As his only parent, Minseok hated being at odds with his mother, but this time things had just gone too far.

The flight only lasted a few hours, then there was another ride in a car with tinted windows, and finally they arrived at a small apartment in a city.

“Why hide him in such a populated place?” His mother asked one of the men.

“It’s actually very easy. Few people notice anything around here, and if something were to go wrong help could arrive in mere moments. It’s actually easier to track the people we’re looking for in cities, not so easy in the forests.”

The entire building seemed to be security guards, some of them in uniforms and some not.

“It has to look like ordinary people live here too,” One of the men explained.

The apartment only had three floors, and Yixing was on the third. Minseok kept his eyes on the floor as they went upstairs, not even looking up when he was lead into the apartment. He heard his mother greeting Yixing’s parents, then she lead him down a hall, and then she gasped quietly.

“Minseok, darling,” She said, sounding anxious, “Say hello to Yixing.”

Minseok finally looked up. Standing in front of him was a wisp of a boy, with a dimpled grin and messy black hair. His face was pressed against a thick wall of glass, but Minseok barely even noticed it. From the moment he laid eyes on Yixing, all he could think was that the trip had been worth it. His heart was pounding and there were tears in his eyes, but he’d never felt so happy before.

“Hi,” Yixing said in Korean.

Minseok stepped close to the glass. “Hello,” he said in Chinese.

Yixing’s smile grew even more. “Your pronunciation is really good.”

“Yours is too,” Minseok said, feeling choked up.

Yixing laid one hand flat against the glass. “Don’t cry,” he said, “You’re too pretty to cry.”

Minseok pressed his hand against the glass, right over Yixing’s. Yixing giggled.

“I’m glad to meet you,” he said. “We’re going to be best friends.”

At a certain point the two of them stopped being able to speak the same language and a female guard came over to act as a translator. When Minseok stopped being mesmerized by Yixing he realized that he was in Yixing’s bedroom, and the glass wall started about two steps into the room and went all the way across.

“Why is the glass here?” Minseok asked.

The translator explained. “A lot of people want to hurt Yixing, the glass is extra protection.”

Yixing frowned and said something in Chinese. The translator shook her head. Yixing repeated what he said, louder, and the translator said something.

“What happened?” Minseok asked.

He was ignored. “Minseok, didn’t you bring a present for Yixing? Do you want to give it to him?”

Minseok had brought a teddy bear, he had to give it to Yixing through a little door in the glass. Yixing seemed to love it, and he held tightly to the bear the whole time.

The meeting only lasted a few hours, then Minseok was flown back home. The whole way back he could tell his mother was upset, and he decided that he would apologize to her for being rude once they got home.

But as soon as they got back to their house, Minseok’s mother knelt down and took his hands. “Darling, I’m so sorry you had to see him like that.”

“What do you mean?” Minseok asked.

His mother looked furious. “They treat him like an animal. Oh, I can’t stand it. Next time we go, you’ll be able to play with him properly, I promise.”

Minseok was confused, so he decided to change the subject. “Mama, I want to learn Chinese.”

 

Minseok was flown out to meet Yixing once a week for the next eight years. True to her word, on the next trip Minseok’s mother made sure that there was no glass between the pair of them when they met. It was amazing to hold Yixing’s hand, to play Power Rangers with him, teach him martial arts, and jump on the bed like normal children did.

“Is this what best friends do all the time?” Yixing asked towards the end of the visit. “I’ve never had a best friend before.”

That broke Minseok’s heart, and as he got older he began to see why his mother had such a problem with how Yixing was treated, and it only got worse as they got better at speaking each other’s language.

“Why doesn’t your room have a door?” Minseok asked Yixing when they were twelve and eleven years old.

Yixing shrugged. “Too risky. Something could happen to me.”

But Yixing never talked about what that something was.

 

When Minseok was fifteen he broke his leg playing basketball, and Yixing almost had a heart attack when he saw the cast.

“Let me fix it for you,” he said, rolling up his sleeves.

A guard tried to stop him and Yixing threw him off. Before anyone else could do anything, he placed his hands on Minseok’s leg, and Minseok felt a wave of heat wash through him, and then it was over.

“There,” Yixing said proudly. “It’s fixed.”

Minseok gaped at him. Until then, he hadn’t known what exactly Yixing could do.

“You’re…a healer?”

“I’m a unicorn!” Yixing said proudly. “A shape shifter, and being a unicorn shape shifter means I can heal people!”

“Even yourself?” Minseok asked. “Wait, have you ever gotten hurt?”

“Never,” Yixing said, “I’ve never been sick, and if I fall any injuries I get heal right away. I’ve never felt pain before.”

It was shortly after that incident that Minseok learned the bad things about Yixing’s gift as well. Two weeks later he found himself lying on Yixing’s bed, holding Yixing’s hand while he cried.

“It’s just for a month,” Minseok said weakly. He had just told Yixing that he was going to a summer martial arts camp, and Yixing was distraught.

“But I’ll miss you so much,” Yixing sobbed. “You’re the only person who comes to see me!”

Minseok felt like his heart was breaking, and he didn’t understand why. “Please don’t cry,” he begged. “Maybe you can come with me!”

Yixing shook his head. “No, I can’t…I can’t leave, ever. I never leave.”

“Never?” Minseok echoed. “That’s impossible, you have to leave some time.”

“No!” Yixing cried, “If I leave, the bad people will find me, and they’ll take my heart!” He clung to Minseok’s waist and sobbed into his shirt. “Minseok, please don’t leave me!”

“I’m not,” Minseok almost snapped. He didn’t know if he was upset or mad. “I’m allowed to do what I want, Yixing. I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

When he told his mother about the incident and explained that he didn’t know what exactly Yixing was to him, she said that it was complicated. After fuming about it for the entire month he was away, Minseok decided to find out if Yixing would tell him the truth. He seemed to know more anyway.

 

Yixing was upset when Minseok came back from camp. He’d sounded upset in the letters Minseok received from him, and Minseok didn’t understand why he was behaving like such a child when he’d always been so mature.

“You can’t lean on me forever,” Minseok told him, and Yixing looked like he’s been slapped.

“But we’ll be together forever,” he said, “Because you’re a child of a , and I’m a healer. We were meant to be together.”

“Who told you that?” Minseok demanded.

“It’s law,” Yixing said. “All shape shifters need someone to lean on, to give them strength when they use their gift. For shape shifters like me, that person is the son of a . Didn’t anybody tell you about it?”

“No!” Minseok cried, feeling more and more overwhelmed by the second. “Nobody told me anything! It been seven years, and I didn’t know anything!”

Yixing reached out to him and Minseok backed away. “Why do they keep you here?” He asked. “Why can’t you leave?”

Yixing looked like he was about to be sick. “Because of my heart,” he said faintly. “If…if you eat the heart of a healer, you’ll live forever.”

Minseok gaped at him. “People…want to…eat your heart?”

Yixing nodded and he started to cry. “I’m sorry, I should have told you. I was scared that you would leave me if I did.”

“So, what does that mean?” Minseok asked. “Do I have to stay in here with you forever?”

“I-I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Yixing said.

“You’re just a kid!” Minseok exploded. “Don’t you understand? You’re not making the decisions here, everyone else is!”

The shouting hadn’t gone unnoticed, and the guards came in. They said the visit was over, and Yixing began to cry even harder.

“No, don’t make him leave!” He cried, rushing forward and grabbing onto Minseok’s leg. “We have to talk—please don’t take him away! Minseok, don’t go yet!”

Minseok was upset but he didn’t want to leave, and he held tightly to Yixing’s hand. “I’m not leaving!” He shouted, but the guards grabbed him and Yixing and dragged them apart. Minseok was yelling, Yixing was screaming, and somewhere in the house his mother was yelling as well, and Minseok got one good look at Yixing being stabbed in the arm with a needle before the door was slammed in his face.

Minseok was furious after that. He was mad at a lot of people, and he took it out on his mother. They were back at home after being forced out of Yixing’s apartment. Minseok hadn’t been feeling well, his head ached and he felt sore all over, but he was determined to get some answers. 

“Why didn’t you tell me why I was meeting with Yixing?” He asked.

His mother closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “I thought it was too much to tell you. I thought you were too young.”

“I’m fifteen!” Minseok cried, “And Yixing’s known his whole life!”

“I’m not Yixing’s mother,” She snapped. “I don’t get to decide what he’s told, but if I had my way he wouldn’t know either.”

“Why did you take me to meet him?” Minseok asked.

“It was your destiny!” She shouted, “You were born for a reason, and that reason was to be with Yixing. You’re a part of something huge, much bigger than you can comprehend at the moment.”

“I don’t want to be a part of it!” Minseok screamed. “Don’t you understand? I want to be a normal child, and you and these people took that away from me! I never had a choice!”

“Sometimes you don’t get a choice!” His mother snapped. “Sometimes you need to accept your fate.”

Minseok balled his hands into fists and glared at her. His head was pounding and his vision was darkening at the edges, but he ignored the pain he was in. “I will never, never accept this,” he vowed, “I will fight it every chance I get, I refuse to be chained to that room for the rest of my life! I will not be made a prisoner!” And after that he fell to the floor in a faint.

 

When Minseok woke up, he was in a hospital. A nurse was standing over him, checking a monitor next to the bed. When she saw that he was awake, she smiled at him.

“Good morning,” She said quietly. “How do you feel?”

Minseok’s throat was dry and his head still hurt a little. “I’m cold,” he mumbled. He felt like he’d been standing in the snow for an hour with no jacket.

The nurse flinched. “Ah, yes. Um, let me get the doctor.”

Minseok was confused by her reaction. He tried to sit up and discovered that he was being restrained. He heard a door open and then his mother cried, “Minseok, you’re awake!”

She rushed over to the bed and sat next to him. She looked like she’d been crying. “Oh my baby, are you feeling alright? Do you want some water?”

“I can’t move,” Minseok said, his teeth chattering. “Mom, what’s happening?”

She gulped. “Honey, when you…before you fainted…um…”

“What?” Minseok asked, dread making his stomach churn. “What happened? Did I do something?”

“It’s not bad,” She said, trying to smile. “Before you fainted, you made ice come out of your hands.”

Minseok felt like he’d been struck by lightning. “You’re lying,” he croaked, his mouth dry from fear.

“I wouldn’t lie about this,” His mom said. “The doctors are running some tests on your blood now, they took a DNA sample as well, and they should have some results by tomorrow. Honey, this could be a good thing—”

“What can be good about it?!” Minseok wailed. “Oh god, mom, take me home! Get me out of here!” He tugged at the restraints on his wrists and started to cry. “I’m a freak,” he gasped, “Why is this happening to me? I hate this, I hate it.” He squeezed his eyes shut, he felt too hot and his head ached. “Mommy, my head really hurts…”

His mother kissed his forehead and squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry, baby boy,” she whispered. “I wish I knew how to help you. This is all I can do for you.” She leaned back slightly. “This place is safe, it’s not like where they keep Yixing, these people are different. They care about you, they only restrained you because you were flailing around in your sleep, you nearly dislodged your IV.”

Minseok barely understood her, he only heard one thing in that sentence. “Is Yixing here?” He asked.

His mother shook her head. “No, he’s still in China.”

Minseok’s head throbbed and he whimpered in pain. “Can you bring him here?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” She said.

“Please,” he begged, “I want to see him, I said some mean things to him and I have to say I’m sorry.”

“I’ll try,” his mother promised. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Minseok squeezed her hand. “Mom…”

“Yes, dear?”

Minseok swallowed past a lump in his throat. “You’re not going to leave me here, are you?” He asked in a small voice.

“No,” She said quickly, “Oh, my sweet boy, I’m not going to leave you, ever.”

Minseok managed to smile, and then the pain in his head got so bad that he out again.

 

The next time Minseok woke up, the pain in his head had nearly disappeared, and the restraints were gone from his wrists. For a while he laid in bed with his eyes closed, but he slowly became aware that the hand he was holding was not his mothers’. He opened his eyes, and was somehow not surprised to see Yixing smiling down at him.

“You’re here,” Minseok whispered. His throat hurt a little, and Yixing held out a glass of water for him, he even helped Minseok raise the bed so he could sit up.

“How did you get here?” Minseok asked when he’d finished the water. “You said you never went outside.”

Yixing blushed a little. “I didn’t think I could…but then your mom called and said you wanted to see me, but you were too sick to come to me. So I left.”

“You just walked out?” Minseok asked incredulously.

Yixing shook his head. “Some people from this place came to get me. They said they could keep me safe without keeping me locked up. Your mom was with them, she knew it was the only way I could trust them.”

“Your parents just let you go?” Minseok asked.

“No,” Yixing said, “But then your mom got really mad at them and said that she would wage war on them if they kept us apart. She said a lot of other things, too, but I didn’t understand all of it. The people from this place had a lot of papers and things, eventually my parents just gave in.”

Minseok squeezed Yixing’s hand tightly. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said, “I’m so sorry I yelled at you, and made you cry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”

 “It’s okay, I would have been mad too, if I was you. Your mom told me why she didn’t tell you, and…I kind of wish my parents had waited. I wish I hadn’t grown up knowing about…my heart.”

Yixing’s voice got smaller and smaller as he spoke. Minseok rubbed his thumb across the back of Yixing’s hand.

“Are you okay?”

Yixing nodded. “I am. I think.” He cleared his throat. “What about you? Are you feeling better?”

“Yes,” Minseok said happily. “I feel so much better.” Then he remembered that he apparently had shot ice out of his hands and his mood dampened. “Well, my head feels better.”

“Good,” Yixing sighed in relief. “When I get here you were really sick.”

“Was I?” Minseok asked, “I don’t remember.”

“You were asleep,” Yixing said, “But you were crying and you looked like you were in pain. You got better when I held your hand.”

“Did you heal me?”

“No, I think just being near you was enough.” He hesitated. “I’ve read about this happening. Minseok…I think we’re bonded together. Like…we’re soul mates.”

Minseok smiled. “Yeah?”

Yixing nodded, looking worried.

“Well, that’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me today,” Minseok said with a grin. Inside, he felt like crying. He knew Yixing could tell.

“We were fated to be together,” Yixing said quietly. “It’s destiny. And, Minseok…I’m glad. I’m so happy I have you. If it had to happen, I’m glad it was between us.”

Minseok sighed. “I know,” he said quietly. “Yixing, I really do like you. I just feel like…somebody’s pulling the strings, and I’m not getting a choice in anything I do.” His voice broke. “I just want to be ordinary.”

“You don’t want to be a superhero?” Yixing asked.

“No,” Minseok said, “Because superheroes get hurt, and their loved ones get hurt, and they have to save the whole world. I don’t want to save the world, I don’t want to be a hero and have to have the entire world depend on me. And I don’t want to stay here and be a lab rat for the rest of my life.” He was crying again, and he rubbed his eyes.

Yixing looked shocked. “You won’t be a lab rat.”

“It’s already starting,” Minseok sobbed. “They’re running tests on my blood and my DNA, they’re trying to find something wrong with me, something they can use to make me different. And this, this ice thing, it’s just one more thing that I have no control over.”

Yixing climbed up onto the bed and sat beside Minseok. He carefully wiped the tears from Minseok’s face and then wrapped him up in a hug. “It’s going to be okay,” He said, “Now it’s my turn to be here for you. I’ll help you get through this, just like you helped me when I had nobody who cared.” He leaned back and smiled. “It’s not just you against the world, Minseok. From now on, it’s us. Us against the world.”

Minseok smiled back and didn’t have to force it. He felt like he’d just drank hot chocolate, he felt pleasantly warm and a little sleepy, but happy. Without even thinking he leaned over and kissed Yixing. It was very quick, but it was on the lips.

Yixing’s jaw dropped. “Um…wh-why did you do that?” He asked.

Minseok squeezed his hand. “I think I would have done it even if we weren’t a ’s child and a unicorn,” he said with a smile. “I like you a lot, you know.”

Yixing had tears in his eyes. “Good. Because I like you too.”

 

Despite Minseok’s insistence that he wanted to be ordinary, he had to face the facts. He and Yixing were not ordinary children. They were now part of a mysterious organization, one that sought to protect the world from the darker forces of humanity. They asked Minseok and Yixing for their help, but at the time both of them refused. The Agency said they wouldn’t force either of them, and they even gave Minseok something that he could take to suppress his power. For a few years, Minseok and Yixing lived together with Minseok’s mother. After having only two people in the apartment for so long, having a third person took some getting used to. Yixing was very quiet and shy, and seemed determined to keep to himself at first. With a little time though, he came out of his shell. After a few months it felt like he’d been living with them forever. There were a few guards that moved into their building, but their presence was largely unnoticed.

Six months after Yixing came to live with him, Minseok took Yixing outside for the first time, and it was an experience he would never forget. At first Yixing was scared out of his mind, clinging to Minseok’s hand, wincing at every loud noise and sudden movement. He was near tears before they even went one block, but he kept saying that he didn’t want to go home. Minseok decided that the best thing to do was take Yixing somewhere quiet, so he brought him to a library. Yixing took one look at all the books and fell in love. Minseok checked out ten books for him that day, and promised that they could come back again once Yixing had read them all. After that he took Yixing to the park, and they played on the swings for an hour before sitting under a tree to read. That night after they went home, Yixing kissed Minseok and said that he might have been falling in love. Minseok said that he might have been falling in love as well.

When they were nineteen and eighteen, the Agency came calling again. They were putting together a group of young people with special abilities, and making them into an anti-terrorist force. They wanted Yixing and Minseok to join. Minseok had been taking martial arts for a few years, they wanted to train him more, and they wanted Yixing to be a healer. Minseok’s first instinct was to say no, but Yixing’s was to say yes.

“I want to make a difference,” Yixing said. “I want to help in some way. I know that there are bad people out there, and I want to help stop them. I know you don’t want to be a hero, but I do.”

Minseok knew that it would be selfish of him to keep Yixing from his dream, so he agreed to join the Agency, as long as he could keep suppressing his ability to control ice. He didn’t want anyone to know.

The evening before they would leave to begin their training, Yixing said he had something important to tell Minseok.

“I love you,” He began, “And I think…you’re the only person I’ll ever love. I don’t know if I could ever open up to someone the way I have with you. You know everything about me. But I know that this isn’t the life you wanted.”

Minseok had felt so guilty. “It’s nothing against you,” he said quickly, “I love you, I really do. I know this may not be what I wanted but it’s not bad. I’m so happy to have you in my life.”

“I know,” Yixing said. “I don’t doubt that what you feel for me is real, but…we only met because of the circumstances of our birth. Destiny brought us together, but…I don’t think people can have only one destiny. So I want you to know that I won’t try to keep you from trying to find that other path.”

“I don’t understand,” Minseok said, feeling like he’s swallowed ice. “Are you saying you don’t want me to join the Agency? Are you breaking up with me?”

“No, neither of those things,” Yixing assured him. “But if there comes a time where you want to go to college, or if you meet someone who you fall in love with because it was your choice and yours alone—”

“Never,” Minseok vowed. “I will never leave you for someone else.”

Yixing smiled. “Who says you have to leave me? Who says you can’t love more than one person in your life, both at one time?”

At first, Minseok swore it would never happen. Then he met Lu Han.

 

 

 

Next chapter will be back in the present. It will probably be the last chapter in this particular arc, then I will move on to someone else's story.